Language education in a changing economic and political context: the teaching of Putonghua in Hong Kong schools  

Oleh:

Kwo, Ora W. Y.

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development vol. 10 no. 4 (1989), page 297-306.

Ketersediaan

Perpustakaan PKBB Nomor Panggil: 405/JMM/10 Non-tandon: tidak ada Tandon: 1

Lihat Detail Induk

Isi artikel

The debate on the medium of instruction in Hong Kong schools has a long history. The most heated part of the debate has concerned the balance between English and Chinese (see e.g. Cheng et ai., 1973; Fu, 1979; Johnson, 1983a; Kwo & Bray, 1987; Lord & Cheng, 1987); but part of the debate has focused on the nature of Chinese, which has many spoken forms of which some are mutually unintelligible. Among those who argue that Chinese deserves a stronger place in the curriculum, there is still disagreement about which Chinese. One side in this argument supports Cantonese, which is the most widely spoken form of Chinese in Hong Kong. The other side 'favours Putonghua, the official language of the People's Republic of China. Advocates ofPutonghua highlight potential political, economic and pedagogic benefits from increased emphasis on the language, ,!nd note that Putonghua will become increasingly important during the lead up to 1997 and after the reunification of Hong Kong with China. This paper explores these arguments and examines their practical implications. It begins by examining in more detail the rationales for stronger emphasis on Putonghua in the school system, before turning to the nature of present educational provision. The third section outlines the main options open to policy-makers at both institutional and territory-wide levels, and is followed by comments on the desirability and feasibility of these options. Finally, the paper concludes with an overall appraisal.

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