Newsletter No. 235

A l l for the Sake of English New ELTU Head on Strategies to Improve the English of CUHK Students I n mainland China, the love affair w i th the 'international language' has reached a feverish pitch, fuelled by China's accession to the World Trade O r g a n i z a t i o n, t he p r e s e n ce of mu l t i na t i onal corporations, and the coming of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. English tutorials i n all shapes and guises sprout like mushrooms after rain and locals approach English-speaking expatriates for the sole purpose of b r ush i ng up their oral English. A t ma i n l and universities, the English language department is often the largest and students study up to 12 hours of English per week i n their freshman year, regardless of major. H o w e v e r n e i t h e r g e n u i n e enthusiasm nor hype seems to have sp i l l ed over to Ho ng Kong, where h i s t o r i cal exposure to this f o r e i gn l a n g u a ge seems to h a ve b r e d disinterest. Yet this attitude w i ll have to change if H o ng Konge rs wa nt to maintain their linguistic advantage and competitiveness in the global market. Territory-wide Clean Hong Kong's English Campaign To improve the level of English i n the territory and also the level of keenness f or i t, the g o v e r nme nt has been devoting considerable resources to a range of new initiatives such as the change of the medium of instruction in schools, the Native English-speaking Teacher scheme (NETs), the Workplace English Campaign, the establishment of a framework of language competencies to assess language standards, and the introduction of a voluntary English exit test f or a ll f i n a l - y e ar u n i v e r s i ty students. Dr. A r t h u r M c N e i l l, the n ew d i r ec t or of the Eng l i sh Language Teaching Unit (ELTU), attributes Hong Kong's reluctance to embrace English to its association w i t h the co l on i al government and the d o m i n a t i o n o f E n g l i s h - a s - a - m e d i u m - o f - instruction schools, where many people h a d u n h a p p y e x p e r i e n c es as students, such as not understanding what was being taught and teachers w i t h b ad En g l i s h. H o w e v e r the s i t u a t i on is c hang i ng. ' W i t h the adoption of Chinese as the medium of instruction in the majority of schools, English is being taught more formally w i th an emphasis on how the language system works rather than just exposing students to English and expecting them to be able to use it. There is now a benchmark test for English teachers, which should eventually guarantee that all English teachers have a suitable level of l i n g u i s t ic and me t a - l i n g u i s t ic compe t ence. Th is g e n e r a t i on of s t u d e n ts s h o u l d h a ve a b e t t er understanding of the language than many of their predecessors,' said Dr. McNeill who, prior to joining CUHK, had directed the Centre for App l i ed Language Studies at the University of Dundee, the Sussex Language Institute at the University of Sussex, and the Eng l i sh Language I ns t i t u te at the University of Surrey. Exit Test for Final-year Students A t The Chinese University, the ELTU has been spea r head i ng e f f o r ts to complement the government's English e n h a n c eme nt i n i t i a t i v e s. Since September 2002, all final-year students f r om UGC-funded institutions have been encouraged to take the Common English Proficiency Assessment as an exit test. Since his appo i n tment as director in Ap r il 2003, Dr. McNeill has been very busy reviewing the unit's programme to prepare CUHK students for this test which uses the academic version of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). IELTSis an internationally validated English testing instrument which tests the complete range of English language s k i l ls c ommo n ly encoun t e r ed by students. Test results are reported on a band scale from 0 to 9. Dr. McNeill said that in 2003,45 per cent of final-year CUHK students opted to take the test and numbe rs are expected to increase i n 2004. The average score of a CUHK student was 6.65, the second highest among Hong Kong universities. However, last year t wo other un i ve r s i t i es adm i t t ed a higher proportion of their final year students to the test than CUHK. The ELTU has finished piloting a five-day workshop to prepare student volunteers for the IELTS. Feedback from the workshop w i l l be used to finalize the content and format of a programme of IELTS wo r k shops to be offered during the summer and other times of the academic year. The Go v e r nment has already taken a lead in using IELTS performance as a r e f e r e n c e f o r r e c r u i t m e n t b y recognizing IELTS results i n the r ec r u i tment of c i v il servants. The m i n i mum overall score required is 6.5, w i th a mi n imum of 6.0 on any of the sub-tests. Compulsory English at CUHK Last October, the University Senate approved in principle a proposal that, starting in the 2004-5 academic year, all S e c o n d a ry 7 or JUPAS entrants w i ll have to take three c r e d i t u n i t s of c o m p u l s o r y E n g l i s h, a nd a l l Secondary 6 or EAS (Early Admissions Scheme) entrants, six units. ' Th r ee c r e d it u n i t s t r an s l a te