EDUCATION
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appropriate standard. The committee is composed of members of the community and government officials, and is serviced by the department. In May 1987 the government accepted the CTC's recommendation of an incentive award scheme to encourage publishers to publish textbooks in Chinese, and a commitment of $7.2 million was allocated for financial assistance to publishers participating in the scheme. Editorial assistance was also provided to ensure that the textbooks produced were of good quality. Chinese textbooks for 16 subjects at secondary level are expected to be available for use in September 1989.
Institute of Language in Education
Founded in September 1982 as a 'centre of excellence' on all matters relating to language teaching in Hong Kong schools, the Institute of Language in Education organises in- service refresher courses for teachers of English and Chinese, conducts research into areas of language learning and teaching, arranges workshops, seminars and international conferences on language and language learning, provides consultancy services on language teaching and language teacher education, designs and develops language learning and teaching materials for use in schools and publishes books and articles on language teach- ing. The institute is a centre for courses leading to the Royal Society of Arts Diploma for Overseas Teachers of English.
During the year, the institute conducted refresher courses for 1286 primary and secondary school teachers of English and Chinese. Courses on the use of Chinese for secondary school teachers of specific subjects were begun in February and these were attended by 310 teachers of Integrated Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Geography, Economics and Public Affairs and Social Studies. In addition to the refresher courses, two seminars were conducted for primary and secondary school heads; two summer courses for the learning and teaching of Putonghua were offered, and a three-day international conference on 'Languages in Education in a Bi-lingual or Multi-lingual Setting' was organised, and was attended by scholars from over 15 countries. Two teachers' guides and two books continuing language teacher education were published, one in English and one in Chinese. The third volume of the institute's professional journal – the ILĒJ – was issued in October. Institute research focused on the effectiveness of extensive reading in secondary schools, aspects of Cantonese pronunciation, the application of questioning in the teaching of reading, an examination of the normal speeds of speech of varieties of British English and computer-assisted language learning. Two exhibitions of language learning and teaching materials were mounted during the year and attended by some 2 400 visitors.
Education Research
The Hong Kong Attainment Tests constructed by the Educational Research Establishment (ERE) of the Education Department were used for monitoring the educational standards of the three basic subjects: Chinese, English, and Mathematics. The annual monitoring of the standards at Primary 4 to 6 level continued to take place in May/June. The monitoring of the standards at Secondary 1 to 3 was started in May/June, and the monitoring of the standards at Primary 1 to 3 will begin in May/June 1988. Thus the academic standards from Primary 1 to Secondary 3, covering the nine-year free and compulsory education, will be fully monitored by 1988.
Other tests being developed by the ERE included the three versions of the aptitude test for the selection of students for prevocational education, and the aptitude tests for career guidance at the end of junior secondary education.