Asian Journal of English Language Teaching
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10 January 2006, Volume 16 Issue 1
    

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  • A Study of the English Vocabulary Knowledge of University Students in Hong Kong
    Amy S. Y. CHUI
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 1-24. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-001
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    This article reports a study of Hong Kong university students' English vocabulary knowledge. The investigation addresses vocabulary knowledge from the two main perspectives which have pre-occupied vocabulary testing in recent years: breadth and depth. One hundred and eighty-seven students newly admitted to The Chinese University of Hong Kong participated in the study. Two vocabulary measures, (1) the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test (Laufer & Nation, 1999), which assessed students' vocabulary knowledge across different word frequency levels, and (2) a self-constructed depth-of-knowledge test which assessed students' lexical competence across different aspects of vocabulary knowledge, were employed. The results suggest that local tertiary students can master high-frequency English words fairly well. However, their knowledge of low-frequency words is disappointingly deficient. Although they can recognize a reasonable range of academic words, the quality of their knowledge of this group of words is unsatisfactory. Limited morphological and collocational knowledge is likely to hinder their productive use of the words in sentences. The study concludes by recommending that the teaching profession should attach equal emphasis to both breadth and depth in students' English vocabulary development.
  • Contexts of English-in-education Policy and Practice in Postcolonial Hong Kong
    Angel M. Y. LIN
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 25-44. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-002
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    In this article, debates revolving around the global spread of English, linguistic imperialism, World Englishes, and the theories of postcolonial performativity in postcolonial Hong Kong are critically discussed. Is English a cultural imperialistic tool of the West, or is English being increasingly hybridized and used for their own daily purposes by many Asian and Southeast Asian peoples? How is language policy and planning (LPP) related to the creation of social and educational (in)equalities? This article will discuss the above issues and conclude with the proposal that English-in-education policy and practice in many postcolonial Asian contexts need to go beyond linguistic purism and explore the viability of bilingual pedagogies.
  • Reticence in Oral English Classrooms: Causes and Consequences
    Ellen Meihua LIU
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 45-66. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-003
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    This paper reports the results of a study on reticence in Mainland Chinese EFL classrooms in different band groups at the tertiary level. By way of survey, observation, interviews, and reflective journals, the study revealed that (1) the students at all proficiency levels self-reported to be willing to engage in speech communications during oral English lessons; nevertheless, in all band groups few students actively responded to their teachers, though most students appeared to be active during pair work; (2) reticence negatively affected the students' performance in oral English; (3) a multitude of variables contributed to student reticence during oral English lessons; and (4) the majority of participants felt helpless about student reticence. Based on these findings, some suggestions and implications are discussed.
  • Towards a Coherent Foreign Language Policy in China: Lessons from Hong Kong1
    Peter Yongqi GU
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 67-88. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-004
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    This article introduces a rapidly expanding fashion in China that is covertly supported by the government to embrace English-medium instruction (known locally as “bilingual education”) as a potential quick fix to the existing “costly and inefficient” approaches to English language instruction. It is argued that the education authorities and the public are not well informed of the possible problems that may result from a massive shift in the medium of instruction. Next, the medium of instruction struggle in Hong Kong is analyzed as a failed experiment in order to put Mainland China's endeavor into perspective. It is then suggested that a statelevel review of the “bilingual education” fashion is urgently needed, and that before a clear set of directives are available from the Ministry of Education, local education authorities should closely monitor the classrooms and encourage empirical experimentation rather than blind implementation. The analysis should be relevant to other developing countries, especially Asian countries, who are struggling with the status and the role of English in their respective school curricula.
  • Culture in an English-language Training Program
    Ulla CONNOR, William ROZYCKI, Kyle McINTOSH
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 89-112. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-005
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    The received notion of culture as a monolithic national identity has in recent decades given way to a new conceptualization. Culture is increasingly viewed as dynamic and multidimensional. Culture can include national or ethnic, but also disciplinary or professional, institutional, consumer, technological, and individual dimensions. This new understanding of culture plays a role in analysis of relationships in the English language classroom between students and instructor, and in negotiation between students and administrators. The dynamics of a 6-month program in English, offered at an American university for Chinese participants, is better understood through the emerging model than through the more limited and traditional concept of ethnic interaction. In particular, the new model of culture explains the otherwise unexpectedly strong power negotiation by students in the program.
    • Reports
  • Contrastive Rhetoric in Second Language (L2) Writing Instruction: The Context of Korean Students
    Mi Nam JUNG
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 113-128. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-006
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    Contrastive rhetoric (CR) has been one of the most influential and most controversial areas in second or foreign language (L2) writing. The purpose of this paper is to discuss CR in terms of theory, research, and pedagogical applications for L2 writing instruction. The first part of the paper will examine contributions, strengths, and weaknesses of CR with regard to ESL (English as a second language) writing instruction in general. The second part of the paper will review previous research on Korean rhetoric, and then analyze samples written by both Koreans and Americans as an illustration of CR. For pedagogical implications, the role of CR in bridging the rhetorical differences in a specific EFL (English as a foreign language) writing instruction in the context of Korean students will be discussed.
  • Interpreting Chinese Students' Motives in a Weekly English Discussion Group: A Case Study
    Andy Xuesong GAO
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 129-144. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-007
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    This paper explores the motives of two Chinese research students who joined a regular English discussion organized by Mainland Chinese students on a university campus in Hong Kong. I analyze the two learners' shifting motivations for learning English before they came to Hong Kong and complex motives in attending the event. Although the research reveals that both participants considered learning English as a means to expand their career opportunities, the data also indicate that the weekly discussion is equally important in satisfying the learners' needs for socialization, meaning-making, and life alternatives in addition to providing a learning site for them to practice oral English. The paper ends with a tentative conclusion that such discussion groups give a sense of ownership of the English language to participants, which can be utilized in organizing pedagogic activities of similar nature.
    • Reviews
  • Product and Process in the L1 and L2 Writing of Japanese Students of
    English
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 145-152. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-008
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  • Teaching the General Paper
    Reviewed by Siew Mei WU
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 153-156. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-009
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  • Analysing Learner Language
    Reviewed by Dongkwang SHIN
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 157-164. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-010
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  • Autonomous Language Learning in Tandem
    Reviewed by Thi Cam Le NGUYEN
    Asian Journal of English Language Teaching. 2006, 16(1): 165-170. https://doi.org/10.65961/AJELT-2006-1-011
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Asian Journal of English Language Teaching
E-mail：AJELT@cuhk.edu.hk