Quality assurance, language policy, and civic participation: A paradoxical argument on the educational values of Hong Kong

To argue against the current discourse on the language policy of Hong Kong, which has mainly focused on economic rationalism, a more holistic view with the educational value of language with respect to one’s civic duty in light of dialogic constructivism will be suggested. It proposes that the quality of a language as resources has to have something to do with the formation of one’s self and life history, the identification of a collectivity where one’s identity is appropriated, and the proliferation of a potential dialogic environment where creativity emerges in contrast to the current notion of a technical mentality of language use which leads to a closure of meaning making in our language policy. And it is towards such quality, which is based on the kind of value where identity, community, and the potential of a hermeneutic situation play fair that enhances understanding, this paper is driving. Copyright © 2006 The Chinese University Press.