Teaching Chinese in Putonghua in post-colonial Hong Kong: Problems and challenges for teachers and administrators

Teaching Chinese in Putonghua in post-colonial Hong Kong: Problems and challenges for teachers and administrators

• Tam, Angela Choi Fung Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Language, Culture and Curriculum, 25(2), 103-122, 2012

Routledge

2012

• F Learning & Teaching
  • FE Medium of Instruction, Language of Teaching, Bi-& Multilingual Education, Problems of Bilingualism, Code-mixing & Code-switching
• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GA Chinese Language
• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MF Characteristics & Conditions of Educational Workers

Language Policy Teacher Attitudes Chinese Languages Putonghua Secondary School Teachers Educational Administrators Educational Policy Administrator Attitudes Programme Implementation Language of Instruction

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Secondary Education

After China resumed the sovereignty of Hong Kong, the Curriculum Development Council encouraged schools to experiment with Putonghua as a medium of instruction (PMI) to teach the Chinese language. A review of the literature indicates that there have been problems in implementing the switch to the new medium of instruction (MOI). The aim of this exploratory case study is to investigate in more detail the problems that teachers and administrators of a secondary school face in implementing the new policy. Based on interviews, classroom observation, and documentary analysis, it is shown that conflicts and tensions have arisen from the incongruent beliefs of teachers and administrators regarding the rationale and impact of the PMI policy. Moreover, inadequate knowledge of Putonghua among teachers and students, a shortage of appropriate teaching resources, and the absence of helpful support from the government create further barriers to effective teaching and learning in the new programme. This paper argues that it is problematic for schools to translate any MOI policy into action if policy-makers fail to address the challenges that teachers and administrators encounter in switching to a new MOI.
[Copyright of Language, Culture and Curriculum is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2011.626863]

• English

Journal Articles

• 07908318

• 10.1080/07908318.2011.626863

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/33c28143

2014-01-18