背景： 教統局檢討中學教學語言政策，提出微調的方案。
目的： 本文主要是為回應中學教學語言微調政策而寫。
論點： 文中指出主要有經濟、政治和教育三個因素影響著中學使用何種教學語文，在正常情況下，經濟為主導因素，故1949年之前，學生多選讀中文中學，1950-97年間則選讀英文中學，惟政府在回歸時的強制性母語教學政策，將政治因素放在首位，引至近年中學教學語文的亂局。核心問題是：教育署(1989)將「中英混用方式來教學」和「校本分流教學語文調適」混淆，將「在雙語教學的世界中，課堂上的講解多是英語輔以粵語，書面語才是全英文」這種學習第二語時的必經過程，貿然定性為錯誤。
總結：要解救現今中學教學語文的困境，校本分流中學教學語言微調政策應是溫和的良方。
Background: The Education Bureau reviewed the on medium of instruction in secondary schools and proposed the fine-tuning of policy.
Aim: This article is in response to the fine-tuning policy of medium of instruction.
Exposition: The economic, political and educational factors were found to be the main ones influencing the choice of medium of instruction in secondary schools. In particular, the economic factor was found to be the dominant one under normal situations. Before 1949, students chose to study in Chinese middle schools. They switched to choose Anglo-Chinese secondary schools during 1950-97. The scene has been seriously distorted recently due to the Government's strong policy of imposing mother tongue education to a majority of secondary schools after 1997. Parents, students, and educators are unhappy about the Government's explicit intervention. Crucial issue: the Education Department (1989) mixed up the [mixed code teaching] and [school based mixed mode teaching according to subjects and levels]. They wrongly concluded the auxiliary use of Chinese in some English medium class were unacceptable which is against the general trend of linguistic development of students.
Conclusion: The fine-tuning policy of medium of instruction, particularly the school based mixed mode teaching according to subjects and levels, language streaming within school will be a moderate but good way to resolve the dilemma of medium of instruction in secondary schools.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934

背景：香港政府自2000 年開始施實教師「語文能力要求」以及相應的「教師語文能力評估」。在這項政策之下，全港中小學的常額英文和普通話科教師必須在特定時限之前達到相關語文能力要求，否則將不獲准繼續任教英文或普通話科。政府的是項舉措在本港教育界引發了廣泛的爭論。
目的：本研究目的在於調查政府該項措施實施兩年之後，受影響的中學普通話科教師對政府此項舉措的一般意見和態度。
調查對象：本研究的調查對象為香港中學普通話科科主任教師。
調查方法：本研究採用直接問卷的方式進行。以郵寄方法向香港400 間中學的普通話科科主任進行問卷調查，成功收回問卷177 份。
調查結果：結果顯示，普通話科教師一般認為，政府的這項政策對於語文教師的專業發展有其必要；但是，由於政府強力推行是項政策，加重了教師的工作負擔，所以不受教師們的歡迎。
總結：如果想令到政府的這項政策得到語文教師的歡迎，政府必須有相應的措施有效地減輕受影響教師的工作壓力，因為是項政策的實施實際上加重了教師業已十分繁重工作量。
Background: Since 2000 Hong Kong government has pursued a new policy of Language Proficiency Requirement (LPR) and conducted Language Proficiency Assessment for Teachers (LPAT). under witch all English/Putonghua teachers holding a permanent post in a public-sector schools or a local private primary/secondary day schools offering the full curriculum will not be allowed to teach English or Putonghua if he or she had not met the required language proficiency level by specific deadlines. This policy triggered off a heated debate from all sides of education circles in Hong Kong.
Aims: This study aims to collect the general opinions and attitudes of Putonghua teachers towards this new government’s policy two year after the policy had been put into practice.
Sample: Questionnaires were sent to 400 secondary schools and total of 177 questionnaires filled in by secondary school Putonghua subject chair teachers were collected.
Method: Questionnaire survey was conducted and the written responses received from the respondents were tabulated.
Results: This study found that the secondary school Putonghua teachers generally disliked the new policy of LPR which had been strongly carried out by the government, although the new policy was accepted as a necessary step for Putonghua teachers' professional development.
Conclusion: To make the new policy favorably received by language teachers, the government needs to do something substantially to lessen the burden of affected teachers, because

