The emergence of bilingual education in Hong Kong kindergartens: Challenges in early English learning

One of the unexpected effects of the Medium of Instruction (MOI) policy introduced by the Hong Kong SAR government in 1997 was that within 10 years of its implementation all kindergartens in Hong Kong have become EUR bilingual'. The aims of this presentation are two-fold. Firstly, it examines the various factors that contribute to the emergence of EUR bilingual' education in the Hong Kong early childhood context. Specifically, it examines why a language policy originally targeted at secondary education would result in major implications for Hong Kong kindergartens. Secondly, new information about the challenges that young Hong Kong children face in language learning will be discussed through extrapolating insights obtained from a rich body of language profiles (in both Cantonese and English) of Hong Kong kindergarteners from various school environments. With empirical evidence on young children's developmental profiles in both their mother tongue and second language, it becomes possible to identify the learning needs of young children learning two languages.