XN000022-1987-03-07 — Page 6

SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1987

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ATTAINMENT TESTS TO ASSESS LANGUAGE ABILITY INTRODUCED

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TO ASSIST SCHOOLS TO ASSESS THE LANGUAGE ABILITY OF STUDENTS AND TO CHOOSE WHETHER CHINESE OR ENGLISH BE USED AS MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION, THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT HAS INTRODUCED A HONG KONG ATTAINMENT TESTS IN ENGLISH AND CHINESE FOR USE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

SPEAKING AT A SEMINAR ON THE NATURE AND USE OF THE HONG KONG ATTAINMENT (JUNIOR SECONDARY) TESTS AT THE GRANTHAM COLLEGE OF EDUCATION TODAY (SATURDAY), THE DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, MR Y.T. LI SAID THE TESTS WOULD NOT ONLY ASSIST SCHOOLS IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS, IT WOULD HELP THE DEPARTMENT MONITOR EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS AT THE JUNIOR SECONDARY LEVEL.

MR LI SAID TEST PAPERS HAD BEEN MADE AVAILABLE TO SCHOOLS IN JULY LAST YEAR AND THEY WERE TO BE ADMINISTERED BY THE SCHOOLS THEMSELVES. HE SAID HE HOPED THESE TESTS WOULD PLAY A SIGNIFICANT PART IN SHOWING THE LANGUAGE PROFILE OF STUDENTS.

+THE TESTS WERE FURTHER EXTENDED TO COVER THE ASSESSMENT OF LANGUAGE STANDARDS AT THE END OF SECONDARY 1 AND PAPERS WERE DISTRIBUTED TO SCHOOLS IN DECEMBER LAST YEAR, HE SAID.

LANGUAGE TESTS AT SECONDARY 2 AND 3, AND SIMILAR TESTS IN MATHEMATICS FOR SECONDARY 1 TO 3 WOULD ALSO BE INTRODUCED SOON.

MR LI SAID ONE OF THE MAJOR FUNCTIONS OF THE HONG KONG ATTAINMENT TESTS WAS TO HELP ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VARIOUS PROGRAMMES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN HONG KONG.

HE URGED ALL SCHOOLS TO ADMINISTER THE TESTS AND THE 400 SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS ATTENDING TODAY'S SEMINAR TO COOPERATE WITH THE DEPARTMENT'S EDUCATION RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT BY SUBMITTING A SPECIFIED SAMPLE OF TEST SCRIPTS FOR ANALYSES EVERY YEAR.

+WITHOUT A MORE SCIENTIFIC ASSESSMENT, TEACHERS WOULD NOT RE CERTAIN WHERE THE WEAKNESSES OF STUDENTS ARE, AND THE DEPARTMENT WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DETECT ANY CHANGES IN THE OVERALL STANDARDS OF THE THREE BASIC SUBJECTS -- CHINESE, ENGLISH AND MATHEMATICS OVER THE YEARS,+ MR LI SAID.

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