The pass rate in the English paper in the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE) this year has slightly increased after it had been dropping for 12 consecutive years, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority revealed yesterday.

Ahead of the release of the exam results today, the authority announced that 74.4 percent of day-school candidates obtained grade E or above in Use of English, up from 73.9 percent in 2007.

The rate had been dropping since 1995, when 78.1 percent of the candidates passed the exam.

The mother-tongue policy which has been in place for the past decade has been blamed for the deterioration in student performance as students' exposure to English has been reduced.

"The English standard this year is similar to that of last year," the authority's secretary general Francis Cheung said, but he stopped short of commenting if that has anything to do with the mother-tongue policy.

There are many factors affecting the learning of English, including students' interaction in class and family support, he added.

A spokesman for the Education Bureau said the exam results should not be used as the only yardstick in determining the effectiveness of the policy.

But the bureau is liaising with various education groups to modify the policy to improve English proficiency among students.

However, English Medium Schools Association chairman Rosalind Chan said she does not believe that the slight increase in the pass rate is an indication of improvement in English standard.

"The increase is insignificant compared with the drop over the past years," she said.

Meanwhile, the number of day-school candidates attaining the minimum requirement for admission to tertiary institutions has increased from 17,089 to 17,570 this year, the authority revealed.

Two candidates obtained six As, while nobody did last year.

The number of candidates obtaining three to six As has increased from 302 to 334 this year.

The authority did not receive any cheating report, but recorded 193 penalization cases for violating examination regulations.

In the meantime, the authority proposed to increase exam fees by 7.5 percent next year to cope with the rising inflation. Candidates taking two advanced supplementary level subjects and three advanced level subjects in the HKALE will need to pay HK$2,400 next year.

(HK Edition 06/30/2008 page2)