Language Culture and Curriculum
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: Eoghan Mac Aogain (St Patrick's College)
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Volume: 12 Number: 3 Page: 238–254
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Perspectives on the Cultural Appropriacy of Hong Kong's Target-Oriented Curriculum (TOC) Initiative
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David Robert Carless
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The management of change has long been recognised to be a complex and challenging process. The literature has revealed few success stories and many examples of curriculum innovations being adopted half-heartedly
or not at all. Set against the increasing world globalisation of which education is apart, the cultural aspects of innovations are being increasingly discussed in recent years. This paper focuses on the cultural
dimensions of a major curriculum reform in Hong Kong, the Target-Oriented Curriculum (TOC) initiative. The main principles of TOC and its early implementation are discussed. A number of the main features
of TOC are analysed with particular reference to their cultural appropriateness for the Hong Kong context. The thesis underlying the paper is that cultural issues need to be more carefully considered in
the policy and adoption stages of the innovation process. In English Language teaching, it may be necessary to reflect more deeply on the suitability of the export of Western-based learner-centred, communicative
or task-based approaches to other milieux where such approaches may not be commensurate with the local cultural context.
© Multilingual Matters 1999
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