Developing biliteracy in Chinese and English: Is it possible?

Developing biliteracy in Chinese and English: Is it possible?

• Kirkpatrick, Thomas Andrew

2007

Plenary IATEFL Hong Kong YL SIG Conference Event: Literacy in the language classroom: The role of the YL Professional in developing reading and writing in young learners (2007: Hong Kong, China)

• F Learning & Teaching
  • FE Medium of Instruction, Language of Teaching, Bi-& Multilingual Education, Problems of Bilingualism, Code-mixing & Code-switching

Theory and Practice of Teaching and Learning Teacher Education

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Unknown or Unspecified

The Hong Kong government's language policy seeks to ensure that its citizens are trilingual (in Cantonese, Putonghua and English) and biliterate (in Chinese and English). The Singapore government also seeks to ensure that the population is biliterate in English and the speaker's L1. As most of the population is ethnically Chinese, this means that the Singaporean education system is concerned to ensure that people emerge biliterate in Chinese and English. The Chinese government, while insisting that Putonghua remain the medium of instruction in most contexts, is also encouraging the acquisition of literacy in English, and English has recently been introduced as a subject in all primary schools. This talk will consider the cognitive challenges involved in the acquisition of literacy in both Chinese and English and discuss some of the results of the current policies. The talk will include suggestions for ways of helping students acquire literacy in both Chinese and English.

Plenary paper presented at the IATEFL Hong Kong YL SIG Conference Event: Literacy in the language classroom: The role of the YL Professional in developing reading and writing in young learners

• English

Conference Papers

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/88e3941c

2015-07-14