The 2nd DSE has just started and one of the subjects that raise people's concern is Chinese. This documentary was taken by TVB, showing the views from different stakeholder, concerning the examination of Chinese, which has been called the "paper of death".
Last year, in the 1st DSE, about half of the candidates failed to achieve level 3 in Chinese (HKEAA, 2012), which is the minimum criterion for the entry of university. The percentage of pass of Chinese is the lowest among all the four core subjects. In the Advanced Level Examination, the pass percentage of Chinese was usually higher than 90%(HKEAA, 2012), thus the last Chinese examination result in the DSE raised a huge concern about the Chinese standard among Hong Kong youth as well as about the education system on Chinese.
The Chinese result in DSE last year brought a really huge shock to many people, not just students, but also to parents and teachers. Traditionally, Hong Kong people put more focus on English, even though both Chinese and English are compulsory language subjects to most Hong Kong students. Parents would send their children to English tutorials when they are very young, but seldom to Chinese tutorials. One of the main reasons is that we use Chinese in most part of our life, we used to think we are very familiar to our "mother language". However, that recent examination result has awoken them from this misconception. .Some people pointed out, as in a Chinese society, that it is shameful we have such poor standard in Chinese.
Would the relatively low Chinese level in Hong Kong be resulted by the language education policy? According to the vice-chairperson of the Education Convergence, Ho Hon Kuen, one of the main problems in the current Chinese education in Hong Kong is that an examination method that is used to assess a foreign language (English) is adapted to assess Chinese, which is our native language(
Television Boardcasts Limited, 2013). In order to tackle this format of examination, students may learn Chinese in a wrong way and thus reduce their Chinese standard. Another point he mentioned is the cancel of model essay in 2007. In the pass, Hong Kong students had to memorize 26model essays in order to tackle the Chinese examination. Some people think it is good to replace this examination method as it is not useful and hard for the candidates to cram up some essays instead of examining their skill of comprehension and application. However, the Head of the Department of Economics of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Francis T. Lui thinks that these essays can act as models for the students. Through memorizing these good essays, students would subconsciously improve their Chinese writing skills and comprehension skills(
Television Boardcasts Limited, 2013).
It seems good to raise people's concern on their mother language. Students, parents, teachers and even the government might have to do something in order to solve the problem concerning the standard on Chinese of Hong Kong youth. However, would it develop in a way we hope? Or would it just make Chinese a further more exam-oriented subject and add more pressure on the DSE candidates? That is something we should think about.
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. (2012).
2012 Hong Kong Advances Level Examination Results Released. Retrieve from http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/Candidates/press_20120628_chi.pdf
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. (2012).
2012 HKDSE Analysis of results of candidates in each
subject . Retrieve from http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/HKDSE/Exam_Report/Examination_Statistics/dseexamstat12_5.pdf
Television Boardcasts Limited. (2013). Sunday Report-- Rescue of Chinese. Reprieved from http://mytv.tvb.com/news/sundayreport/143174?lang=en-hk#page-1
Television Boardcasts Limited. (2013). Sunday Report-- Rescue of Chinese. Reprieved from http://mytv.tvb.com/news/sundayreport/143174?lang=en-hk#page-1
The Chinese examination in DSE has changed a lot from either HKCEE or HKAL in the format. Candidates are required to understand the syntax, rhetorical devices and the author's emotion. This understanding has more to do with "understanding" Chinese than "knowing" Chinese because it is about culture but not just for communication. It was very different from the relatively grammar-and-practical-oriented English exam. From the exam report, we can see students are having difficulty to thoroughly understand our native language. Reasons could be the rigid assessment method, or imbalance in attention on Chinese and English. Students are encouraged to learn in English even in non-language subjects; band 1 schools are all EMI...We and parents believe English is the most important and suitable language for education in order to increase our competitiveness in the future. However, as a native speaker, we overestimate our ability to handle our mother tongue. We are satisfied with the daily communication level rather than the higher literature level. The exam can certainly arouse people's attention to Chinese again.
回覆刪除In addition, I think memorizing model essay is an effective way to learn Chinese. My Chinese teacher told me that we need to have some "ink in abdomen" (basic knowledge in mind) before we can proficiently use the language. Compulsorily read more Chinese literature would be good in Chinese learning. I advocates that to re-enter the curriculum.
It is really necessary for the Hong Kong Government to re-think and re-draft the education policy of Chinese in Hong Kong as the situation now clearly shows that Hong Kong students, or even Hong Kong people are not really that capable in using Chinese and understanding it. I believe the main reason is due to the difference between our spoken language - Cantonese and our written language - Chinese. As we use Cantonese to communicate with each other in daily life, we cannot really shift to the use of Chinese when we are writing and this makes our writing quite strange and we cannot fully express ourselves. For example, the grammar of Chinese is not taught in school as most of us think that it is not important as long as we can communicate with each other. In my opinion, the grammar of our mother language should absolutely be taught when the grammar of our second language - English is being taught. I believe grammar will help Hong Kong people improve their Chinese level very much.
回覆刪除The shocking pass rate of Chinese Language in the first Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education has once been a heat issue for discussion in the pass year since the statistics may be an indicator of a hidden possibility, the Chinese proficiency of Hong Kong people is dropping dramatically. I believe the fall in Chinese Language scores during the public examination performance is complicated and can be constituted with multiple reasons, including lacking the experiences how to face public examinations and also no former occurrence can be taken as guidance. However, there is no doubt that the education language policy in Hong Kong plays a role in explaining the big contrast between the above-mentioned passing percentages. Probably, after the bi-literacy and tri-lingualism were introduced to Hong Kong, Chinese language was not effective promoted in terms of depth, the educational levels maintained or focused mostly on conversational levels and the ability to communicate but not utilizing the language to understand the culture and literature it contained behind. To solve this massive problem, time is needed and change in language education policies are required. And I believe the major directions can be emphasizing and rooting Chinese language with Chinese literature and cultures. Another possible idea is to stress the importance of Chinese language in the society.
回覆刪除It is ironic that the Chinese language ability of students have dropped even after launching the "Mother Language Policy". I agree that the major factor causing this outcome is the change of examination system. People always think that reciting Chinese essays is a spoon-fed education which will prevent students from thinking and understanding Chinese essays and culture. However, it is essential to have some "ink in your stomach" so that you can develop your own views on Chinese culture. In fact, there were questions which required applied and understanding of Chinese culture in the old syllabus before 2007. I am glad to hear that the EDB is considering adding Chinese literature essays reciting back to the syllabus and examination.
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