Dr. CHAN, Ka Long Roy is a Lecturer at the Centre for Language Education of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He obtained his Ph.D. (Applied English Linguistics) in the Chinese University of Hong Kong and his M.A. (International Language Education) in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research interests include Teacher Education, Code-switching and Hong Kong English.
The current study reports on a preliminary investigation of two conflations in Hong Kong English ... more The current study reports on a preliminary investigation of two conflations in Hong Kong English (HKE)-[n, l] conflation and [r, v, w] conflation-which have rarely been examined in previous studies wherein the two conflations were considered to exist in "free variation", the result of the limited HKE inventories (Hung, 2000; Sewell & Chan, 2010). However, by investigating a 5791-word mini corpus composed of speeches from 29 HKE speakers, it is believed that a loose pattern exists in the two conflations. This short report hopes to trigger further investigations in the study of phonetic features of HKE-which in turn may help the development of the variety of English in different scopes of scholarship.
Phonetics and phonology have been two of the most extensively researched topics of Hong Kong Engl... more Phonetics and phonology have been two of the most extensively researched topics of Hong Kong English for the past twenty years. While the vowels, consonants, and intonation of Hong Kong English have been investigated in most of the previous works (e.g., Hung, 2000; Setter et al., 2010; Lam, 2017, etc.), it seems that the study of Hong Kong English lacks a standardised system for it to move forward as there have been always inconsistencies among the works of scholars. Standardisation of pronunciation and grammar is a key for a variety of English to move on according to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model which stresses on the evolution of new variety of English. Even though Hong Kong English has a long history and has been gradually recognized as a variety of English, there is a need for Hong Kong English to find a way to move on and the codification of its system would certainly be beneficial for the unity of future research. The current review paper provides an extensive summary on the phonetics and phonology research on Hong Kong English in the past two decades to serve as a basis for the codification of Hong Kong English, and also discusses how the codification and standardisation of Hong Kong English would help Hong Kong English to develop along the five stages in Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model. At the same time, this paper investigates how Hong Kong English could be implemented in education based on Hino’s (2018) seven stages of standardisation of new Englishes.
Journal of Foreign Language Education and Technology, 2020
Even though washback has been widely researched in recent years, especially on its form in variou... more Even though washback has been widely researched in recent years, especially on its form in various intra-and international examinations (e.g. IELTS and TOEFL), research on how washback affects teachers and their teaching practices is still scarce. The aim of the current paper is to provide an up-to-date and holistic review on the theories in washback as well as to draw researchers' and TESOL teachers' attention to how washback should be examined with relation to language education, especially in teacher trainings. Key models in washback and several recent studies which investigate washback in different aspects are discussed, and at the end of the paper, implications and suggestions on washback for teachers and researchers are addressed. More should be done on washback especially on how teachers should respond to the effect.
The present study is a follow-up study on Chan (2018a) which examined a new code-switching form i... more The present study is a follow-up study on Chan (2018a) which examined a new code-switching form in Hong Kong called trilingual code-switching. Previous studies on the code-switching in Hong Kong focused mainly on bilingual code-switching between Cantonese and English, yet Chan’s (2018a) ethnolinguistic study suggested that there was a new form of trilingual code-switching among Cantonese, English and Putonghua arisen in Hong Kong because of the increasing contact with mainland China as well as the introduction of Putonghua in the school curriculum. By analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data from sixty university students collected through an online survey, the present study revealed Hongkongers’ view on three language uses, including the use of pure code, bilingual code-switching and trilingual code-switching. The result showed that trilingual code-switching exists in Hong Kong with a low acceptance in Hong Kong. Also, the research showed how bilingual code-switching is linked to a Hong Kong identity.
The present study investigates how the teachers of English in Hong Kong react to Hong Kong Englis... more The present study investigates how the teachers of English in Hong Kong react to Hong Kong English and how the preferences on accents of the HKTEs have potentially been a part of Washback in English pronunciation teaching in Hong Kong. By analyzing two rounds of data collected in 2016 and 2018 that consist of 180 questionnaires and 800 minutes of interviews from language teachers and students, the Washback of pronunciation teaching was revealed. The result suggested that both teachers and students are under the effect of Washback in pronunciation teaching. While both teachers and students acknowledged the common use of Hong Kong English, they both expressed that there is a standard accent, British English, for the examination, which is not explicitly stated in both the examination syllabus and any related materials. At the end, a Washback model for pronunciation teaching in Hong Kong is shown.
This mixed-method (questionnaires and interviews) study investigated the attitudes of teachers o... more This mixed-method (questionnaires and interviews) study investigated the attitudes of teachers of English across different level of institutes in Hong Kong towards HKE; the study includes both local English Teachers (LETs) and Native English Teachers (NETs). By analyzing both qualitative data and quantitative data from 100 questionnaires and 28 individual interviews, it is shown that both NETs and LETs had a generally positive attitude towards HKE although LETs showed a ‘bi-polar attitude’ when it comes to using HKE in class. Results also showed that NETs and LETs had different foci in pronunciation teaching and their teaching may be altered by their attitudes towards HKE. Further research should be done from teachers’ perspective because teachers play an influential role in executing teaching plans; their attitudes towards language may affect their students in long term.
