ORIGINAL RESOURCES FOR
TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF EDUCATION AND
ENGLISH IN HONG KONG
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE LEARNING DIFFICULTY IN HONG
KONG: An ethnographic assessment of the
Hong Kong context with proposed solutions
(1993).
This
wide-ranging Hong Kong University
doctoral thesis by George Adams is
available as a PDF file here
(34.1 MB). It is also gradually being
made available in HTML sections on the
OTHK site. See links below.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE - Background
and preparation for research
Research Project I
1. THE CONCEPT OF
DIFFICULTY - Philosophical, psychological
and general semantic orientation
Measurement of
difficulty
Learning
difficulty/disability
Chinese cognition and
learning style
Chinese communication
strategies
2. DIFFICULTY AND
ENGLISH - General linguistic orientation
"Languages"
Authority and usage
Educational reports
First language errors
Contrasting first and
second language errors
Linguistic
acceptability
Appropriateness
Relative difficulty of
English
A universal hierarchy
of difficulty
3. ENGLISH IN HONG KONG
- Sociolinguistic orientation
Hong Kong English -
S.E. Asian and world perspectives
New Englishes
Localized forms of
English
Non-native Englishes
Non-native varieties
English as an
additional language
Errors as unrecognised
features of Hong Kong English
The Hong Kong identity
U-Gay-Wah
Hong Kong English in
literature
Conclusion
4. ENGLISH LANGUAGE
LEARNING - Focus on TEFL and TESL and our
approach
Fluency
Optimum acquisition and
environment
Conditions for second
language learning (Spolsky)
Constraints in foreign
language learning
Transactional Analysis
A TA Education Model
Barriers in
foreign/second language learning
Cultural assumptions
and foreign/second language learning
5. RESEARCH PROJECT I -
Focus on Hong Kong English Language
Learning Difficulty
Study rationale
Possible use of the
data
Study design
School A
School B
Tabulation
Results
Comparison of student
and teacher perceptions of difficulty
PART TWO - Examination
and elucidation of Research Project I
findings
Research Project II
6. THE INTERFERENCE OF
CANTONESE IN HONG KONG ENGLISH USAGE -
Contrastive lingusitic aspects to
perceived English language learning
difficulty in Hong Kong
Morphological level
Syntactical level
Lexical level
Phrasal level
Spelling
Redundancy
Beyond error correction
and interference analysis
Psychological, didactic
and sociological factors in
interference
7. THE DIFFICULTIES OF
THE HONG KONG TEACHING/LEARNING
SITUATION - Sociology, educational
function and constraints
The sociological
situation of Hong Kong students
The function of
education in Hong Kong society
The constraints of the
Hong Kong education system
The perception of
learning difficulty within the education
system
8. LEARNING STYLES AND
APPROACHES IN HONG KONG - The perspective
of the educational psychologist
(literature review)
The culture myth
"Chinese
culture"
Literature unrelated to
Biggs
Users and sympathisers
of the Biggs Study Process Questionnaire
Critical assessment of
the Biggs line
9. RESEARCH PROJECT II
: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION - Do Hong Kong
English teachers attempt to counter the
nexus of difficulty?
Classroom observation
Observation instruments
Our observation
technique
Feedback
Interventions
Teacher A
Teacher B
Teacher C
Analysis
10. INTERVENTION
STRATEGIES AND A SUGGESTED INTERVENTION
MODEL
Systems analysis
Comparisons between TA
Language Learning and other methods and
approaches
TALL in principle
TALL in practice
Intervention strategies
11. CONCLUSION
Results of the study
Directions of future
research
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
13. APPENDIX
GAMES HONG KONG PEOPLE
PLAY - the best-selling classic guide
to Hong Kong life (1992).
Now out of print but about to be
re-published. 'Adams is a wickedly astute
people watcher who has managed to sum up,
with absolute accuracy, a small mass of
mankind in a minimum of words...Wonderful
stuff.' TV AND ENTERTAINMENT TIMES.
TAI TAM TUK -
Light reading for casual moments in
tribute to Raymond Chandler
(unpublished).
NOTE AND CONDITION OF USE: ©
George Adams 1992-2010. Copyright and all
other ownership rights have not been
relinquished on the above material.
LINKS
Copies of
George Adams works available in the Hong
Kong Public Libraries.
Samples of
George Adams USA published stories
available on Google
Books.
World
Tribune article by Ed Neilan
describing NOT THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING
POST.
"NOT
THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST" -
Chapter 8 of The
Suffocation Of Hong Kong.
Archives of
NOT THE SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
available at Hemlock's
Diary.
Online
Journalism Review 50 International
Names To Know.
DOES IT
HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?: Education and
Socialisation in Hong Kong by Anthony
Solloway on Amazon.
ARTICLES OF
NOTE
We reproduce this important
article temporarily from the Daily
Telegraph in full for the benefit of Hong
Kong students contemplating study in the
UK.
Private
school pupils 'being rejected
from
university'
By Graeme Paton,
Eleanor Harding and Heidi Blake
Published: 10:00PM GMT 12 Feb 2010
Entry at Oxbridge is especially hard
this year Photo: IAN JONES
Headmasters are blaming a shortage of
university places caused by funding cuts,
combined with the effect of Labour’s
“social engineering” drive that
prioritises bright children from
under-performing comprehensives.
