Mother Tongue or Foreign Language?

416 Words2 Pages
The medium of instruction in schools has long been a widely debatable issue in the society. A general social phenomenon has been that most parents prefer English as the medium of instruction (EMI) to Chinese as the medium of instruction (CMI). The phenomenon is so prevalent that EMI schools are often seen an advantage over CMI schools in terms of academic performance. While using English as the medium of instruction (MOI) really does give an advantage in this globalised world and prepare students better in future degree study, using Chinese as the MOI does indeed enhance the efficiency of students’ learning and stimulate their curiosity. Advocates of using English as the MOI strongly believe that EMI can equip students with the necessary language skills required in universities as English is the main language adopted by tertiary institutions both locally and worldwide. Students in EMI schools have an edge over those in CMI schools because they have already got used to the English environment. Later students would definitely find it difficult to catch up. Another argument put forward to support EMI is that students learning in English enjoy greater advantages in today’s globalised world. Hong Kong, as an international city, requires a great deal of talents with high English proficiency. EMI schools can well serve this purpose. It also enables students to travel and study abroad, where they can broaden their horizons and have a brighter future. Having discussed the advantages of using English in schools, does that mean people should all go for EMI, abandoning the mother language spoken by city dwellers? Turning to the advantages of using Chinese in schools, one of them is that students are able to absorb the knowledge more easily. Without English as the language barrier, students are more willing to ask questions when they face problems and understand what
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