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VERONICA, A FIRST-YEAR undergraduate at HKU, is making remarkable progress in her use of English for tertiary study. Outside the library towards the end of semester and in the course of a casual chat about her courses, I complimented her on her English. 'I'm really pleased that you're doing so well,' I said. 'We must be doing something right.'

'Oh, it isn't you,' she replied at once. 'It isn't?' 'I don't think so. It's my Canadian roommate. She likes to talk a lot.'

Veronica, a good language learner and an effective language user, was one of the informants in a study into the language learning attitudes and practices of Hong Kong University students. Questions investigated in the study included:

How important is English for study and employment?

How do you feel about having to do compulsory English enhancement courses as part of your undergraduate degree?

How much time do you spend practising and using English outside of the classroom?

What percentage of your classes is conducted in English?

What strategies and techniques do you find most effective for learning the language?

How would you rate your ability in English?

Do you enjoy learning and using it?

We collected the views of more than  1,000 students  through interviews and questionnaires. We were particularly interested in 'effective' learners like Veronica. One of the things we wanted to know was whether their attitudes and practices differed significantly from less effective learners.

So what is it that made Veronica a good learner? In the first place, she took responsibility for her own learning. Finding a native-English speaking roommate was a deliberate strategy.  We found that better language learners spent up to 15 hours a week practising English outside the formal language classroom. Poorer ones  spent less than an hour a week. When we asked better learners to tell us about their favourite  technique, their response was 'interacting with native speakers'. For poorer learners it was: 'I like the teacher to tell me all my mistakes.'

The importance of English was the one issue on which both higher and lower proficiency students agreed - 97 per cent said English was either 'very' or 'extremely' important for both education and employment. The better students were prepared to do something about it. They enjoyed learning English more than poorer ones  (40 per cent against  6 per cent) and worked  on it outside  the classroom.

We also collected  views on the medium of instruction, which is supposed to be English at HKU and students have to achieve a certain level of proficiency in order to get in. Once in, they have to take one or two courses for credit in it in order to graduate. Some students resented this requirement, feeling that having passed the benchmark requirement for admission, they should not have to do additional English language courses. This attitude was more prevalent among weaker than stronger students.

The data on medium of instruction in classroom settings was mixed. A high percentage said their lectures were delivered in English. However, this slipped for  tutorials and demonstrations. Students reported that while their preference was for English instruction, they had difficulty understanding their instructors' English.

A number  who did not speak Cantonese also said they struggled in class because 'English medium' involved extensive  switching between English, Cantonese and even Putonghua. Several also reported that 'English medium' meant that the reading and assignments were in English but that their classes were mainly in Cantonese.

The competence of faculty members to teach in English should be a fundamental employment requirement in an English-medium institution. At the University of Hong Kong and other English-medium tertiary institutions in Hong Kong, it is not. These days, if you want to teach English in Hong Kong schools, you have to demonstrate that you are competent to do so. The same requirement should also be imposed on those who are teaching through the medium of English at tertiary level.

David Nunan is director of HKU's English centre.



Better students united by their language skills