HKIER

Abstract

This article reports on a survey of IT use by English language panel chairs (heads of department) in Hong Kong secondary schools. An initial overview is first presented of HKSAR Government policy where it has been stated that, by 2002, 25% of all classroom teaching must be supported by IT. Participants referred to in the article were enrolled on a brief refresher course at a local university; they completed a questionnaire in which they reflected on their attitudes and beliefs about successful IT practice in the English language classroom. As the article illustrates, the first necessity in any IT policy involves access to computers; while a number of schools have good facilities, not all do. More telling, however, are participants’ views on what constitutes successful IT-based teaching. While resources exist for hardware and software, little provision has been made for curriculum development, or for coordination of IT-based teaching. Consequently, integration of IT into the English language curriculum is generally quite ad hoc. The article concludes with a warning that stipulating 25% of class time to be delivered by IT may perhaps be encouraging IT practices in the English language classroom that are less than conducive to the good teaching and learning of English.

摘要

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