Recently there has been an increase in the number of students learning Mandarin Chinese (in mainland China and internationally). This increase has led to speculation that Mandarin Chinese is becoming a mainstream global language to the point of becoming a "lingua franca." This paper utilizes research findings from different regions and…

This book proposes a new paradigm for English language teaching based on concepts from English for Specific Purposes (ESP) research and applications as well as from growing evidence relating pattern recognition to language learning ability. The contributors to the volume argue that learners should not try to become proficient all-around users of…

Greater China is used in this article to refer to mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Macao. While a holistic approach is adopted to present and compare the rapid spread of English and development in English language education in these geographically close, and sociopolitically, culturally and economically interrelated but hugely…

As it entered the second decade of the postcolonial era, Hong Kong had undergone significant socio-economic changes which had impacted students' perceptions of cultural identity and their language attitudes. This study, conducted in 2009, reports on an investigation into the related perceptions of the postcolonial generation who grew up in Hong…

This paper mainly discusses the issue of whether the English language should be attached the same importance in education as it was before in post-1997 Hong Kong. The status of English before 1997 in Hong Kong has been carefully compared from the sociolinguistic perspectives with that after Hong Kong returned to China in 1997. Both political and…

Reviews use of mixed-code teaching in Hong Kong schools and outlines educators' efforts to persuade the government to accept mixed-code as not only inevitable, but preferable in most Hong Kong schools. Notes that English must be preserved for business purposes, but the Chinese medium of instruction is receiving greater emphasis as Hong Kong nears…

Examines the historical and socioeconomic context of classroom code switching in Hong Kong. Empirical analyses of actual instances of classroom code switching reveal this action to be the teachers' and students' local pragmatic response to the symbolic domination of English. The article concludes with a cost-benefit analysis of the Hong Kong…