Decline in English standard

Business people in Hong Kong often complain that the standard of English spoken by students in Form 7 is declining. Many students have difficulty carrying out simple conversations. This has a negative impact on business, which must then spend more money on employee training.

As the Chairperson of the English Club at your school, write an article for the school magazine discussing why the standard of English is falling. Suggest ways that students can improve their English.

Do you speak English every day? Do you have a high English proficiency? Nowadays, English is an international language, and it is a language for business transaction. If we have a high English standard, surly it can raise our competitiveness.  We can find a job easily, especially in the business field. However, it is found that the students in Form 7 do not have a high proficiency in spoken English. Especially in these two years, many schools change their medium of instruction from English to Chinese, Form 7 students cannot speak English fluently and accurately. The situation is really worrying. In this essay, I am going to examine the reasons for the decline in English standard of the Form 7 students and suggest ways to improve their English.

Many students put strong emphasis on the advanced-level subjects, not the Use of English. The education system of Hong Kong is examination-orientated. It is believed that only results with flying colors can bring them to the road of success. Especially for the Form 7 students, the A-level examination will decide what their future will be. Most of them are just confined to studying round the clock. They always claim that they cannot even steal a moment of leisure, how can they squeeze time to improve their English standard? Besides, they may think that it is really time wasting. If they can grasp the examination skills in English, they can achieve a brilliant academic result with a modicum of effort. Thus, they do not want to spend any time to improve their English and their English proficiency become worse.

To students, English is a foreign language. Students usually do not take initiative to be exposed to English, they only have chances to learn English in school. However, the teaching schedule is very tight. The duration of English lessons usually last for about one hour each day. How much can students learn and assimilate? Moreover, the class size of the secondary school is usually from thirty to forty. Can a teacher make sure all students can speak fluent English? Since a lot of secondary schools have shifted to use Chinese as their teaching medium, most subjects, except English, are taught in Cantonese. This leads students to have fewer chances to speak English in class. In their daily routine, they seldom use English and lack opportunities to practise their spoken English, since Cantonese is their mother tongue. Students are afraid of being regarded as strangers if they went to the McDonald and ordered a hamburger in English. As they need not use English in their daily lives, they may misunderstand that English is not as important as the Chinese. In effect, they rarely speak English and it leads to their lack of confidence in using English. As a result, their English standard decline.

In fact, students should not have such myopic attitude, since English is really important for their future. In commercial field, businessmen are required to have a high English proficiency, especially their spoken English. Thus, they should not just emphasize their studies only, but also improving their English standard. Actually, we are always exposed to English in daily lives and English appears in every corner of Hong Kong, such as, the menu of restaurants, the road signs, the notices and the like.

If we want to improve our English standard, there are a number of ways. We may read some novels and stories in English, say, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Saga of Darren Shan, to list just a few. The plots are exciting and can let us learn more English vocabularies. In addition, we should use English more frequently. We can write letters, emails, or even play ICQ in using complete English sentences. So that it can enhance our skills in using English. Furthermore, we should try to talk with our classmates or teachers in English every day. Although it may be hard to speak English fluently and accurately at the early stage, practice makes prefect. To speak more English can help us build up self-confidence and be more fluent in spoken English. Moreover, we can watch more television programs in TVB Pearl and ATV world. Take news roundup program as an example. It cannot only make us keep abreast with the current issues, but also can our listening skills be strengthened. Thus, when we are making conversation with others in English, it is easier for us to catch what they are talking about. If we can show great diligence in practising English, surely it can raise our English proficiency.

All in all, English is the most important language of the world. We should try hard to learn it well. Although the economy of Hong Kong is in its recovery with an escalating scale, the unemployment rate stands high. If we have a high English standard, we can outshine others and have a promising future, especially in the business field. Let’s try hard to improve our English standard!