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Ella Lee

Stella Lee

MANY primary six students who should study in Chinese may be forced to attend English-medium secondary schools in the coming school year.

  A new Education Department assessment of students' language ability shows that up to two-thirds of the students cannot learn effectively through English.

  But an earlier survey found only 13.3 per cent of the 392 secondary schools opted to use Chinese as the main medium of instruction from September.

  The serious mismatch could continue for a few more years, and a detailed review is expected for the 1998/99 academic year.

  Individual results of the assessment on the 85,560 primary six students, the first of its kind, will be released today to help parents choose a secondary school which offers a language of instruction suitable for their children.

  More than 28,500 pupils (33.3 per cent) should be able to learn ''effectively'' in either English or Chinese.

  Nearly 59 per cent should learn more eff ectively through Chinese while the rest should learn better through Chinese but may learn effectively in English.

  The grouping is based on the schools' internal assessments on pupils through academic aptitude tests at the end of primary five and during the mid-year of primary six.

  In the school survey, 223 schools or 57 per cent chose English as the major teaching language, 14 schools preferred different media for different classes, 100 said it should depend on the subjects, and three preferred a combination.

  Director of Education Dominic Wong Shing-wah is hoping the degree of mismatch can be reduced over time.

  A ''firmer guidance'' would be given to schools in the selection of teaching language by 1998/99, if they are found to have made a wrong choice.

  Vice-president of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, Pun Tin-chi, said the mismatch could hinder study if students learnt in a language which did not suit them.

  ''The hurdle of language the students have had to face over the past years [when teachers could use both languages] has resulted in many problems such as drop-outs,'' Mr Pun said.

  He said these problems would be even worse in future if students could not cope with English teaching.

  Mr Pun called on the Government to monitor closely the situation and give clear directions to schools when problems surfaced.

  Senior Education Officer Anthony Poon Hon-hung called on parents to choose a school appropriate to their children's language proficiency.

  Parents will also receive a list of secondary schools showing their choice of teaching medium and a leaflet promoting teaching in mother-tongue.



Streaming may force students to study in 'wrong' language