Poster Presented at International Conference on Language Issues in English-medium Universities: a global concern, HKU, HK, June 18-20, 2008

1. Problem and Methods: This study aims to determine whether parallel language streams teaching on common syllabus for an established pharmacology course can achieve comparable assessment results. The Advanced Certificate in Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Management/ Administration program is used as the test case. This part-time sub-degree program has been offered for more than 15 years and teaching for pharmacology course is benchmarked against University Level 1 standard through external assessor appointment. In recent years, there is increasing heterogeneity of student background where clinic dispensing staff with sub-degree and below entry qualifications overtakes pharmaceutical business personnel as the major group of entrants (Table 1). As a result of this, the spread of student abilities in English has become marked and which necessitates a strategy of diversion at the point of admission to meet both pedagogic and equity considerations. Faced with this challenge, the Chinese stream was instituted in 2004. After 3 years of implementation, opportunity arises now to evaluate its effectiveness. The evaluation is based on the 2006 intake. Data analysis includes results of the Learning Evaluation Survey and the written examination. Difference between groups is compared by independent t-test. Introduction: The issue of medium of instruction for enhancing student learning has not attracted much attention in postsecondary education due to the predominant assumption that majority of teaching and assessment activities are hitherto conducted in English. Where there is an issue about student ability to cope with the language of instruction, remedial English language course is often prescribed as the solution. This approach may not work where the format of assessment involves assignment and essay type questions in the examination that require demonstration of higher order competencies in the use of English language. Moreover, in part-time higher education, there is little scope for offering additional language courses for weaker learners due to a variety of constraints such as cost, time and student motivation. Results and Discussion: Students’ perception of the appropriateness of content and level and the quality of teaching is found to be comparable in the two language streams (Fig. 1). This provides broad confidence that baseline parameters are similar despite that the two classes are taught by different teachers. It additionally complements the face validity assumed on the basis of using a common syllabus for teaching. Assessment results strongly suggest that the two groups are comparable in their average performance in the written examination (Fig. 2). At the course level, mean marks obtained are similar and not statistically significant, t(51)=-0.751, p=0.456, while mean marks for the MCQ part also do not differ, t(51)=0.641, p=0.525. There is however a larger proportion of students obtaining ‘B’ grade or above in the English stream which may be due to the underlying difference in educational background where this group contains more students holding a bachelor degree or above qualifications upon entry. This academic level advantage may be translated into an edge in answering essay questions as compared to the group with only sub-degree or below qualifications. COLLEGE OF LIFE SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY, SPACE, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG Email: benjamin.chan@hkuspace.hku.hk success in implementing dual language streams teaching would depend on at least 3 factors that impinge on internal and external variables to the institution, viz.: teacher capacity, curriculum support and further study route/employer recognition. In the case of pharmacology which is a well established academic discipline, teaching staff with bilingual capability can be easily found. Besides, textbooks with good if not universal agreement on the subject matter are available in both languages. The real difficulty lies with seeking employer recognition for equivalency of qualifications irrespective of the medium of instructions. In Hong Kong, there is still a huge obstacle towards realizing parity of treatment because qualifications and awards given in English for technical subjects are prima facie considered to be of higher status. As course providers tend to follow prevailing thinking when deciding their course offering, there is naturally less scope for articulation to higher level courses if students in the Chinese stream choose to pursue further study. This can only be remedied if course providers stay committed to the opening of study opportunity in the language stream with deficiency of provision and actively communicate with employers on such new development. Table 1 Cohort Characteristics (2006 intake) Figure 2 Comparison of Assessment Results for Pharmacology Course BENJAMIN TAK-YUEN CHAN DUAL LANGUAGE STREAMS TEACHING IN PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION: EVIDENCE OF COMPARABILITY IN ASSESSMENT OUTCOMES Conclusion: The accumulated experience of running dual language streams teaching in a pharmacology course demonstrates that it is possible to achieve comparable assessment results while operating on a common syllabus and examination format. Of course, absolute comparability can only be assured if the same topics are taught by the same teachers and the exact exam paper is used as in a controlled study. On the practical side, Figure 1 Comparison of Module and Teaching Effectiveness for Pharmacology Course 84.0 % 84.8 % Completion (passing) rate 27 33 N (enrolled) 18.5 % 24.2 % Others 55.6 % 24.3 % Clinic dispensing staff 25.9 % 51.5 % Pharmaceutical business personnel Occupation 96.3 % 51.5 % Subdegree and below 3.7 % 48.5 % Bachelor and above Education 85.2 % 63.6 % F 14.8 % 36.4 % M Gender Chinese Stream English Stream