This study attempted to analyze learning strategies used by Hong Kong university students for learning English. Results indicate that Cantonese native speakers mostly used cognitive strategies when learning English, while memory strategies were the least used. Besides, the use of memory strategies among males varied significantly, and little difference was observed in the use of metacognitive strategies by females. The use of cognitive strategies was significantly associated with grade level, with fourth-year students using cognitive strategies more often than fifth-year students. Finally, on correlating the daily study time with cognitive strategies, it was observed that students who studied more than 0.5 hours a day used cognitive strategies more frequently than those who studied less than 0.5 hours a day. This study not only provides new evidence that grade level and study time affect the use of English learning strategies in Hong Kong, but also yields some important pedagogical implications. Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Combining local, national and international languages – the last almost exclusively English in fact – is one of the most pressing issues facing educational professionals in today’s world. How and when can English be introduced to the school curriculum so that children still master literacy in local and national languages? Hong Kong’s language policy aims for its citizens to be trilingual in Cantonese, Putonghua and English and biliterate in Chinese and English. The current policy is that Cantonese should be the medium of instruction for all government primary schools, where English and Putonghua are taught as subjects. The majority of secondary schools are also Chinese medium, but about a quarter are English medium schools. Recently the government has signaled a possible controversial change in policy, as it has authorized a trial for ‘Chinese subjects’ to be taught through Putonghua in selected schools. At the same time ‘consumer’ demand for English is constantly heard. This paper will purpose a ‘multilingual’ solution to the medium of instruction policy. First, medium of instruction policies and practices in Hong Kong will be reviewed and then possible future developments will be considered. Finally, a way of combining the local language (Cantonese), the national language (Putonghua) and the international language (English) in the school curriculum will be proposed.
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