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(NSS) English Language curriculum

Turning Challenges into Chances

by Ms Lee Wai Fong, English Panel Chairperson

Introduction
Many people are anxious about the introduction of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) English Language curriculum. Many students don't understand the new curriculum and think it is more difficult and demanding than the old one. Many parents worry that the changes may put even more pressure on their children. Many teachers find it difficult to design new teaching strategies and teaching materials as the mode of assessment is changing, emphasis is not only put on summative assessment but also on formative assessment. It is understandable that changes may bring anxiety but it should be understood that changes also bring chances for improvement. When we know why there are these changes and what these changes are and how we adapt to these changes, we certainly can turn these challenges into chances.

Why is the NSS English Language curriculum being introduced?
According to English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4 –6 ), the overall aims of the English Language curriculum are:

To provide every learner of English with further opportunities for extending their knowledge and experience of the cultures of other people as well as opportunities for personal and intellectual development, further studies, pleasure and work in the English medium.
To enable every learner to prepare for the changing socio-economic demands resulting from advances in information technology (IT) – demands which include the interpretation, use and production of texts for pleasure, study and work in the English medium.

What is the NSS English Language curriculum?

* The senior secondary English Language curriculum consists of a Compulsory Part and an Elective Part.

	Percentage of lesson time (Appropriate number of hours)
	75% (305 hours)	25% (100 hours)
S6		Elective
S5	Compulsory	Part
S4	Part

What do students learn in the Compulsory Part?

Students learn the four skills (i.e Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking), grammar, communicative functions, vocabulary and text-types.

What do students learn in the Elective Part?

Taking into account our students' needs, interests and abilities, our school has selected three Elective modules, two from Language Arts- Learning English through Poems and Songs and Learning English through Short Stories- and one from Non-Language Arts -Learning English through Workplace Communication.
Language arts not only helps develop learners' language sensitivity and cultural awareness, but also creative and critical thinking through learning poems, short stories, song lyrics, films and documentaries etc.

How do our students learn English in the NSS English Language curriculum?

In the past, students focused on language learning and with an emphasis on grammar and vocabulary, but the NSS English language curriculum is designed to put equal emphasis on both language learning and language use.
Students are encouraged to link classroom learning to real-life experience, and to maximize their opportunities to use and communicate in English.
Students are also encouraged to develop self-access learning habis, and to learn how to learn skills as learning is best sustained when students learn by doing, inquiring, problem-solving and decision-making with a commitment to their own learning.
In S.4, students will focus in the learning of the core curriculum, and in S5 and S6, the focus will be the three elective modules with practice of the examination skills. School-based Assessment (SBA) is a kind of formative assessment which will be conducted in continuous assessment through out the three year of senior secondary (S4 – S6). SBA will assess students' speaking skills in terms of individual presentation and group discussion.

In what ways are our students'performance assessed?

All S.6 students have to sit for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) which provides a common end-of-school credential that gives access to university study, work, and further education and training. For English, students must do four papers.

Component		Weighting	Duration
Public examination	Paper 1 Reading Paper 2 Writing Paper 3 Listening and Integrated Skills Paper 3 Speaking	20% 25% 30% 10%	1.5 hours 2 hours 2 hours 20 minutes
School-based Assessment		15%

The new system will be "standards-referenced", i.e. student performance will be matched against standards which indicate what students have to know and be able to do to merit a certain level of performance. The levels of performance for separate skills/papers will be reported as well as an overall level for the subject, accompanied by subject descriptors.

Conclusion
The more we know about the NSS curriculum, the better we can adapt to the changes. I believe that the new English curriculum will benefit our students when students, teachers and parents can work closely together to face the challenge. We don't need to be anxious about the changes. Let's be positive about the new curriculum. Our supportive attitude will be one of the key factors which enables effective implementation of the NSS English language curriculum.? Let's turn a new page of our English learning-teaching process together and turn challenges into chances.

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