I refer to the letter by John Yuan headlined, 'Remedy English weaknesses', which appeared in the South China Morning Post, on July 16, regarding the lowering of English standards in Hong Kong's universities. Mr Yuan referred to the decision to allow universities to accept students whose English results were below the previous minimum requirement. He said that he would like to see a remedy to this problem. I do not think tertiary institutions should be blamed for the deteriorating standard of English. They register A-Level candidates whose English standard is below average, because the supply is greater than the demand now. If they chose only those who met the requirement, then this would leave around 2,000 empty seats in lecture theatres. It is important that educational resources are fully utilised. The use of English at tertiary level is important, as there are just a few courses run exclusively in Chinese, or other languages. The universities will offer courses to try and raise students' standard of English to the required level. The remedy lies with the secondary schools, not the universities. Teachers should closely study the reviews and marker's report issued by the Examination Authority regarding the A-Level exam. They should take notes of the main points of advice and try to help students with the problems they experience. Teachers should provide well-designed and meaningful work. Providing students with a lot of work is important, but they should also be taught to adopt a positive attitude to their work and not just concentrate on the exam. If they can be helped to develop an interest in their subject, their performance will improve as they gain in confidence. LIU HIU-LO North Point
