Unleavened cakes: An overview of second language Chinese education for South Asian students in Hong Kong

This review examines a unique case of K-12 education of Chinese as a second/foreign language in a global context, that is, teaching Chinese as a second language (L2) to South Asian (SA) students in Hong Kong. Findings indicate that in spite of the collective endeavors of all major stakeholders over the past decade, notable challenges await policy makers, researchers and teachers of L2 Chinese. There is an urgent need: (1) to design an L2 Chinese specific curriculum, (2) to enhance teachers’ professional experience teaching L2 Chinese as opposed to teaching Chinese to native speakers, and (3) to foster better communication between schools, teachers, SA parents and students. There is also a lack of consideration of SA students’ multilingual and multicultural background and how their multilingual capital can be utilized in L2 Chinese teaching and learning.