Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics 14, 2 (2013); pp. 3–19 Innovating Instruction: English in the Discipline at the University of Hong Kong Ken Hyland Centre for Applied English Studies The University of Hong Kong Abstract The 2012 educational reforms in Hong Kong are a unique curriculum innovation, dramatically increasing Hong Kong’s tertiary intake and offering opportunities for universities to move to a less specialized and more holistic student-oriented approach to undergraduate education. For those of us responsible for English language provision it also presents considerable challenges and raises some key questions about the kind of English that we should be teaching. At the University of Hong Kong (HKU) students will be required to take 12 credits of English, double the current number, and half of these must be in the form of ‘English in the Discipline’. This recognizes that because the conventions of academic communication differ considerably across disciplines, identifying the particular language features, discourse practices, and communicative skills of target groups becomes central to teaching English in universities. In this paper I outline what this means in practice and argue for a more context-sensitive approach to English provision, based on closer cooperation with academic disciplines and research-informed course design. Keywords: curriculum reform; English in the Discipline; specificity; academic literacy Introduction In September 2012 universities in Hong Kong (HK) launched a four-year undergraduate curriculum to replace the existing three-year curriculum, reducing the secondary school experience by one year. This follows a significant reform of HK’s schools. Because English is the official medium of instruction in HK higher education, a major element of the new curriculum is the provision of English in this new context. At the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the territory’s premier institution of higher learning, students are now required to take 12 credits of English, 6 of which will be in the form of ‘English in the Discipline’. In this paper, I will discuss what challenges and opportunities these changes have presented and how HKU has responded to this opportunity to reinvigorate our English provision. What’s it all about? Curriculum Reform in Hong Kong The Hong Kong curriculum reform, commonly referred to as ‘3+3+4’ after the number of years students will now spend at secondary and tertiary levels of education, is not only designed to shake off the old colonial system of education and increase the number of university places, but also has some lofty educational goals. It is intended to focus more on the whole student by giving more time for non-academic learning