This paper explores tow major challenges facing students using English as a language of instruction (ELI) in secondary education and discusses some pedagogical principles teachers need to apply to help students meet these challenges. The two challenges explored are: 1) learning complex curriculum content; and 2) learning the complex language of the content, with academic language becoming a focus of learning. Three pedagogical principles are discussed: 1) plan from the content; 2) integrate content and language teaching; and 3) teach the language of the content explicitly. The paper presents three examples of secondary ELI pedagogy to illustrate how the challenges can be met by applying these principles. The three examples show how ELI teachers1) model the language of the content to students, 2) elicit from students the language of the content, and 3) help students write the language of the content. In all the three examples, the ELI teachers identify the language of the content through knowledge relationships, suggesting that this can be an effective aspect of pedagogy in an ELI context. The paper uses data from four projects that researched ELI classrooms in Hong Kong and Xi’an in Mainland China.
[Copyright © 2010 The Asian Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.]

This paper reports a survey of English medium secondary schools to discover how they are addressing the problems in implementing EMI, given higher expectations by Government and the expectation of a far greater degree of monitoring from 1998. The survey was primarily on teacher competence in English and in language-related instructional strategies, the coordination of English use across the curriculum and the support measures available to teachers and to schools. The survey was based upon the findings of a major two year study of 94 schools and 572 teachers and the analysis of test results from 9000 students which indicated that English medium students are not developing the levels of English which could be expected; the main findings of this evaluation are presented as background to the survey.

Recent research indicates that English medium education in Hong Kong, even in schools with very able students, is not helping students to achieve the level of second language proficiency that both theory and the experience of other countries suggest is possible. The study reported in this paper aimed to identify the contribution that teacher education can make to improving the quality of English medium education in Hong Kong. The paper takes into account the recent developments in the Hong Kong Government's medium of instruction policy. The study investigated the specialised language oriented teacher education needs of English medium secondary teachers of content subjects in Hong Kong in connection with the further development of a teacher education programme in the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The study is based within immersion education theory of which English medium education in Hong Kong is seen as a variant. This proposes that students can acquire a very high level of proficiency in the second language through the use of the language as the medium of learning for content subjects across the curriculum. Research in other educational contexts suggests a variety of qualities which teachers may need but none relate to the specific context of Hong Kong. The unusual characteristics of immersion education in Hong Kong area very high proportion of students undertaking English medium education by international standards (even with the recent changes in government policy), teachers with varying levels of second language proficiency and students with very varying levels of motivation to learn in this way. Although some research exists within Hong Kong on this topic it is incomplete and inconclusive. It was, therefore, necessary to bring together research from overseas and Hong Kong within this one study. In addition, questionnaires were administered to teachers, interviews were held with teachers and lessons observed in schools. The analysis produced a framework consisting

This colloquium addresses the issue of the effectiveness of content teaching and learning through English in Hong Kong secondary schools in the context of the current moves to change the eligibility of schools to adopt English as their medium of instruction. It brings together some recent classroom-based research and development on teaching and learning through English in Hong Kong secondary schools in order to promote debate as to how this can be improved. Cummins will present an overview of the value of integrating second language and content learning. Kong and Hoare will focus on the use of English by teachers and students in the local English medium classrooms, based on data drawn from two studies on teacher explanations and student writing. Man will discuss some adaption issues of Secondary 1 English medium students switching from Chinese medium primary schools and will examine some support measures for their content learning. Walker will report on some of the difficulties students face using English for content learning in S4 and the role of an enrichment programme in supporting them. The colloquium will include an extended time for discussion on ways forward in English medium teaching and learning.

Our research into contrasting approaches in Hong Kong and China towards CBI shows that balancing language and content, and teaching the language of the content constitute the major challenges in both contexts. Teacher education for both content background and language background teachers must focus on how language makes content meaning.