Opinion | Good English is Greater Bay Area's Passport to world of business and the Belt and Road

By Augustus K. Yeung

INTRODUCTION

One summer day, late at night, a doctoral student was caught speeding on the highway to the Niagara Falls. A police car was hard on his heels, but he was not aware of it, until the police flashed the headlight which bounced back on the rear mirror, blinding him. He pulled the car over the roadside, got out, spreading out his hands and legs, sprawling on the car as the officer had ordered.

Suddenly, the police officer raised his Patton to hit him hard on the head. He blurted out, "Sir, thank you for saving my life…" This unexpected vote of accreditation, not verbal assertion, caught the officer by surprise. The gentleman handed him a $90-speeding ticket.

Now that the English language experts and scholars in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) had gathered in Macao, one of the growth engines, and that the campaign is almost ready for launch, what we need is a LIKE APPROACH, a workable theoretical framework.

In our era of internet and given the popularity of Facebook, everybody wants to be liked, but not everyone is likable for various reasons – with the lack of good English being one.

My last article showed that the world's experts and scholars were foreseeing China as having a role to play – in promoting good English in the GBA.

What I see missing is a theoretical framework.

In this article we will go over the meat and hair of the LIKE approach, which features Language (L), Intelligence (I), Knowledge (K), and Experience (E).

This theoretical structure neatly packs the four concepts together, creating synergy and contributing to the scientific development of intelligence, which is urgent – in the era of artificial intelligence (AI).

What does knowledge contribute to human intelligence?

Ignorance (the opposite) is no knowledge. Or is it? "If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people?" Asked one knowledge-worker on the cover page of his book of quotations.

No one would argue against knowledge, or Francis Bacon, a "patron saint" in Chinese literati society, would not be famous for his assertion, "Knowledge is power!" So is word power, a derivative of language.

Most educators or critics would argue on how, or the ways knowledge is taught or acquired, taking the learning of good English as an example. And this is the crux of the matter, our English education issue.

For example, some teachers and schools stand being accused of playing their role in "rote learning". A high school principal had foolishly assigned two newly arrived Australian ELTs to teach Form 1 students in our Band 3 school.

As they could not understand each other, these frustrated young guns got mad and used foul language to air out their frustrations and grievances. How incompetent was the principal. He could have assigned these ELTs as tutors in group teaching.

And how did he use the annual $500,000 government extra funding for support of English language teaching? He spent all of them on buying refreshment in staff meetings, thereby defeating the plan of the Education Bureau. He didn't have to account for how the half-million dollars were spent!

What does experience exactly contribute to Intelligence?

Why do business firms and governmental organizations take employee "experience" seriously? Daniel Goleman (1995) a best bookseller, who draws on the research of many other neuroscientists, suggests that managing the human impulse – through building self-awareness, empathy, and social skills is the most basic form of intelligence – and should become the purpose of education. And what is intelligence, anyway?

A neuroscientist may agree with Professor Goleman, but Isaac Azimov, the world renown physicist, would not. He cited his own ignorance as an argument, when he felt how helpless he was in front of the auto repairman, and he derived the concept of his trendsetting "multiple intelligence", which is now widely accepted and being introduced as "the habits of mind", which lead to intelligence.

CONCLUSION

In spelling LIKE, language is the first letter, but it ended up being last, though not least in importance. English must have the last say!

Nothing much can be accomplished without language, be it Chinese, English or French – because in the absence of a sophisticated language, recording or writing is impossible. Before the invention of language, cavemen could only tie knots – to help them with their limited sign system.

I once asked my history professor, who had penned several books and was a student of K. C. Liang, who was almost as famous as his teacher and partner Y.W. Kan – both were known for aiding and abating the late Qing Emperor to reform his administration – but ended up on the Empress Dowager's most-wanted list.

I asked this Chinese history professor, "What do you think is the most dominant feature that makes us human?" He thought for a moment and answered, "The arch or angle that spans between the thumb and the next finger..."

I doubted his answer then. And now, I can say, "It is language (L) that makes us characteristically human." Li Kuan Yew would hasten to add, "We Singaporeans have had successfully adopted English as our common language – to unify our diverse ethnicity."

Personally, I believe coupling BRI with the globalization of English in GBA is a right move. After all, it provides a good incentive to raise the sagging English standards in Hong Kong while Shanghai has consistently been on the way up, superseding the former "Crown colony".

Meanwhile, thanks to English, that PD student got off the hook. It was a rewarding experience. And the discovery of how mastery of a language could garner a quick wit of mind. I was that student. But that happened about half-a-century ago. And I have lived to benefit from knowledge and experience.

Note: This article is meant for supporting China's BRI and its newly added GBA ENGLISH EDUCATION BASE, sharing and stimulating ideas – for active public discussions, starting with my free association.

 

 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

To contact the writer, please direct email: AugustusKYeung@ymail.com

Read more articles by Augustus K. Yeung:

Opinion | World's experts foreseeing China new role in English language learning

Opinion | Chinese President: 'Sichuan must break new ground in high-quality development'