Standing Committee on Language Education
and Research

The Standing Committee on Language Education and Research
(SCOLAR) is a non-statutory body, set up on October 1, 1996, upon the
recommendation of the Education Commission Report No. 6, to advise
the government on language education issues in general, and in particular,
to set goals for language learning at different levels of education, to
propose specific language-attainment targets at each stage of education,
and to identify research and development projects which are necessary
for the enhancement of language proficiency and language in education.
SCOLAR has a non-official chairman plus 20 members from the
education, business and industrial and the professional sectors. The
Deputy Secretary for Education and Manpower and the Deputy Director
of Education are ex-officio members.

Through the Language Fund (with an uncommitted balance of more than
$200 million), SCOLAR continues to support innovative and worthwhile
projects to enhance language proficiency, this year with priority in the
primary sector. SCOLAR also initiated research projects to examine the
language competence of students on completion of primary schooling and
the process whereby such competence is developed; the relationship
between Putonghua and the Chinese Language teaching; the use of
multi-media technology in enhancing language education and the ability of
students to study in English at the tertiary level. Findings of these projects
will contribute to the development of appropriate language education
policies.

As its first public education initiative, SCOLAR staged an exhibition on
May 31 and June 1, 1997, to disseminate the results of the Language
Fund Projects. Further seminars and workshops will be organised to
foster the sharing of information and experience by educators. The Hong
Kong Language Education Research DataBase, collating research in both
English and Chinese (including Putonghua) languages in Hong Kong, is
being set up. It will ensure coherence in future research efforts and be
accessible by members of the public who are interested in language
education in Hong Kong.

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