Claims of declining standards beg the question of motivation

I find your report entitled 'Decline in English standards 'alarming'' (Education Post, May 5) fairly insulting and discouraging, particularly to students in Chinese medium of instruction (CMI) schools who have been working consistently hard to improve their English despite being labeled as the 'less able' group in using the language.

While researchers and renowned scholars themselves find it hard to conclude whether English standards have declined in general and tend to make very cautious claims on the issue, how can one be so sure in claiming that 'students in English-medium schools were more motivated in learning English and had higher expectations from themselves compared with peers in Chinese-medium schools'?

Students from CMI schools have always been a victim of discrimination, being viewed as second-class students who are 'destined' to use only their native tongue to learn because they are 'incapable' of using another language to do so. And this stereotype was what caused so much discontent and worries among parents when the government started to promote mother-tongue teaching.

But the simple fact we can see is, despite their self-image constantly trashed, CMI students have, over the years, been brave enough to face the inequality and prove their ability and achievements over that of their English medium of instruction (EMI) counterparts.

I doubt how much research has gone into the bloated claim that 'EMI students were more motivated and had higher expectations'. And I question the appropriateness of making such an irresponsible statement at an academic conference.

True researchers are well aware of the fact that while stereotypes abound in our daily conversations, they should be avoided like the plague in serious academic discussions. But the mere fact that the statement was made by a 'novice researcher', being an associate degree student, does not make the mistake excusable.