This is an opinion column which argues that too li3le emphasis is placed on English
proficiency in Hong Kong. It covers Part 1 of the Language & literature course and it
relates to the topic language and the individual. My intended audience are South China
Morning Post readers from Hong Kong who neglect the importance of English and have
li3le awareness that English standards are deterioraEng. My persona as a newspaper
pundit will allow me to reach a wider range of audience and establish myself as an
individual with adequate knowledge on English’s role in Hong Kong and the impact of
the language’s deterioraEon on our society. The purpose of this column is to reach out
to the public on the existence of such a situaEon and to take acEon to prevent it from
further deterioraEng.
Logos including staEsEcs and quotaEons such as ‘470 million people worldwide’ and ‘
Dr Richard Vuylsteke’ have been used to establish credibility through persuading
readers that people should be facing up to this problem and allow them to realise the
consequences they will endure if English conEnues to deteriorate. Parallelism and
hyperbole such as ‘use it or lose it!’ have been used to put emphasis on the issue which
highlights the seriousness of the problem. Colloquial language and tone minimise the
writer-reader barrier, thus engage a wider range of audience and evoke reader’s
responses towards the deterioraEon of English proficiency. Simpler dicEon have been
used to deliver the purpose of the text to the people with lower abiliEes to
comprehend English which improves the delivery of my message in hopes of correcEng
the problem. Pathos such as ‘not even me!’ have been applied to sEmulate an
emoEonal connecEon with readers in order to enhance reader engagement and to seek
for response from readers.
(298 Words)