SHIRLEY ZHAO AND LAURA ZHOU
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 03 November, 2015, 3:22pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 03 November, 2015, 5:12pm
Claudia Mo believes the mother-language teaching policy is to blame for a fall in English standards. Photo: David Wong
Hong Kong has dropped on a global English proficiency ranking for the second consecutive year, raising concerns over English education becoming “stratified” under the government policy of mother-tongue teaching.
On the latest English proficiency index compiled by EF English First, a Swedish-owned international English training institution, Hong Kong ranked 33rd among 70 countries and territories, a slight decrease in the ranking from last year’s 31st.
Hong Kong’s position has fallen almost continuously since 2011, when the city ranked 12th among 44 countries and regions. The only exception was in 2013, when the city rose from 25th to 22nd. In 2011 and 2013 Hong Kong ranked higher than South Korea and Japan, but both were above the city in 2012, last year and this year.
Although the methods used in compiling the rankings remain debated, particularly over the lack of an English speaking test, some believed it did raise concerns over Hongkongers’ falling English proficiency.
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“If Hong Kong scored 10 out of 10 in the past, now it only has 6,” said Civic Party lawmaker Claudia Mo Man-ching, a proficient English speaker herself.
Mo said it was the government’s mother-tongue teaching policy, adopted since the handover in 1997, that should be blamed for such a drop.
She said after the introduction of the policy those who had the resources insisted on sending their children to kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools that taught in English, or international schools, and then sent them to overseas universities. Those who could not enter these schools would face rote learning and drilling.
“There were children telling me that they hated English very much,” Mo said. “They said English was like a nightmare.
“[Children] started to learn ABC at the age of two, but when they entered university, they didn’t dare to speak English … because the whole Hong Kong society had forced them to think since their childhood that English is high class, is superior … If you are not at a school taught in English, you are a second-class student.”
Jeremy Young Chit-on, former political assistant at the Education Bureau, said he agreed that the mother-tongue teaching policy had created a lot of pressure on pupils. He said English learners should not be afraid to communicate with others in the language.
Rated as “moderate proficiency”, Hong Kong ranked below Shanghai and Beijing, as well as other Asian nations including South Korea (27), Japan (30), Taiwan (31), and Indonesia (32), according to the study.
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A total of 910,000 non-native English-speakers took the tests this year, which contain exams on grammar, vocabulary, reading and listening skills. Only countries and regions with a minimum of 400 test-takers were ranked, according to EF English First.
Singapore, the top-ranking Asian nation, was 12th in the global index and qualified, along with Malaysia (14) and India (20), for “high proficiency” in the language. Mainland China ranked 47th - a drop of 10 places from last year.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1875254/mother-tongue-teaching-policy-blame-hong-kong
