Exploring an approach for teaching subject specific genres in Chinese: the case of post-colonial Hong Kong

This research seeks both to describe Chinese genres found in a range of school subjects and to develop models of pedagogical principles for their teaching. Thus far, most of the research has been devoted to the teaching of genres for first and second language teaching, though there is a developing interest in research into the teaching of genres in teaching English as a foreign language. There is a need to develop genre-based research in languages other than English, in order to test the application of the theory to non-English speaking contexts. This paper reports on an approach to the study of Chinese genres for examination purposes, developed in Hong Kong, where, since 1997, official support has been given to the use of Chinese as a medium of instruction. The study is not yet completed, though there is some encouraging evidence that the genre-based approach is proving useful. Copyright 2006 Mark Shiu Kee Shum. No part of this article may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of the publisher.