This study reports on the result of ethno-linguistic research which aims to investigate whether a... more This study reports on the result of ethno-linguistic research which aims to investigate whether an emerging form of code-switching among three languages, namely Cantonese, English and Putonghua, exists in Hong Kong. This study follows the research method of Sung (2010) which the author recorded his experiences as a ‘purist’ in Hong Kong: during a three-day experiment - the author employed only Cantonese, English and Putonghua, respectively. Field notes and reflective diaries were used to record the incidents of communication breakdowns resulted from the use of pure-code instead of mixed codes. Because of the recent change in language policy in which Putonghua has placed more important roles in language teaching in Hong Kong, Putonghua has been added into the current study intentionally because Sung (2010) only included Cantonese and English, which largely ignored the fact the Putonghua has become an important part in the linguistic environment of Hong Kong. The difficulties of using only pure-Cantonese, pure-English and pure-Putonghua in Hong Kong will be discussed. Also, I suggest that there exists the code-switching among Cantonese, English and Putonghua in Hong Kong because of the increasing contact with China and the new policy of using Putonghua as the Medium of Instruction (PMI) in some primary schools. Moreover, the present study suggests that the use of pure-code in these languages may hinder communication in Hong Kong. Further studies are needed on code-switching among the three languages within the younger generation of Hongkongers, especially those who attend PMI schools.
Hong Kong English (HKE) has been widely researched recently in the linguistics fields like phonol... more Hong Kong English (HKE) has been widely researched recently in the linguistics fields like phonology (e,g, Hansen Edwards, 2015a; Hung, 2000, 2012; Setter et al., 2010); however, there is a lack of research on teachers' perception to this new variety of English. In the present study, data is collected through 92 questionnaires and 23 semi-structured interviews with current teachers of English (both natives and non-natives) in Hong Kong who teach in primary, secondary and terriary institutes. The aims of this study are to investigate the teachers' attitudes towards HKE and their perceptions in particular to the segmental features of HKE in order to answer the research question of whether the attitudes of English teachers towards HKE may alter their teaching practices. The findings suggest that the attitudes (especially behavioral attitudes) of the English teachers may affect their teaching practices in real life classrooms, for instance, the preferences of choosing a particular English accent as the norm or model for their students to follow. Further research has to be done on the feasibility of the implimentation of HKE into the Hong Kong Education curriculum.
The current study reports on a preliminary investigation of two conflations in Hong Kong English ... more The current study reports on a preliminary investigation of two conflations in Hong Kong English (HKE)-[n, l] conflation and [r, v, w] conflation-which have rarely been examined in previous studies wherein the two conflations were considered to exist in "free variation", the result of the limited HKE inventories (Hung, 2000; Sewell & Chan, 2010). However, by investigating a 5791-word mini corpus composed of speeches from 29 HKE speakers, it is believed that a loose pattern exists in the two conflations. This short report hopes to trigger further investigations in the study of phonetic features of HKE-which in turn may help the development of the variety of English in different scopes of scholarship.
Phonetics and phonology have been two of the most extensively researched topics of Hong Kong Engl... more Phonetics and phonology have been two of the most extensively researched topics of Hong Kong English for the past twenty years. While the vowels, consonants, and intonation of Hong Kong English have been investigated in most of the previous works (e.g., Hung, 2000; Setter et al., 2010; Lam, 2017, etc.), it seems that the study of Hong Kong English lacks a standardised system for it to move forward as there have been always inconsistencies among the works of scholars. Standardisation of pronunciation and grammar is a key for a variety of English to move on according to Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model which stresses on the evolution of new variety of English. Even though Hong Kong English has a long history and has been gradually recognized as a variety of English, there is a need for Hong Kong English to find a way to move on and the codification of its system would certainly be beneficial for the unity of future research. The current review paper provides an extensive summary on the phonetics and phonology research on Hong Kong English in the past two decades to serve as a basis for the codification of Hong Kong English, and also discusses how the codification and standardisation of Hong Kong English would help Hong Kong English to develop along the five stages in Schneider’s (2007) Dynamic Model. At the same time, this paper investigates how Hong Kong English could be implemented in education based on Hino’s (2018) seven stages of standardisation of new Englishes.
Journal of Foreign Language Education and Technology, 2020
Even though washback has been widely researched in recent years, especially on its form in variou... more Even though washback has been widely researched in recent years, especially on its form in various intra-and international examinations (e.g. IELTS and TOEFL), research on how washback affects teachers and their teaching practices is still scarce. The aim of the current paper is to provide an up-to-date and holistic review on the theories in washback as well as to draw researchers' and TESOL teachers' attention to how washback should be examined with relation to language education, especially in teacher trainings. Key models in washback and several recent studies which investigate washback in different aspects are discussed, and at the end of the paper, implications and suggestions on washback for teachers and researchers are addressed. More should be done on washback especially on how teachers should respond to the effect.
