Supporting Language Enhancement in a Tertiary Environment: A Case Study

1. Supporting Language Enhancement in a Tertiary Environment: A Case Study David Nunan The English Centre University of Hong Kong

2. Overview • Aim of the presentation • Language policy at HKU • Background to the English Centre • Issues and controversies • A view from the learners • Looking to the future

3. Language policy at HKU • English as the medium of instruction • Credit-bearing courses in and English and Putonghua as part of the undergraduate curriculum

4. Background to the English Centre Pre-1991: English courses offered as part of the Language Centre 1991: EC established as a separate entity 1997: Courses compulsory and credit-bearing for all undergraduates 1997: Financial review of the Centre 2004: Academic review of language policy at HKU

5. Issues and controversies • a lack of fit between official University policy and practice • uncertainty as to where the Centre belongs administratively within the Academy • the status (or lack of it) of language teaching as a form of disciplined inquiry • ongoing controversy over the relationship between language and content • an inability on the part of non language specialists to discriminate between proficiency and achievement

6. Lack of fit between policy and practice EMI as official policy The ‘high cost’ of English enhancement “In evaluating and reviewing budgets to departments, it was the perception of the Vice-Chancellor’s Resources Liaison Group (RLG) that the unit cost per student of English was relatively high.” (HKU 1997).

7. Where the unit should fit organizationally Independent unit or part of a faculty? Which faculty?

8. The status of English language teaching as a form of disciplined inquiry • The ‘teacher’ / ‘non-teacher’ distinction. • “If you can speak a language, you can teach it.”

9. The content / language controversy • The ‘toolbox’ approach to language teaching. • Content free language teaching • Communication is always about something.

10. Proficiency versus achievement • The perennial ‘falling standards’ debate • Admission policy in an EMI The 2004 Review “… called attention to the need for help to be provided to students who were not up to standard in terms of their English proficiency and those who had difficulty with grammar and usage.”

11. Proficiency versus achievement • The EC brief “ helping students attain high levels of proficiency should be the goal of the Centre.” “students should be streamed on the basis of their language proficiency.” (Academic Review of Language Policy 2004)

12. Do English Centre courses make a difference? The “Gain Report” mean SD Pre-course 56.48 6.98 Post-course 63.49 5.71 A repeated measure t-test indicated that the difference was highly significant. (p < 0.0001) (English Centre 2004/05: 2)

13. Learner attitudes Should students admitted to an EMI institution on the basis of their Use of English scores be required to undertake a course in academic English? The ‘slippage’ issue.

14. The ‘good’ learner study The ‘better’ learner: communicative orientation these learners exhibit a degree of autonomy and goes on to say that “There can be a certain self-directedness involved in deliberately using interactions for learning purposes, and in this way an underlying field-independence may show itself.” (Willing 1993: 153).

15. The ‘good’ learner study The ‘weaker’ learner: authority-oriented “These learners exhibit characteristics of field-dependence and passivity. This learner type prefers structure and sequential progression. They do better in ‘traditional’ classrooms and look on teachers as authority figures”.

16. The ‘good’ learner study The better learner: preferred strategies • “I like to learn by watching / listening to native speakers.” • “I like to learn English words by seeing them.” • “At home, I like to learn by watching TV in English.” • “In class, I like to learn by conversation.” • “I like to learn many new words.”

17. The ‘good’ learner study The weaker learner: preferred strategies • “I like the teacher to tell me all my mistakes.” • “I like to learn English words by seeing them.” • “I like the teacher to help me talk about my interests.” • “I like to have my own textbook.” • “I like to learn new English words by doing something.”

18. The ‘good’ learner study Out of class use Less than an hour More than 10 hours per week per week A 22% 29% B 28% 13% C 40% 7% D 46% 3% E 66% 4%

19. The ‘good’ learner study Proficiency and academic specialization Better students: Arts, Law. Medicine Weaker students: Engineering, Science

20. The ‘good’ learner study Perceptions of the importance of English Virtually all of the students (97%) agreed that English was either ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ important.

21. The ‘good’ learner study Self-rating of language ability Fifty-six per cent of the higher proficiency students identified the two highest level statements as describing them, while only six per cent of lower proficiency students selected these statements

22. The ‘good’ learner study Enjoyment in learning English “I enjoy learning English a great deal.” Higher: 40% Lower: 2%

23. Looking to the future • Faculty acceptance that language issues are their responsibility • Greater flexibility of course offerings • Greater learner choice and self-responsibility • Retaining / recruiting a critical mass of competent English-speaking teachers

24. Faculty acceptance that language issues are their responsibility EC has responsibility for 4% of the undergraduate curriculum “excellence in the use of English should be made an objective of the entire curriculum.” (p28). “Englishin the Major” courses

25. Greater flexibility of courses offerings • Persistence of ‘traditional’ ways of thinking. • “Abandon the better student.” versus • “Abandon the weaker student.”

26. Greater flexibility of courses offerings In the first instance, proposals had to be pedagogically defensible. In addition, they had to: • be cost effective / efficiency of resources • involve some degree of student choice • foster student self-responsibility • retain an EAP focus • be administratively feasible • cater to increased diversity of language proficiency

27. Greater learner choice and self-responsibility Learning is not about cramming in information. It is about learning by doing. It is about looking at issues in various ways and developing capacities, especially the ability to research and dig beyond the surface to reach the truth. It is also about finding the right information to solve problems and finish tasks. That is why our goal is to teach students to learn how to learn, rather than merely passing information to them. (Tsui, 2006:1)

28. Retaining / recruiting a critical mass of competent English-speaking teachers The impact of localization

29. References Benson, P. and W. Lor. 1998. Making Sense of Autonomous Language Learning: Conceptions of Learning and Readiness for Autonomy. English Centre Monograph No. 2 University of Hong Kong. Benson, P. and D. Nunan (eds.) 2002. The experience of language learning. Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7, 2. Benson, P. and D. Nunan. (eds.) 2005. Learners’ Stories: Difference and Diversity in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. English Centre. 2004/05 English Provision for Law Students: Final Report. Littlewood, W. Tsui, Lap Che. 2006. Interview with the Vice-Chancellor. Dialogue. May, 2006. Willing, K. 1993. Learning Styles in Adult Migrant Education. NCELTR, Macquarie University: Sydney. University of Hong Kong. 1997. Financial Review of the English Centre. University of Hong Kong. 2004. Review of Language Education in the University.