The education sector appears to be at a loss as to the cause of the falling standard of English among Hong Kong students. Some educationalists blame the lack of emphasis on grammar in our curriculum and have called for it to be taught in schools, which is alarming.
Anyone over 50 in Hong Kong will remember A Brighter Grammar by Charles E. Eckersley and An Oxford English Course by Lawrence Faucett. They were standard textbooks in nearly all primary schools in the 1960s and, while they were excellent for teachers, they were hell for pupils, for whom grammar is baffling.
'Immersion' is the only effective way to learn a language. Colonial Hong Kong provided students with an excellent environment to learn English; with newspapers, books, films, songs, radio and TV in the language. Most important of all, though, was the attitude of students themselves. They felt ashamed if they were unable to speak English passably and believed that if they failed in language, they failed in life.
Although education officials stress the importance of English in an international city like Hong Kong, they have been unable to convince students, who watch TV and films and listen to pop music and the radio in Cantonese. They have no qualms at being unable to speak English and until this changes, there is no hope for the language here.
LEE CHEE LEUNG
Sha Tin