III. Applying the Instruments
In preparation for the 3rd APEC Education Ministers’ Meeting (AEMM) hosted by Chile in 2004, a pre-ministerial Summit was held in January of that year. Leading up to the Summit in Beijing, a survey was conducted among APEC economies regarding the policies and status of teaching and learning English and other Foreign Languages. Data from received from 13 economies was analyzed and presented at the Summit meeting and at the 3rd AEMM.
As Peru prepares to host the 4th AEMM in 2008, a similar plan was followed. In preparation for the pre-ministerial Symposium to be held in January 2008 in Xi’an, a revised questionnaire was circulated; data was collected from 13 economies and analyzed for presentation in this research paper. The revisions to the questionnaire reflect the emphasis of the past few years’ discussions and project work on language standards in the APEC region.
Economies report changes related to the promotion of learning English and other foreign languages, the organization of the curriculum, and the setting of clear standards for both learners and teachers.
Role of Language Instruction in the Curriculum
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States all point to policies designed to highlight the importance of language instruction in the curriculum, especially emphasizing the teaching of languages other than English. In some cases, this promotes learners to take a foreign language, in others, to learn the language of another cultural group within the same economy.
New Zealand English and Learning Languages in English-medium schools in the curriculum were released October 2007. New Zealand education has moved from a largely centralised structure to one in which individual schools and tertiary institutions have considerable responsibility for their own governance and management, working within a framework of guidelines and requirements.
In the United States, National Standards for Foreign Language Learning were most recently published in 2006. As there is no national educational system, individual states have published their own state frameworks, most very closely aligned to the national standards. Stated in terms of “what all students should know and be able to do,” the standards identify goal areas for language learning.
Most economies have been vigorously pursuing planning and testing implementation of new policies and practices for English language curriculum. Some examples are highlighted below.
Curriculum reforms have been mapped out in Brunei Darussalam’s National Education System for the 21st Century, which include methods for sustaining and performance in Bahasa Melayu, strengthening learners with low English Language proficiency.
Since Chile’s Education Ministry set standards for EFL teaching and learning through the English Opens Doors Program launched in 2003, there has been a sharp increase in awareness among students and parents as to the importance of English-language fluency in today’s global scene.
China’s Student Academic Achievement Evaluation, with its aim to help improve the quality of compulsory primary and middle school education based on examinations and data analysis according to scientific methodologies, is geared for nationwide implementation in 2008.
Hong Kong-China has emphasized the core importance of language instruction, both Chinese and English, by assessing students’ competencies in these as well as Mathematics since 2004. The main purpose of the Territory-wide System Assessment is to provide schools with information on students’ standards in these three core subjects for feedback on learning and teaching.
With the advent of Indonesia’s new curriculum in 2004, policies are strongly focus on the teaching and learning process/activity wherein the teachers’ capability is increased accordance with the students’ need in order to achieve good command of English. Students who do not meet the English language standard in the State Final examination should repeat one year of schooling.
Japan launched its Plan to Cultivate ‘Japanese with English Abilities’ in 2003, with the intent of seeing results of its implementation in 2008.
Recognizing English as the driving force for ICT learning, a language of knowledge and of international communication, Malaysia has been requiring 11 years of English language instruction since the beginning of this decade.
Research has already been completed and a revised English Language curriculum will be implemented in Singapore schools in 2009 that will take into account the language and literacy needs of students, the aspirations of various stakeholders, the dynamics of the global environment and Singapore’s place in the world.
Challenge 2008, a five-year plan underway in Chinese Taipei stresses the importance of enhancing English proficiency through cultivating an international living environment, promoting assessment of English language proficiency and the quality of English language teachers through a variety of means.
- Assessing Students’ Abilities
Organization of the Curriculum
Over the past three years, economies have continued the trend to start the teaching of English as a foreign language at the lower grades, with the average starting grade for APEC economies now pegged at just under grade 2, compared to grade 3 in the earlier results (see table 1). Notably, both Indonesia and Chinese Taipei lowered the age at which English is introduced into the curriculum.
For those economies in which English is the primary language of education or the mother tongue of the majority of the populace, English as a Second (Additional) Language is included in the curriculum from the beginning of formal schooling. Those economies that reported specific data regarding the teaching of other foreign languages indicated that instruction in these languages begins sometime between grades 7 to 9 and generally continues for three to four years. Other foreign languages reported as being the most common among APEC economies include: Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Japanese and Arabic.
Among the economies for which English is not a mother tongue language, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam employ English as the language of instruction for all subjects, either from grade 1 or grade 4 (for the latter with the exception of Mathematics, which is taught in English from the start) alongside classes in mother tongue languages. In Malaysia, English is the language of instruction of Science and Math in secondary schools, while in Hong King-China about one-quarter of secondary schools teach required subjects in English.
The average number of hours per week of English instruction has not significantly changed over the three years between surveys. Overall, there is a gradual increase in the average number of hours devoted to English instruction from the beginning of primary education to the end of secondary school. A significant difference from 2004, is that a majority of the economies, rather than just a few, now teach some English in all grades. Among the economies for which English is not a mother tongue language, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong-China and Singapore all reported having more than 4 hours per week (see table 2).
A fifth skill, which emphasizes learning a second language to promote understanding of and respect for other cultures, is being reported by most economies. Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei, United States report measuring cultural understanding in assessment tests.
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