Language learning is more than acquisition of linguistic skills but also a social, psychological and cultural process (e.g. Lin, 2012; Ochs, 2002; Vygotsky, 1987). Mother tongue language (MTL) is a core subject in most countries/regions' school curriculum. Usually, the language is both the tool with which knowledge and skills are taught and learned, and the vehicle for students to learn about the traditions of the countries' literature and culture (e.g. Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013; Department of Education, UK, 2013a, 2013b; Department of Elementary Education, 2011; Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, 2011; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2011). However, MTL education in Hong Kong is complicated by the colonial history. Traditionally, Chinese language education was a mixture of education on philosophy, history, politics and literacy. On the other hand, as a British colony, the previous Hong Kong MTL curriculum emphasized more on linguistics skills instead of transmission of Chinese cultural, literary and ethical values. With the sovereignty of Hong Kong returned to China in 1997, the new Chinese language curriculum seems to reflect a shift to a more all-rounded model. This study looks at the role of culture in MTL education in postcolonial Hong Kong. It takes a critical perspective on the ways in which a language teacher views the aims and objectives of the language subject he/she is teaching as immediately affecting both the design and pedagogies in the curriculum. So what are Hong Kong language teachers' perspectives on mother tongue language education in the postcolonial period? Interviews were administrated to explore how language teachers view the aims and objectives of MTL education as well as their current practice. Results of the interview on seventeen teachers indicate that although teachers agreed that culture is an important element in MTL education, their practice

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.]

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.
[Copyright © 2008 Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.]

This paper aims to study the current challenges of Chinese language education in the multilingual societies of Hong Kong and Singapore through policy documents. After the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the role of Putonghua is far more important than before due to political and economic reasons. However, the medium of instruction for the Chinese Language subject in Hong Kong has long been Cantonese since the British colony days. A change in the medium of instruction from mother-tongue Cantonese to Putonghua is a shift from L1 to L2. This paper will discuss the feasibility of this long term policy of Hong Kong Education Bureau with reference to Singapore’s experience. Currently, Singapore faces the problem of declining standard of reading and writing in Huayu (Putonghua in China) and this paper will investigate the reason for that and suggest possible remedies.
[Copyright © 2008 Canadian Center of Science and Education.]

This paper presents a two-year longitudinal study of a collaboration between four researcher-and-teacher pairs. The ultimate goal is to raise the quality of English language teaching in Hong Kong by first improving teacher understanding of language knowledge and language use and, then second, guiding teachers on how to adjust their English lesson planning accordingly. Methods used to evaluate the four teachers’ growth in understanding included comprehensive interviews at the beginning and end of the study, and stimulated recall interviews immediately following the teaching of the lesson. Findings indicate that teaching behaviours improved as a result of the collaboration. Areas of change included a deeper understanding of the concepts of language know-ledge and language use, a better balancing of language knowledge and use in lessons, a greater use of inductive teaching methodology, and a differentiated use of error correction according to the focus of the lesson – whether on language knowledge or language use. Factors contributing to change included the focus in discussions on pedagogical and content knowledge, as well as the collaborative, immediate and long-term reflective nature of intervention.
[Copyright © 2011 Centre for Language Studies, National University of Singapore. The article is available online at: http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v8n12011/wong.htm]

A comparison of the practices of native and non-native teachers of English-as-a-second-language writing in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore based on a Questionnaire and follow-up interviews revealed a gap between teachers' ideal and actual practice, similar perceptions of the constraints preventing them from teaching according to their Preferred practice, and a general lack of training in process writing. Many of the teachers took a middle-of-the-road approach combining product and process teaching philosophies, with a somewhat more traditional approach taken by non-native speakers of English and those teaching in Asian countries. Those teaching in Australia were the most process-oriented in theory and practice, those teaching in Japan were the most product-oriented in theory and practice, while those teaching in the other countries of the survey showed a greater difference between theory and practice and more variation across individual teachers. The results can be interpreted to mean that the community of explanation (theory or ideal for practice) and the community of practice (actual practices) among teachers of English composition are not always well-aligned. While the rhetoric of process writing is generally the basis of the teachers' ideal or teaching philosophy, this rhetoric may mask a shallow commitment to the practices of process writing, and teachers may undermine the basis of process writing in attempting to selectively implement its tenets or to blend process and product elements in their teaching of writing. On the other hand, it may be that teachers of English in the Asia-Pacific region are developing a compromise teaching approach that combines process and product elements in a new synthesis.
[Copyright © 1997 Sage Publications.]