背景： 教統會在今年二月發表檢討中學教學語言及中一派位機制的諮詢文件，邀請各界回應。
目的： 本文主要是為回應上述的中學教學語言政策而寫。
論點： 文中指出主要有經濟、政治和教育三個因素影響著中學使用何種教學語文，在正常情況下，經濟為主導因素，故1949 年之前，學生多選讀中文中學，1950-97 年間則選讀英文中學，惟政府在回歸時的強制性母語教學政策，將政治因素放在首位，引至近年中學教學語文的亂局。
總結：要解救現今中學教學語文的困境，校本分流應是溫和的良方。
Background: The Education Commission is now reviewing the policy on medium of instruction and school places allocation in secondary schools of Hong Kong. They invite response from different sectors about the present policy.
Aim: This article is in response to the above invitation on the policy of medium of instruction.
Exposition: The economic, political and educational factors were found to be the main ones influencing the choice of medium of instruction in secondary schools. In particular, the economic factor was found to be the dominant one under normal situations. Before 1949, students chose to study in Chinese middle schools. They switched to choose Anglo-Chinese secondary schools during 1950-97. The scene has been seriously distorted recently due to the Government’s strong policy of imposing mother tongue education to a majority of secondary schools after 1997. Parents, students, and educators are unhappy about the Government's explicit intervention.
Conclusion: Language streaming within school will be a moderate but good way to resolve the dilemma of medium of instruction in secondary schools.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

香港教育委員會於一九九五年成立學校教育檢討小組，負責評估實施了近二十年的強迫教育政策，為發展世紀的教育作好準備。教統會更於一九九九年提出『終身學習、自強不息』的教育改革建議，其中有關普及礎教育方面的原則，更是落實政策方向的先聲。本文以訪談形式，探究多位在大學任職的教育工作者，有關普及基礎教育的個人經驗和看法，對九年強迫教育政策，特別在課程管理、社會因素等問題提出獨特的意見。大多數受訪者認為政策重量不重質、目標不明確、課程改革不能切合社會需要等。其批評和實用的建議，對認識、分析和探究今後香港課程發展，有重大的啟示。
The Board of Education formed a committee in 1995 to review about school education after the introduction of 9-year compulsory education policy for nearly 20 years. This is a preparation for the development of education in the new millenium. The Education Commission proposed the idea of 'Learning for Life' as a major trend of the education reform in 1999. The guidelines in compulsory school education are among the forefront of the policy proposal. This is a report of the interviews with 7 curriculum scholars about their views in 9-year compulsory school education, especially in the area of curriculum management and social factors. These scholars generally felt that past policy was biased in the direction of quantity rather than quality, had no clear aims and objectives and could not fit the need of the society. Their criticism and suggestions were in depth and practical. It would shed important light to the understanding and analysis of curriculum development in the coming years.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

香港推行母語教學已有十年，在這十年中，它始終是香港教育界備受爭議的話題。本文概述了十年來香港母語教學改革政策的變化，各方的意見以及其成效。同時本文反思了香港母語教學政策的推行所出現的問題以及其原因。
The adoption of native language as a medium of instruction has been implemented in the past decade. However, the policy remained to be controversial. In this article, the author attempts to reflect the change of the policy and its effects.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre at http://www.edb.org.hk/hktc]

本文透過檢視香港的教學語言政策制定及執行背後所奉行的理性依據，指出其立論的局限性。有別於語言只是傳遞訊息的工具之觀點，筆者指出學習和語言與公民參與和身份建構等教育原則的密切關係，並藉此檢視香港的教學語言政策在過去二十多年來，不論在政策的制定取向和執行方法，和其在教育及對學習的認知上，有否展示出吸收新思維的能耐。
This paper attempts to revisit the rationale underlying the formation and implementation of the language policy in Hong Kong for the past twenty years or so. It is pointed out that the policy has not been well informed manifested by its approach in policy enactment and not being aware of the close relationship between language and learning and its implications for the importance of cultivating civic participation and identity construction during the schooling process. In virtue of this, this paper argues that the language policy in Hong Kong has been weak in its capacity to learn.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre at http://www.edb.org.hk/hktc]

Linguistic theories distinguish between human faculty for language, for any language, and the realization of that capacity through the use of particular language in particular situations. There exists a fundamental contradiction between the linguist's endorsement of the human faculty for language that inevitably emerges equally in all of us and the popular belief of the different worth of varying ways of speaking. Regrettably, this latter belief is as unfortunate as it is real. While linguists have to contend with the political realities of labeling speech as languages and dialects, as standard languages or jargons, as mixed or not, there is no room in their theory for degrees of adequacy for the human language faculty. It is a matter of dogma in linguistics that human beings have the same potentials for expression and that capacity for language matures fully in each individual (with the exception of individuals who have been raised in inhumane conditions) and it finds its realization – its expression -- in an individuals' proficiency of use of some variety of language. There is no contradiction between this dogma, with its implication that varieties of language are adequate for the purposes of expression to which they have been put, and the obvious fact that individuals a) conform to social norms that also embrace language expression and b) strive for better expression to suit particular purposes of expression. What then should these norms be and what is better expression?
In this note, I will attempt some partial answers. My main point will be that individuals will accomplish adequate communication quite happily through participation in communicative interaction that is meaningful to them. I base this point on my fundamental belief that learners as any other communicating individuals manage their speaking so as to note and adjust inadequacies, relative to the interactive situation they find themselves in.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Teachers' Centre Journal is