Recent Hong Kong graduates may not be equipped with the necessary English skills for today’s increasingly international business world if the findings of a study from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are taken to their logical conclusion.
Findings from Dr Arthur McNeill, Director, Language Centre, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are significant in very broad terms. It seems that organisations cannot rely on exam results as a measure of English Language proficiency and the education system cannot use shortcuts to produce results with any meaning. HR professionals should be wary of depending solely on IELTS or academic test results when recruiting staff for positions which require thorough use of the English Language. Moreover, they should perhaps look to develop testing systems appropriate to the job in question or make better use of other available benchmarking tools such as the BULATS assessment for workplace English.
At a forum delivered jointly by the British Council and the Federation for Continuing Education in Tertiary Institutions (FCE), Michelle Li, Deputy Secretary for Education, cited Transnational Education (TNE) as an important component in Hong Kong’s tertiary education sector. TNE involves the delivery of education in a different learning location to the awarding institution, complementing the government’s vision to develop Hong Kong as a regional education hub, and preparing students for the international business and services arena.
McNeill continued by pointing to the medium of instruction as fundamental to education programmes in partnering Universities and offering insight into the reality of TNE when programmes are delivered in the English Language. When lecturers were questioned about standards of English shown, they commented that despite students possessing strong qualifications in English, meanings were not easily grasped within the context of the lecture theatre. Previous to this study it had been assumed that Hong Kong Students were strong on the receptive skills of listening and reading and slightly weaker in the productive skills of speaking and writing. McNeill’s findings however, showed that they struggled to decipher inferences necessary for understanding and concluded that the outcome based learning common to Hong Kong was indicative only of ability to pass exams and was not sufficient for real-world demands.
According to McNeill, the time it takes to become proficient in a second language has been underestimated. IELTS, the nine-band assessment system developed by Cambridge ESOL, has traditionally been used as a measure of standards in English language with universities both in Hong Kong and overseas requiring scores of between band six and band seven for entrance. IELTS providers generally considered 200 hours to be the required amount of study to reach each consecutive band. However, the six-level Common European framework has, for a long time, acknowledged that the transition from C1 to C2—the highest level—needed significantly more hours than preceding levels and applied linguists are reaching the conclusion that the 1200 hours to proficiency estimate is a gross under-exaggeration.
McNeill focused in particular on the amount of vocabulary needed to become an advanced user of English and had conducted some telling research during his previous role at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He calculated that a native English speaker has 2,000-3,000 words by the time he or she leaves primary school. In secondary school this number continues to grow by about 300 a year, culminating in a vocabulary of about 20,000 words. His department set about testing those entering the Chinese University of Hong Kong and discovered that most knew only between 2,000 and 3,000 words.
As a result of these findings the government has now pushed for a curriculum which involves English vocabulary provision of up to 5,000 words before entrance to University. One recommendation was ‘overseas immersion’ in tertiary education programmes delivered in English. This has proved hugely beneficial when compared with an equivalent number of hours study in a student’s own country, even if only for one semester. Universities offering TNE programmes are addressing the issues by including more English credits within their curriculum, with particular emphasis on vocabulary. Any courses preparing students for the world of commerce and industry should theoretically do the same and HR Managers should take steps to test their potential employees’ skills in written and spoken English.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