approximately into 45 hours or three hours a week for a semester, which isn't much. It has been estimated that 200 hours of study are required for students to progress half a band on the IELTS scale. So the three units are really a drop in the ocean. Students who are serious about i m p r o v i ng t he ir En g l i sh should also take elective English courses during their degree,' said Dr. McNeill who nonetheless believes that it is a chance to make an impact, especially since CUHK is currently the only university i n Hong Kong where English language courses are largely voluntary. He also hopes that when the four-year u n d e r g r a d u a t e c u r r i c u l um is implemented, more English can be put in. To d e v e l op i ts p r o p o s al f o r compulsory English, the University's W o r k i n g G r o u p on L a n g u a ge Enhancement, chaired by Prof. Kwok Siu-Tong, has set up a task force comprising Dr. Beatrice Ma, Dr. Jose Lai, Prof. Jane Jackson, Prof. Gladys Tang, and Dr. McNeill. Understanding English Needs of Faculties The ELTU r an a wo r k s h op on 5th December 2003 to clarify to faculty representatives what they can offer and to establish different departments' English language needs and priorities. The workshop served as the start of a dialogue between the ELTU and the faculties on how best to raise their students' English standard. The unit w i ll approach the faculties again before end of March 2004 to solicit their views on how the ELTU can help. Dr. McNe i ll is of the v i ew that Secondary 6 entrants should spread their six units of compulsory English across d i f f e r e n t y ea rs of t h e i r undergraduate studies so that they can better prepare for the exit test. Targeting the three units for the Secondary 7 entrants, however, is trickier. 'Some faculties want technical or scientific Eng l i s h; others f a v o ur academic English. Some want their students to be ab le to p r o d u c e g r a m m a t i c a l l y correct sentences; yet others prefer their students to acquire good formatting and d o c u m e n t a t i o n skills. We need to negotiate w i t h them. We also need to avoid duplicating what the students h a v e a l r e a d y s t u d i e d i n secondary school,' D r . M c N e i l l explained. T h e E L T U h o p es t h a t t he U n i v e r s i t y ' s W o r k i n g G r o u p f o r L a n g u a ge Enhancement w i ll approve its proposal w i t h in this year. Diagnostic Screening Test Dr. McNeill and two of his colleagues, Prof. Eva Lai and Ms. Maggie Chu, are developing a diagnostic screening test for all EAS entrants and non-local students who do not have Use of English exam results. The test w i ll give the language profiles of students and enable the u n it to make i n f o rmed recommendations on what courses each student should take. The team has t r i a l l ed parts of the test w i t h 100 undergraduate students and is looking at the results to refine the test. They hope that the test, wh i ch w i l l cover vocabulary, grammar, listening, writing and speaking, can be i n place by the 2004-5 academic year. External Liaisons There are also plans to reach out. In May 2004, the ELTU w i l l be h o l d i ng an international conference on Teaching English at a University Level jointly w i th the College English Teaching and Research Association of China for the benefit of language teachers throughout m a i n l a nd C h i na a nd A s i a. The conference w i ll be held partly in Hong Kong and partly in Nanjing. The unit also has a committee responsible for exploring how it can make a greater impact in the local community and to tap new sources of income for the unit. The Civil Service is now contracting out language t r a i n i ng for its language officers to the universities and the ELTU has put in a bid for some of this. Bilingualism the Way to Go The ELTU's business may be English but it is supportive of the University's b i l i n g u al policy. 'People who are successful i n life tend to use more than one language. T h e h u m a n b r a i n c o p e s astonishingly well w i t h bilingualism. Students who can operate i n both English and Chinese and in different cultural settings have an enormous advantage in a globalized, i n t e r - d e p e n d e nt w o r l d , ' said Dr. McNeill. In a few years' time, visitors to the University may f i nd American and British exchange students falling over themselves to practise t he ir pu t onghua and their Eng l i sh w i t h CUHK students. If this sounds farfetched, t hen wh a t about C U HK students rattling off their well thought ou t ideas i n s i l k en En g l i sh and expressing them aptly, succinctly, and educatedly inside and outside the classroom? Piera Chen 'English is being taught more formally with an emphasis on how the language system works rather than just exposing students to English and expecting them to be able to use it.' 'Starting in the 2004-5 academic year, all Secondary 7 or JUPAS entrants will have to take three credit units of compulsory English, and all Secondary 6 or EAS (Early Admissions Scheme) entrants, six un i t s . ' 'People who are successful in life tend to use more than one language. The human brain copes astonishingly well with b i l i n g u a l i sm . ' Dr. Arthur McNeill No. 235 19th February 2004