The policy will also adopt a multi-pronged approach to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning to achieve the policy of biliteracy and trilingualism.

In addition, the government will conduct a study on two-mode teaching to ensure that the widening gap in the language abilities of secondary school students which may arise from the new secondary school places allocation system can be properly dealt with so that the effectiveness of learning would not be adversely affected.

In a statement Wednesday, Fanny Law, secretary for education and manpower, said, "The language policy of the SAR government is to enable our young people to be biliterate and trilingual."

The mother tongue or first language of the majority of the Hong Kong people is Cantonese. Putonghua and English are their second languages.

"A number of studies show that the younger the learning process begins, the easier it would be to master a second language," Law said. "Apart from age, four other factors will affect the effectiveness of learning a second language. These are, namely, social environment, teachers' abilities, students' characteristics, and teaching conditions."

Law pointed out that the objectives of the MOI policy were to help students master their knowledge of academic subjects and to develop their high-level thinking with the least language obstacles.

"As a matter of fact, since the government implemented the secondary school MOI policy in 1998, the education sector has, in general, recognized that mother-tongue teaching is conducive to the development of students' cognitive and learning ability.

"It not only enlivens the classroom discussion atmosphere, but also expedites the progress of teaching and learning and deepens students' scope of learning," she said.

(Xinhua 02/07/2001)