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A Hong Kong Version of Early Chinese Literacy Education: A Sinophone Perspective

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Contemporary Issues and Challenge in Early Childhood Education in the Asia-Pacific Region

Part of the book series: New Frontiers of Educational Research ((NFER))

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Abstract

This chapter adopts a cultural perspective to report on a study of teaching and learning early Chinese literacy for young children in one Hong Kong kindergarten. Instead of viewing literacy education as a neutral and standardised cultural process across Chinese speaking communities, I draw on a Sinophone perspective and post-colonialism to investigate how the linguistic dissonance and cultural hybridity of Hong Kong influences teaching practices in one local kindergarten.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Chinese people even speak different dialects they share the same writing system to communicate. The written Chinese or modern standardised Chinese is based on Putonghua, originally a northern dialect which was also named as Mandarin, was endorsed by the People’s Republic of China as the official language after 1949 (Shih 2007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Po Chi Tam

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  1. Po Chi Tam
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Correspondence to Po Chi Tam .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Minyi Li

  2. Australia Catholic University, Sydney , Australia

    Jillian Fox

  3. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Susan Grieshaber

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Tam, P.C. (2017). A Hong Kong Version of Early Chinese Literacy Education: A Sinophone Perspective. In: Li, M., Fox, J., Grieshaber, S. (eds) Contemporary Issues and Challenge in Early Childhood Education in the Asia-Pacific Region. New Frontiers of Educational Research. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_6

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2207-4

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