Staying afloat in a sea of language

This paper will report on a comparative analysis of HKIEd students’ perceptions of themselves as language learners after a six week immersion programme in Australia, Canada of the U.K. After such a short period of time immersed in English and English speaking culture, it is often difficult to see any quantifiable improvement in language standards. Research has shown that the greatest gains are from the poorer students but that able students show little improvement in standardized testing, (Tse & Macennan 1997). However, the qualitative gains in terms of confidence, cultural awareness, maturity and increased motivation have long been recognized but not necessarily acknowledged as being of prime importance in terms of attitude to further English learning. Data was collected from the reflective writing which forms part of the portfolio submitted by participants in the HKIEd’s six week English Language Immersion Programme for Student Teachers (ELIPST) in an attempt to highlight the importance of this element.