Letters | No fancy English in Hong Kong classrooms please: write to communicate, rather than impress

Many Hongkongers believe a good command of English means using advanced words and phrases and complex sentences. It is a widely held belief that in the Diploma of Secondary Education exam,   better grades are awarded to students who give answers full of complex sentences and fancy words. Also, documents from officials – like work reports – show an addiction to extremely long, complex sentences.

However, when we read documents written in such “good English”, including the so-called Level 5 samples from the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority, we may struggle to understand the writer’s key message at first reading.

The problem is that Hongkongers tend to forget why we use English, which is to communicate with non-Chinese-speakers effectively. Because of our wrong focus, we ignore the needs of the intended recipients and write clumsy, complex sentences full of gobbledygook. The readability of our work suffers, and the reader’s time is wasted in trying to understand the point we are trying to make.

To fix the problem, we need to introduce plain English in our classrooms. When teaching practical writing, teachers should train students to write concisely and use a clean format, instead of writing clumsy sentences just to show off their vocabulary and language skills. During exams, the readability of answers should be assessed, and thus writers of hard-to-read pieces penalised.

Indeed, a reader-first mindset is as important as good grammar in ensuring the effective delivery of messages.