The transition from English to mother-tongue Chinese as medium of instruction; issues and problems as seen by Hong Kong teachers

Abstract

In this article we consider the article and problems as seen by Hong Kong teachers during the transitional period from English to mother-tongue Chinese as medium of instruction (MOI). It is vital to examine teachers' perceptions for they reflect the real situation at the school level and are likely to affect the successful implementation of MOI policy. Our data show that while teachers generally adopted a positive attitude towards the change, they experienced difficulties, such as lack of confidence using Modern Standard Written Chinese (MSWC) as a teaching language, lack of quality Chinese teaching resources, pressure resulting from parents' resistance and anxiety on account of the uncertainty of government language policy for the senior secondary level. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.