English Language as Hydra by Vaughan Rapatahana Pauline Bunce

Author:Vaughan Rapatahana, Pauline Bunce [Vaughan Rapatahana, Pauline Bunce]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847697493
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Channel View Publications
Published: 2012-06-22T00:00:00+00:00

8 English Language as Governess: Expatriate English Teaching Schemes in Hong Kong

Eugene Chen Eoyang, Pauline Bunce and Vaughan Rapatahana

There is no explicitly formulated language educational policy in Hong Kong… Whatever undefinable language educational policy Government has, it can claim very little educational achievement except the success in creating a demand for English education…

Cheng et al., 1973: 15, 27

Sometimes it comes to mind that the compulsory learning of English in schools is one of the British government’s political strategies… the teaching of English is a kind of cultural intrusion in Hong Kong and may be regarded as a political weapon.

Eva Wai Yin, quoted in Pennycook, 1998b: 190

The problem is that Hong Kong’s colonial history has created a system of schooling in which English-medium education has come to be regarded both as an avenue to better life chances and as a marker of social status for the local middle class… a vested interest to be defended at all costs.

Sweeting & Vickers, 2007: 34

The Hong Kong community’s attitude towards the English language can be rather schizophrenic. There is a definite desire for it, rooted in instrumental and social motivations, but there also exists a kind of aloof indifference towards it. As Evans (2008a: 360) has noted, this schizoid attitude commenced in the early days of 19th century colonialism, with – as just one example – ‘students at Queen’s College… [who] extracted what they wanted from their studies… with attitudes towards the British that were rarely more positive than coolly indifferent’.

By examining the history of the territory’s many Native English-speaking Teacher (NET) schemes and, in particular, the most recent Enhanced NET Scheme of 1998 as an example of this schizophrenic attitude, this chapter will cast the English language as a stern and intractable governess from England who just never seems to go away, but whose conspicuous presence is tolerated by Hong Kong’s residents, who are led to believe they might get something desirable from her – such as good remuneration and social status, if not a good education – one day.

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