Reforming Medium of Instruction in Hong Kong: Its Impact on Learning

The compulsory Chinese-medium teaching policy has been in place in Hong Kong since September 1998, one year after the handover of sovereignty. To date, very few studies have been conducted on the impact of the compulsory Chinese-medium teaching policy on learning. The public perception is that the English standards of students have further declined. As for the results of content-based subjects, some subjects have improved while others have maintained the same level. In this chapter I will examine the reform on medium of instruction and find out the impact of Chinese-medium teaching policy on learning generally, and specifically in students' attitude and motivation in learning at Chinese-medium schools, in the processes of learning content-based subjects through the mother tongue, in the examination results, and in students' medium-of-instruction preference. Ten schools have been surveyed. The theoretical underpinning of this article is Cummins' bilingual theories.