The HKIEd language policy: How linguistic and cultural diversity is handled at the Hong Kong Institute of Education CALPIU

1
The HKIEd language policy How linguistic and
cultural diversity is handled at the Hong Kong
Institute of EducationCALPIU 12Higher
education across borders Transcultural
interaction and linguistic diversity04 04
2012
Prof. David C.S. Li ( ? ? ? ) Hong Kong Institute
of Education Department of English Telephone
(852) 2948 8602Fax [phone]Email
dcsli_at_ied.edu.hk
1
2
(No Transcript)
3
(No Transcript)
4
(No Transcript)
5
Where is Hong Kong (SAR)?

6
Demographics Population over 7 million (January
2012), ca. 1,100 square km
7
Chinese Hongkongers

• About 90
• Cantonese-dominant
• bilingual in English/Putonghua to different
  extents
• About 5
• Other Chinese varieties
• e.g. Chiu Chow, Hakka, etc.

8
Self-styled Asias World City

• July, 2010
• HK ranked 4th among international financial hubs
• April, 2009
• Six industries identified for future development

9
Six industries identified for future development

• Testing and certification
• Medical services
• Innovation and technology
• Cultural and creative industries
• Environmental industries
• (International) educational services
• HK thrives on finance/service industries/knowledge
  -based economy
• When hiring, employers value English proficiency,
  increasingly Putonghua as well

10
One country, two systems, three languages
Cantonese (spoken) vernacular, regional lingua franca not supposed to be written
English (spoken / written) language of former colonial masters embraced by postcolonial subjects
Putonghua / Mandarin (spoken) national language lingua franca in Greater China model for Standard Written Chinese (SWC)

11
Hong Kong language policy

• Co-official languages Chinese and English
• Language policy goal biliteracy and
  trilingualism (????)
• Chinese in HK ? spoken Cantonese / SWC

12
The Hong Kong Institute of Education language
policy (effective 09/2012)

13
The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd)

• One of 8 HKG-funded tertiary institutions
•  Total student population
• Undergraduate 2,000
• Postgraduate (including Ph.D.) 200
•  Vision / mission
• education-focused, multidisciplinary, strong
  research capacity
• leading provider of quality teacher education in
  Asia-Pacific region
•  

14
Main challenge toward these goals

• Toward internationalization
• Most courses are Chinese-medium (currently over
  65)
• Not enough EMI courses
• ? Few students able to gain international
  experience
• (e.g., outgoing exchange)
• ? Cant attract international students

15
HKIEds new language policy from September 2012

• HKIEd will adopt a new language policy to
  enhance students trilingual proficiency
  development with strengthened Language
  Enhancement Programmes and Language Exit
  Requirements (LERs) in English and Putonghua.
• Being informed by the notion of functional
  trilingualism, the new language policy is
  designed to enhance our students competitiveness
  in an increasingly globalised world. It does so
  by setting clear language learning targets,
  equipping them with an internationally recognized
  level of English and Putonghua, and fostering the
  development of a language-rich environment at
  HKIEd.
• (HKIEd Intranet Announcement, March 2012
  emphasis added)

16
Functional trilingualism

• the ability to use three languages to varying
  degrees of proficiency and for different purposes
• ( Andy Kirkpatrick ? )

17
HKIEd new language policy Key features

• Minimum Language Exit Requirements (LERs) for ENG
  and PTH (programme-specific)
• Support for tertiary-level English and SWC
• Support for basic Cantonese (non-Chinese /
  non-Cantonese-speaking students)
• HKIEd-sponsored IELTS and PSC (national PTH test)
  once

18
Minimum Language Exit Requirements (LERs) in ENG
/ PTH for all full-time UG students from
September 2012
 Undergraduate Programme Minimum exit level Minimum exit level
 Undergraduate Programme IELTS PSC
BEd (English Language) 7.0 3B
BA (Language Studies) English Major 7.0 3A
BEd (Chinese Language) 6.0 2B
BA (Language Studies) Chinese Major 6.0 2B
All non-Language Major 6.0 3B

19
Support for tertiary-level English and SWC

• ENG
• Five courses (138 hours, mandatory)
• IELTS preparation (4 skills, 60 hours, optional)
• SWC
• Three courses (total 90 hours)

20
Support for Cantonese (non-Chinese /
non-Cantonese-speaking students)

• Non-Chinese, e.g. South Asians (Indians,
  Pakistanis, Nepalese)
• Two compulsory courses in Basic / Survival
  Cantonese
• Exempted from LERs in Putonghua (but not in
  English)
• Putonghua-dominant students from Mainland China
• Two compulsory courses in Basic / Survival
  Cantonese

21
HKIEd-sponsored IELTS test and PSC (national
Putonghua test) once

• All undergraduate students are sponsored to take
  
• IELTS
• PSC
• once, after completing their English enhancement
  / Putonghua enhancement programme

22
Language of Instruction

• Language of instruction is another important
  aspect of the Institutes Language Policy. To
  demonstrate our commitment to internationalization
  and adhering to societal expectation of language
  competence of our students, the percentage of
  English-medium content courses in non-language
  major BEd programmes will be gradually increased
  to at least 50 by 2013/14. (...)
• from laissez-faire approach
• to Promotion of English / pro-multilingualism
  approach
• (F. Grin)

23
Implementation of new language policy Some
lingering concerns

• Local staffs ability and willingness to teach in
  English
• Some non-local staff dont teach because of low
  uptake of EMI courses
• Mix of students from different L1 backgrounds
• Local Cantonese-dominant
• Mainland China Putonghua-dominant
• International English-dominant
• Non-Chinese students are turned away despite EMI
• Staff training in effective bilingual teaching
  strategies needed (not on agenda yet)

24
If time

• Race bias heard in language block
  (23/03/2012, The Standard)
• Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC)
• Survey based on 107 valid responses

25
Race bias heard in language block

• the language barrier is depriving them
  minority groups of gainful employment and an
  education () the problem is made worse by
  government policy that neglects the needs of
  minorities by institutionalizing Cantonese as a
  mandatory entrance requirement for both
  employment and higher education opportunities.

26
Race bias heard in language block

• It is well recognized that the language barrier
  is the biggest hurdle for ethnic minorities to
  integrate into the Hong Kong community, hindering
  employment opportunities and restricting
  intercultural interaction.
• Equal Opportunities Commission Chairman, W.K. Lam

27
Q A

• Tak
• Merci / Danke / Gracies / Gracias / Thank you
• ? ? (do55 ze22)
• ? ? (xièxiè)

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36
Cantonese vis-à-vis Putonghua (Mandarin)
36