ENGLISH TEACHERS IN Hong Kong have unenviable lives, having to cope with heavy demands from work and intense pressure to upgrade themselves, with little recognition for the good work they do.
One initiative under education reforms that will affect them is the new Hong Kong Certificate of Education (HKCE) English language examination, which is to be implemented in 2007.
This new assessment, consisting of a public examination component and school-based assessment (SBA), will affect students entering Form Four in September.
While most educators applaud the move away from norm-referenced to standards-referenced assessment in the public exam component, the implementation of SBA is causing teachers to shudder. The simple reason is that SBA will put the onus on English teachers to take charge of the whole business of assessing students, and to ensure that the assessment is fair and reliable. The task is daunting, and teachers are ill-equipped for it.
Under the new SBA, which is worth 15 per cent of the total English exam mark, students will need to read and view four texts during Forms Four and Five. These consist of two print texts and two non-print, such as videos or films, including one fiction and one non-fiction for each category. After reading or viewing the texts, students will write comments and personal reflections and then engage in a discussion with classmates on what they have read and viewed. They will also make individual presentations on the texts and answer teachers' questions.
The assessment will be based solely on the students' oral performances, to be assessed according to set criteria. Teachers will need to undertake at least two assessments in Form Four and Five respectively, and will report the best mark at the end of each school year. They can choose from several assessment results to report each time, with no restrictions on the maximum number of tasks in any one year.