【明報專訊】Educators
Consultant of the Centre for Research and Development of Putonghua Education of the Chinese University of Hong Kong Cheung Lai-yin (中大普通話教育研究及發展中心專業顧問張勵妍) says it helps raise students' Chinese proficiency for them to learn Chinese in putonghua. She has pointed out the language environment in Hong Kong is not favourable for Chinese learning, saying Hong Kong people habitually use a mixture of Cantonese and English in informal speech and writing. That is certainly not an efficient way of learning Chinese.
Director of the Centre for Advancement of Chinese Language Education and Research of the University of Hong Kong Prof Tse Shek-kam (港大教育學院中文教育研究中心總監謝錫金) says it is difficult for young students to handle putonghua. They have to learn to use pinyin (拼音), speak putonghua and write Chinese when they also have to handle Cantonese and English. They may easily be confused. Prof Tse believes that teaching Chinese Language classes in putonghua should be implemented step by step.
Former chairman of Hong Kong Aided Primary School Heads Association Cheung Chi-hung (香港資助小學校長會前主席張志鴻) has expressed concern over teacher qualifications, saying putonghua proficiency varies from teacher to teacher. Some teachers who have passed the Language Proficiency Assessment do not speak putonghua fluently. Cheung believes a student should gain a solid grounding in English and putonghua in their primary school years, but there are not sufficient qualified putonghua teachers in Hong Kong. He suggests that experts be asked to come from the mainland to help with putonghua teaching.
Senior lecturer at the School of Journalism and Communication of the CUHK Eva Chan Sik-chee (中大新聞與傳播學院高級講師陳惜姿), who specialises in Chinese news reporting and writing, believes that students in Hong Kong should learn putonghua, but whether they should learn the Chinese language in putonghua is debatable. She said it may not be suitable for some students to learn Chinese in putonghua, especially those who lack motivation or competence (能力).
Parents
HKU Public Opinion Programme conducted a survey on the education system in Hong Kong in 2007. Of the parents interviewed 34.9% agreed that it was the most effective way to improve Chinese proficiency to teach the subject in putonghua. However, it was not clear whether parents agreed such teaching method could improve students' written Chinese proficiency.
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