English in Hong Kong higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACTResearch conducted in the late twentieth century pointed to a gulf in Hong Kong's universities between institutional medium‐of‐instruction policy, which stipulated the use of English, and lecturers’ classroom practices, which often involved the use of Cantonese to present and explain the content of English‐language textbooks and teaching materials. This article examines the findings of a study which sought to determine whether the policy‐practice divide had widened or narrowed in the past two decades under the pressure of two potentially competing forces: globalisation and decolonisation. The evidence suggests that the policy‐practice disjunction may have narrowed significantly in recent years, with most of the participants’ teachers evidently making a determined effort to instruct and interact with their students in English in lectures and seminars.