During the last two decades of colonial rule, a wide gulf existed between policy and practice in Hong Kong's English-medium secondary schools: while English was the medium of textbooks, assignments and examinations, Cantonese and Cantonese-English mixed code were the dominant media of classroom communication. Although mixed-mode instruction was…

Examines a crucial episode in the history of language policy in British colonial education: the orientalist-Anglicist controversy of the 1830s over the content and medium of government education in India. Reassesses Macaulay's influence on British language policy and looks at short-term and long-term consequences of Macaulay's scheme in India and…