Better Supervision better Teaching: A Handbook for Teaching Practice Supervisors

9. Discussing a Lack of Language Fluency

CHAPTER฀9฀ Discussing฀a฀Lack฀of฀Language฀ Fluency฀ ISSUE฀ A student teacher's lack of fluency in the language of instruction is hindering the teaching of the subject. Ho w ca n this problem be addressed b y the supervisor an d wha t hel p can be given? This topic refers to the language o f instruction, whic h in Hon g Kong, a t th e tim e o f th e interviews , wa s stil l English i n mos t secondary school s fo r mos t subjects . However, th e supervisor s and student teachers already knew that government policy would soon begin to phase in Chinese language o f instruction fo r th e majority o f schools. IS฀THIS฀A฀SERIOUS฀PROBLEM?฀ Before asking why this was considered a difficult topic to discuss, let us look at its importance and seriousness. 124฀Bette r฀Supervision,฀Better฀Teaching:฀A฀Handbook฀for฀Teaching฀Practice฀Supervisors฀ One studen t teacher o f English was very clear : It's very important. A teacher acts as a model in English teaching and learning. Pupils have few opportunities to listen to English, so teacher s becom e th e almos t uniqu e sourc e o f Englis h learning. And if an English teacher is not good in pronunciation or grammar, then it will certainly have a bad effect on pupils. (ST7) Also, a student teache r o f Geography : Verbal expression is very importan t i n teaching It' s ver y difficult fo r a Hong Kong person to use one language fluently. Mixed code is one of the big problems — a sentence may involve two or three different languages . (ST21) On th e othe r hand , a studen t teache r o f Mathematic s an d Economics did no t conside r fluenc y i n English important : No, Economics draws on daily lives and we can easily dra w simple example s fro m dail y situation s t o explai n comple x theories. The focus should not be on language fluency, but on the teacher's skill in teaching Economics. Language is not an obstacle. (ST22) There wa s als o a differenc e o f opinio n amon g supervisors . One supervisor o f English reported : I found that many of the English teachers can write quite well, but t o use English as a medium o f instruction in class is not easy for some of them. Maybe they have Hong Kong English or 'Chinglish'. I know they have such errors related to grammar How฀important฀do฀you฀think฀ language฀fluency฀is฀in฀your฀ subject?฀ Discussing฀a฀Lack฀of฀Language฀Fluency฀12 5฀ and especially pronunciation, and maybe they have not taken any training. (SUP20) By contrast , a superviso r o f Economi c an d Publi c Affair s (EPA)/Economics claime d tha t th e Englis h standar d o f teacher s in Band 1 and 2 schools was very high — perfectly fluent. In Band 3 and 4 schools, the teachers may have some problems because of the students having poor English. This would no t then present a problem when the y use Chinese a s the medium. However , ther e are some subject s tha t still need English : Does฀thi s฀mea n฀tha t฀ teachers฀wil l฀hav e฀n o฀ problem฀passing฀language฀ benchmark฀tests?฀ My experience is that teachers have no difficulty in teaching in English, bu t student s hav e problem s i n understandin g an d interpreting what the teacher has said. My only difficulty i s in pre-vocational and technical schools where academic standards are lower. Especially in the subject Accounting where they have to use English as the medium of instruction because they have to take international standardized exams in English. (SUP13) One superviso r o f Musi c foun d n o problem s wit h usin g Chinese as the medium, especially when teaching Chinese music. Translation of English terms is not a problem. It has been done for a long time. Only occasionally, using the right word to say the right thing is a problem. (SUP27) In฀your฀experience ,฀i s฀the฀ use฀o f฀Chines e฀a s฀th e฀ medium฀of฀instruction฀ever฀ a฀problem?฀ 126฀Bette r฀Supervision,฀Better฀Teaching:฀A฀Handbook฀for฀Teaching...