Two central questions most relevant to our situation here in Hong Kong (and
perhaps to situations elsewhere too):
(1) Sociosemantic variation (Hasan) and L2 learning for children from
disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., working class backgrouns)
Children from working class backgrounds and new immigrants are
disadvantaged in learning the school language (and school literacy), and in
the situation of HOng Kong, doubly disadvantaged for having to learn both
Standard Chinese and English (while speaking Cantonese or a Chinese
regional language as their L1).
Question: How to develop a culturally compatible L2 (English) curriculum
for them? How to motivate them to learn an L2 which is totally irrelevant
to their sociocultural world and which plays no communicative role in their
lifeworld?
I've been looking at works from KEEP (Cathie Jordan, Kathryn Au, Tharp and
Gallimore). Since English is both culturally and linguistically distanced
from Cantonese (L1 of the children and common language in Hong Kong), it's
difficult to build a BRIDGE between their L1 and the L2 which is however
the language for socioeconomic advancement.
(2) Bilingual education in postcolonial societies:
The global domination of English and its impact on Asian societies.
Whether a British colony or not, English is still the dominant language in
higher education and in international business and finance in many Asian
societies.
In Hong Kong, higher and professional education is still mostly in the
medium of English. Mother tongue secondary education becomes double-edged:
it helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds to access learning but it
limits their access to English whereas English medium secondary education
becomes elitist and a ladder to access English medium higher and
professional education.
The Hong Kong government's recent language streaming policy: 25% of
secondary schools allowed to stay English-medium; these are the elite: Ss
from high SES backgrounds and with good academic records; 75% of schools
forced to use Chinese as the medium of instruction; Ss usually from
disadvantaged backgrounds, e.g., working class, new immigrants.
3 kinds of discourses dominate the discussion: Global Trade (which
justifies the domination of English in higher education and in the job
market), Post-Colonialism (which justifies mother tongue education limiting
Ss' access to the socioeconomically dominant L2), and Immersion Pedagogy
(which justifies L2 medium education for only the elite).
Whatever the justification for the policy is, the policy reinforces elitism
and the reproduction of social inequalities and social stratification, and
limits disadvantaged children's access to the dominant socioeconomic L2
resource.
Question: What kind of advocacy work can be done for these children? What
kind of bilingual education should be offered that both affirms their L1
and provides them with access to L2 (and access to L2 higher education)?
Difficult questions; don't expect easy answers; but will keep working on them.
Best wishes for the New Year,
Angel
--------------
Angel Lin, City University of Hong Kong, Dept of English; e-mail:
enangel who-is-at cityu.edu.hk
At 09:57 AM 1/4/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi Angel!
>
>Nice to hear from you on XMCA. What questions are most central to your
>work right now in Hong Kong. Your questions HAVE to be of broader
>interest here.
>
>Happy year of the Tiger.
>mike.
>
>