You can dress up orangatang, but can you take it out? Smaller class sizes and the reform of English language teaching in Hong Kong

This article discusses a recent, renewed, call, for smaller class sizes in Hong Kong primary schools and the inference by politicians, parents and teachers that such a move will automatically result in more learner-centred English language teaching and consequently higher English language standards. The central argument in this article is that simply reducing the number of children in a class cannot alone accomplish these goals and that any such move must be accompanied by a shift in thinking and practice related to how the children in these classes are taught, how they are assessed and how teachers and schools are rewarded. Copyright © 2005 Pacific Circle Consortium for Education.