The present study is a follow-up study on Chan (2018a) which examined a new code-switching form i... more The present study is a follow-up study on Chan (2018a) which examined a new code-switching form in Hong Kong called trilingual code-switching. Previous studies on the code-switching in Hong Kong focused mainly on bilingual code-switching between Cantonese and English, yet Chan’s (2018a) ethnolinguistic study suggested that there was a new form of trilingual code-switching among Cantonese, English and Putonghua arisen in Hong Kong because of the increasing contact with mainland China as well as the introduction of Putonghua in the school curriculum. By analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data from sixty university students collected through an online survey, the present study revealed Hongkongers’ view on three language uses, including the use of pure code, bilingual code-switching and trilingual code-switching. The result showed that trilingual code-switching exists in Hong Kong with a low acceptance in Hong Kong. Also, the research showed how bilingual code-switching is linked to a Hong Kong identity.
The present study investigates how the teachers of English in Hong Kong react to Hong Kong Englis... more The present study investigates how the teachers of English in Hong Kong react to Hong Kong English and how the preferences on accents of the HKTEs have potentially been a part of Washback in English pronunciation teaching in Hong Kong. By analyzing two rounds of data collected in 2016 and 2018 that consist of 180 questionnaires and 800 minutes of interviews from language teachers and students, the Washback of pronunciation teaching was revealed. The result suggested that both teachers and students are under the effect of Washback in pronunciation teaching. While both teachers and students acknowledged the common use of Hong Kong English, they both expressed that there is a standard accent, British English, for the examination, which is not explicitly stated in both the examination syllabus and any related materials. At the end, a Washback model for pronunciation teaching in Hong Kong is shown.
This mixed-method (questionnaires and interviews) study investigated the attitudes of teachers o... more This mixed-method (questionnaires and interviews) study investigated the attitudes of teachers of English across different level of institutes in Hong Kong towards HKE; the study includes both local English Teachers (LETs) and Native English Teachers (NETs). By analyzing both qualitative data and quantitative data from 100 questionnaires and 28 individual interviews, it is shown that both NETs and LETs had a generally positive attitude towards HKE although LETs showed a ‘bi-polar attitude’ when it comes to using HKE in class. Results also showed that NETs and LETs had different foci in pronunciation teaching and their teaching may be altered by their attitudes towards HKE. Further research should be done from teachers’ perspective because teachers play an influential role in executing teaching plans; their attitudes towards language may affect their students in long term.
This study reports on the result of ethno-linguistic research which aims to investigate whether a... more This study reports on the result of ethno-linguistic research which aims to investigate whether an emerging form of code-switching among three languages, namely Cantonese, English and Putonghua, exists in Hong Kong. This study follows the research method of Sung (2010) which the author recorded his experiences as a ‘purist’ in Hong Kong: during a three-day experiment - the author employed only Cantonese, English and Putonghua, respectively. Field notes and reflective diaries were used to record the incidents of communication breakdowns resulted from the use of pure-code instead of mixed codes. Because of the recent change in language policy in which Putonghua has placed more important roles in language teaching in Hong Kong, Putonghua has been added into the current study intentionally because Sung (2010) only included Cantonese and English, which largely ignored the fact the Putonghua has become an important part in the linguistic environment of Hong Kong. The difficulties of using only pure-Cantonese, pure-English and pure-Putonghua in Hong Kong will be discussed. Also, I suggest that there exists the code-switching among Cantonese, English and Putonghua in Hong Kong because of the increasing contact with China and the new policy of using Putonghua as the Medium of Instruction (PMI) in some primary schools. Moreover, the present study suggests that the use of pure-code in these languages may hinder communication in Hong Kong. Further studies are needed on code-switching among the three languages within the younger generation of Hongkongers, especially those who attend PMI schools.
Hong Kong English (HKE) has been widely researched recently in the linguistics fields like phonol... more Hong Kong English (HKE) has been widely researched recently in the linguistics fields like phonology (e,g, Hansen Edwards, 2015a; Hung, 2000, 2012; Setter et al., 2010); however, there is a lack of research on teachers' perception to this new variety of English. In the present study, data is collected through 92 questionnaires and 23 semi-structured interviews with current teachers of English (both natives and non-natives) in Hong Kong who teach in primary, secondary and terriary institutes. The aims of this study are to investigate the teachers' attitudes towards HKE and their perceptions in particular to the segmental features of HKE in order to answer the research question of whether the attitudes of English teachers towards HKE may alter their teaching practices. The findings suggest that the attitudes (especially behavioral attitudes) of the English teachers may affect their teaching practices in real life classrooms, for instance, the preferences of choosing a particular English accent as the norm or model for their students to follow. Further research has to be done on the feasibility of the implimentation of HKE into the Hong Kong Education curriculum.
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Papers by K. L. R. Chan