Abstract
This paper reports the findings of a survey which examines the position of support for Secondary One students in Hong Kong secondary schools where English is the medium of instruction (EMI). Details from the questionnaire are extracted for five specific schools, which represent a cross-section of student adaptation to EMI in early secondary education. The survey results paint quite a varied and complex picture of how EMI schools are tackling the issue of support for their Secondary One students. There is a lot of difference in the types of measures, methods, materials and teaching approaches used. While a lot is being done for Secondary One students in terms of support and teaching materials, these are only one facet in how an EMI school may be deemed to be "successful" with regard to English as the teaching medium. Factors such as the quality of student intake, the degree of parental support and the school's own English culture and policy also need to be considered carefully. The paper concludes that since schools differ in their philosophy and how they approach EMI, suitable measures should be adopted to meet individual needs of schools and thus a broad brush one-size-fits-all approach may not be the only way forward.
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