Abstract
In the context of the educational reforms that began at the turn of the century, Hong Kong's New Senior Secondary (NSS) English language curriculum was launched in 2009. An important aim of the curriculum reforms is to make teaching and learning more relevant to students' everyday lives through more student-centred approaches to pedagogy. In the context of English language teaching and learning, the reforms also involve an emphasis on 'cultural enrichment' and 'personal involvement', in addition to 'language enrichment'. The main feature that supports these aims is an innovative emphasis on language arts and the introduction of four language arts electives, including one entitled Learning English through Popular Culture. Based on analysis of curriculum documents and resources and student surveys conducted before and after the first round of implementation of the 3-year curriculum, this chapter discusses the role that popular culture now plays in senior secondary English language teaching (ELT). While arguing that the inclusion of popular culture in the NSS English curriculum is largely a positive move, it identifies significant unresolved issues in the implementation of the curriculum, which may limit the degree to which it succeeds in achieving its goals of cultural enrichment and making English language teaching more relevant to students' lives.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | English Language Education and Assessment |
| Subtitle of host publication | Recent Developments in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland |
| Editors | David Coniam |
| Place of Publication | Singapore |
| Publisher | Springer, Springer Nature |
| Pages | 3-15 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789812870711 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9812870709, 9789812870704 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |