English proficiency tests

Having read the editorial in the January issue (Varsity, P. 2) about the English proficiency test, I agree that the general English standard of Hong Kong students is declining. This latent problem is very complicated. It implicates not only students themselves, but also teachers and our education system.

Even if about 100 secondary schools use English as the medium of instructon, the English standard will not be improved sharply. Most teachers in these English schools used mainly Cantonese as the medium of instruction in the past.

For university admission, even if we require an English proficiency test of students, it will not truly reflect their English standard. It just represents that they passed the admission test at that instant or they are geniuses in paper examinations. It will not guarantee that their English standard can be maintained for long. Some students rarely use English at work after graduation. That’s why the English standard is declining.

Learning English is a life-long process. Students ought to learn and use English through speaking, writing, reading and listening in the broad sense, not just confining themselves to tests and exams. If they use English in their daily lives, their English standard will not be low.

Unfortunately, under our present education system, we select the “paper evidence?of students who can make good results.

Problems arise when students stop putting in effort to learn English after they have passed the exams. This is failing of our education system.

On the other hand, local teachers are poor in English because there is no Continuous English Development for their profession. CED means that they should keep on learning English through daily contact with English. This theory also applies to students. They should not think that they are good in English after having worked hard for exams.

Recently the government proposed to launch a Proficiency Test of Languages for teachers. I think this is very important to screen out incompetent teachers.

Make a kill on incompetent teachers rather than mess up our education system and poison our children in our future.

I have met many English teachers with poor English who are not competent enough to be teachers. We do understand the problems of learning English in a Chinese community. We are shy and scared to use English after school and in daily life.

An active way to upgrade the English standard is to set up an English group whose function is to make life-long English learning a practical matter.

Students need interactive English teaching methods like those of Singapore. Reading newspapers and incorporating English into general life and extra-curricular activities are examples.

Regardless of the political reasons, if we designate English as our official language, within 10 years our English could be pushed up to a truly international standard. Otherwise, education reforms are worthless and wasting the public money.

Jack Lo

Diamond Hill