Two out of three top independent
schools approached by The Daily Telegraph
said teenagers were finding it harder to
get into higher education this year
compared with 12 months ago.
Related Articles
In some cases, pupils predicted to get
three A*s at A-level – along with a
string of perfect GCSE results – are
being turned down from all five of their
choices.
Entry to Oxbridge is especially hard
this year, heads claim. Some schools
reported a drop of around three-quarters
in the number of students with offers
from Oxford and Cambridge.
Heads said the squeeze was being
exacerbated by the Government’s “widening
participation” policy. It encourages
universities to give lower grade offers
to bright pupils from poor schools
showing the most potential.
It is also feared that universities
are prioritising foreign students who can
be charged far higher fees.
Richard Cairns, head of Brighton
College, said: “The financial pressures
and the social mobility agenda are
leading to a situation where children who
have worked very hard to get the grades
that their forebears got are finding it
more difficult than their predecessors to
get into university.”
One student from Brighton – rated
among Britain’s top 20 schools in a
recent league table – has been rejected
from Oxford, University College London
and Durham, despite being predicted three
A*s at A-level, on top of straight As at
GCSE and AS level.
The Telegraph interviewed the heads of
30 leading independent schools and
two-thirds reported concerns over the
admissions process.
In many cases, they said universities
imposed last-minute rises in A-level
entry requirements – often after
students had applied.
The disclosure follows the publication
of figures this week showing applications
to degree courses are up 23 per cent
compared with 2009. More than 100,000
extra applications have been made and
demand for places at some institutions
has doubled in just 12 months.
The rise is being driven by students
reapplying after being turned down last
year combined with a dramatic increase in
demand from mature students returning to
education because of a shortage of jobs
in the recession.
Despite the surge, separate research
from the Telegraph suggests that as many
as a quarter of universities are actually
cutting the number of places for British
undergraduates after a drop in budgets.
Last week, universities were told that
spending would be slashed by £449m in
the autumn, including a £215m reduction
in cash for teaching and warnings of
further reductions in the future.
Steve Smith, the president of
Universities UK, which represents
vice-chancellors, told the Telegraph that
admissions tutors still had a “duty”
to identify good students with poorer
grades despite the admissions crisis –
potentially placing further pressure on
places for independent school pupils.
“Many students who have shown a
desire to go to university are going to
be very disappointed this year,” he
said. “But data shows that people often
do better coming in with lower grades
from a poorly-performing school then if
they come in with higher grades from a
well-performing school.”
Antony Clark, the head of Malvern
College in Worcestershire, said
outstanding candidates who would have
received five offers from top
universities were now lucky to receive
one or two.
“I think admissions tutors are
looking closely for the rough diamond who
has not been through the private school
system but is showing huge potential,”
he said.
Peter Roberts, the head of Bradfield
College, Reading, said: “We will have
some boys and girls who are turned down
for all five universities they apply for
in the upper-sixth and that’s very hard
for a young person who has worked hard
and done well.”
Many independent schools send a small
number of students to Oxbridge every
year. But some told the Telegraph that
numbers had plummeted in 2010.
Woodhouse Grove School, West
Yorkshire, said it usually had three
offers, but only received one this year.
Elizabeth Enthoven, head of sixth
form, said: “I think the competition is
much fiercer, and they have their agenda
about open access.”
Sunderland High School said it had no
Oxbridge offers, despite normally
receiving around two. One boy had three
A* predictions and straight As at GCSE
and AS level but was rejected.
Queen’s College, Taunton, said the
three or four places pupils normally
gained had dropped to one, while Emanuel
School, Battersea, said numbers dropped
from around three a year to one in 2010.
Mark Hanley-Browne, Emanuel
headmaster, said: “It’s harder to get
into the top universities in 2010. We had
very good students that didn’t make it
who in previous years would have done -
people with 10 A*s at GCSE and four As at
AS level.”
Other schools told how students were
finding it significantly harder to get
into other universities, suggesting that
the squeeze is being felt across the
sector.
In a separate disclosure, the
Telegraph surveyed 30 top universities. A
quarter said they planned to cut student
numbers. This included Lancaster,
Leicester, Manchester and the West of
England. At least half said numbers were
being frozen.
In all, between 750,000 and 800,000
students are expected to compete for
around 480,000 places.
Graham McQueen, head of sixth form,
Warminster School, Wiltshire, said: “It’s
never been more competitive to get into
the Russell Group universities.”
King’s School, Rochester, said the
grades offered for red brick universities
were noticeably higher.
Kevin Jones, head of senior school,
said: “My main concern is what happens
in the summer. The people who miss their
grades by a whisker are going to have
problems.
“It’s going to be much more
difficult to negotiate on results day.”
A spokesman for the Department for
Business, Innovation and Skills, denied
that private school pupils faced
discrimination.
“Although admissions are rightly a
matter for individual institutions, the
Government is committed to ensuring that
entry to university is determined by
aptitude, potential and merit, not where
a student was educated,” she said.
“There are a record number of
students – over 2m – at university.
That’s 390,000 more than in 1997 and
next year we expect there will be more
students than ever before.
“But getting a place at university
has always been, and should be, a
competitive process. Not everyone gets
the grades and some decide university is
not for them.
“But, it is early days and students
haven’t even sat their A-levels yet.”
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