English language proficiency assessment for English language teachers in Hong Kong Development and dilemmas文档.doc

English Language Proficiency Assessment for English Language Teachers in Hong Kong: Development and Dilemmas Angel M. Y. Lin, PhD (Toronto) Professor, Faculty of Education Chinese University of Hong Kong 1. Background: HK Government Responding to Business Concerns In December 1995, The Hong Kong Education Commission published Report No. 6 (ECR6). In the Report, the Education Commission addressed the concerns expressed to the Hong Kong Government by business corporations about the “declining standards of language skills” among school graduates in Hong Kong. The Education Commission acknowledged the need for high level language skills among the workforce in Hong Kong as it moves away from a manufacturing to a service and high-tech industries and highlighted a number of areas for action. On the issue of standards of language ability of teachers about which there were concerns, two recommendations were made: ECR6 C1: The concept of “benchmark” qualifications for all teachers should be explored by the Advisory Committee on Teacher Education and Qualifications (ACTEQ) with a view to making proposals to the Government as early as possible in 1996. ECR6 C2: Minimum language proficiency standards should be specified, which all teachers (not just teachers of language subjects) should meet before they obtain their initial professional qualification. The standards should be designed to ensure that new teachers are competent to teach through the chosen medium of instruction. This is an ambitious attempt to step up the language requirements of all teachers, not just language teachers. However, work has progressed in the past decade (since 1996) mainly on developing and implementing the language benchmarks for language teachers. This paper focuses on the development of the English benchmark standards for English language teachers in Hong Kong. Some dilemmas in implementation will be discussed and future directions for research will also be proposed. 2. Early Developments: