(......Continued)
	The drama workshop helped students to build up their communicative competence and cultural awareness.

Maintaining Rigorous Language Standards
All our English Majors are now exempt, through their degree studies, from the Language Proficiency Requirement (LPR) which requires all language teachers to demonstrate their language proficiency by passing the Government's Language Proficiency Assessment for Teacher (LPAT) examinations. Not content with relying on the exemption alone to guarantee standards, we have developed our own Internal LPAT examinations which are rigorously calibrated to Government standards. Students majoring in English must pass these examinations before they are allowed to progress to their final year. This stringent process has helped to ensure that the language standards of our language teachers exceed the LPR levels set by Government.

Research and Development - Benefiting the Community
The Institute has systematically introduced a coordinated approach to upgrade the qualifications and research abilities of our teaching staff. As a result, our applied research output, which makes a considerable impact on the education sector and the community at large, has significantly improved. Over the last 5 years, the number of funded projects undertaken by staff members, increased from 160 in 1998-99 to 217 in 2003-04. The number of published articles in refereed journals, scholarly books and monographs, has more than tripled between 1998-99 and 2003-04.

The sharp decline in the school age student population has given us the opportunity to explore the benefits and impact of 'small-class' teaching. In 2003-04, research in this area led to a series of debates on the subject, not only promoting a dialogue among local educators but also providing a starting point for discussion within the community. The research also established a platform on which knowledge of the subject could be consolidated.

Research carried out on the supply and demand of teachers will also have far-reaching implications for Hong Kong. In view of the decreasing school age student population, the studies provide invaluable background information for the review and future direction of education in the territory.

The Institute has always been committed to the promotion of quality early childhood education in Hong Kong. With funding from the Quality Education Fund, a research-based training resource package was developed to support kindergartens and child care centres in conducting school-based self-evaluation of the quality of their teaching and learning, and making action plans for further improvement. In 2003-04, the project was extended to support another 64 early childhood institutions in engaging in the self-assessment and self-improvement cycle.