ABSTRACT
This chapter recounts how a Cantonese course, ‘Basic Cantonese for Accounting Professionals’, was designed and implemented at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2017, based on an analysis of the specific needs of the learner population and focusing on achieving high ‘surrender value’ for the learners. It describes how the course designers managed to motivate and sustain the interest of the learners via the adoption of a learner-negotiated syllabus, the application of technology for language learning and teaching, and the involvement of students’ professional aspirations and self-evaluation prowess. The chapter ends with a visionary discussion of the tenets of ‘Cantonese for specific purposes’, and how linguists and Cantonese-teaching practitioners can work together towards the professionalization of Cantonese teaching.
