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Wordsmiths forge ahead

It has been more than 12 years since the handover, but the local English literary scene has remained vibrant, with major annual events attracting a lot of youngsters.

The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival takes place next month. 'I was at last year's equivalent and saw a good number of [novelists] and [writers] of short stories,' says Simon Haines, chair professor of English at Chinese University. 'There were quite a lot of young people in the audience taking strong interest in the local literary scene.'

Leading local retail chains specialising in English books also organise events throughout the year.

Interest in English literature among students may increase under the New Senior Secondary (NSS) curriculum. Through the NSS electives, schools have the option of choosing electives from language arts and non-language arts through which to teach English.

'A school may opt to take poems as an elective, though this is not considered a subject. This is a way of teaching English through the context of poems, short stories and drama, among others,' says Gary Harfitt, a teaching consultant at University of Hong Kong (HKU).

'The fact that schools are allowed to choose these electives for themselves shows that the Education Bureau is promoting a more school-based curriculum that puts emphasis on the use of authentic texts, including films, short stories and poems, through which to approach the same English skills that the schools have always had to teach. Schools can tailor their materials to suit the needs of their students - this is something new.

'My own feeling is that these electives offer teachers the chance to be more creative and to utilise a range of resources in order to expose students to English in context.'

Haines says Chinese University sees growing demand among English teachers for postgraduate studies of English literature, driven by the growth in liberal studies courses in the NSS curriculum. 'There are many secondary school teachers seeking a professional development aspect to their studies.'

The university will launch a master of arts programme in English literary studies in September.

It aims to encourage students to develop a global perspective of literary studies. 'We will present them with literary works that will help them build an understanding of the big-life questions such as faith, life and death and where one fits into the community,' Haines says.

HKU's master of education programme features a specialism in English language studies that has a module in literature and language arts. 'Our approach focuses on teaching methodology. Teachers can use poems to have students reflect on English. It is literature on a small scale - we use it as a tool to provide some content for the discussion of English,' says Dr David Carless, HKU's associate professor and head of English language education.

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