Since the mother tongue of Chinese was adopted as the medium of instruction in secondary schools in 1998, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has taken measures to guarantee students' English proficiency.
HKSAR's Acting Secretary for Education and Manpower Joseph Wongmade the remarks Wednesday in a written reply to a legislative councilor's question on what measures are being adopted by schools offering mother-tongue education to guarantee the students' English language proficiency.
Wong said additional English language teachers have been deployed to support extra-curricular activities for learning English, and a recurrent English Language Grant has also been established to enhance the teaching and learning of English.
"Schools may use the grant for purchasing English learning materials and teaching aids, and for organizing extra-curricular activities for the English language subject.
"And a one-off grant has been provided under the Language Fund in the 1998/99 school year to set up an English Corner in each school for enhancing the environment for learning English on the school premises," he said.
Since the HKSAR government implemented the Medium of Instruction (MOI) Guidance for Secondary Schools in 1998 with a view to enhancing students' learning efficacy, most secondary schools have adopted Chinese, rather than English, as the MOI, Wong said.
Wong said it has been generally recognized in the education sector that learning through an appropriate MOI (for the majority of students, it is the Chinese language in Hong Kong) helps enhance students' cognitive and learning ability.
(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2002)
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