TY - CHAP
T1 - Medium-of-instruction debate I : mother tongue education and the Dual MoI streaming policy (1998-)
AU - Li, Chor Shing David
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - In this chapter, we will examine the divergent social forces and competing ideological premises embodied in a few policy documents, notably the Llewellyn Report (Llewellyn SJ, Hancock G, Kirst M, Roeloffs KA, Perspective on education in Hong Kong: Report by a visiting panel. Government Printer, Hong Kong. Retrieved 28 May 2015, from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/about-edb/publications-stat/major-reports/perspe_e.pdf, 1982) and the Education Commission Report No. 4 (ECR4, The curriculum and behavioural problems in schools. Government Printer, Hong Kong. Retrieved 27 May 2015, from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/about-edb/publications-stat/major-reports/ecr4_e.pdf, 1990), the latter being instrumental in paving the way for the implementation of the dual MoI streaming policy from September 1998, whereby primary-school leavers (around age 12) are allocated to Chinese-medium or English-medium secondary schools. Drawing on a number of critical studies in the literature, we will give a critical appraisal of the educational merits of the streaming proposal in ECR4 by scrutinizing its questionable ideological premises. It will be argued that, as a justification of the streaming proposal, the scapegoating and stigmatization of ‘mixed code’ is ill-advised and unfounded. The monolingual classroom language ideology is outdated. To enhance the quality of classroom teaching and learning, there is a need for more rigorous classroom-based research on pedagogically sound and productive translanguaging practices, with a view to facilitating the effective teaching and learning of content subjects. A promising way forward is to investigate how and under what circumstances students’ L1 may be turned strategically into a useful pedagogical resource in the hands of properly trained plurilingual teachers.
AB - In this chapter, we will examine the divergent social forces and competing ideological premises embodied in a few policy documents, notably the Llewellyn Report (Llewellyn SJ, Hancock G, Kirst M, Roeloffs KA, Perspective on education in Hong Kong: Report by a visiting panel. Government Printer, Hong Kong. Retrieved 28 May 2015, from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/about-edb/publications-stat/major-reports/perspe_e.pdf, 1982) and the Education Commission Report No. 4 (ECR4, The curriculum and behavioural problems in schools. Government Printer, Hong Kong. Retrieved 27 May 2015, from http://www.edb.gov.hk/attachment/en/about-edb/publications-stat/major-reports/ecr4_e.pdf, 1990), the latter being instrumental in paving the way for the implementation of the dual MoI streaming policy from September 1998, whereby primary-school leavers (around age 12) are allocated to Chinese-medium or English-medium secondary schools. Drawing on a number of critical studies in the literature, we will give a critical appraisal of the educational merits of the streaming proposal in ECR4 by scrutinizing its questionable ideological premises. It will be argued that, as a justification of the streaming proposal, the scapegoating and stigmatization of ‘mixed code’ is ill-advised and unfounded. The monolingual classroom language ideology is outdated. To enhance the quality of classroom teaching and learning, there is a need for more rigorous classroom-based research on pedagogically sound and productive translanguaging practices, with a view to facilitating the effective teaching and learning of content subjects. A promising way forward is to investigate how and under what circumstances students’ L1 may be turned strategically into a useful pedagogical resource in the hands of properly trained plurilingual teachers.
KW - Medium of instruction
KW - English-medium education
KW - Chinese-medium education
KW - Mother tongue education
KW - Dual MoI streaming policy
KW - Cantonese-English mixed code
KW - Code-switching
KW - Code-mixing
KW - Translanguaging
KW - Bilingual instruction
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-44195-5_5
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-44195-5_5
M3 - Chapter in an edited book (as author)
SN - 9783319441931
T3 - Multilingual Education
SP - 145
EP - 178
BT - Multilingual Hong Kong : languages, literacies and identities
PB - Springer Netherlands
ER -