Selling Curriculum Reform in Colour: Multimodal Packaging of English Policy Texts in Hong Kong (2017-2025)

Author Information

Catherine Shee-hei Wong, Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong
Wenxin Li, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper explores how English language curriculum reform in Hong Kong is visually packaged and legitimised for educators through multimodal policy genres. Focusing on the 2025 “Major Updates” leaflet and posters that accompany the English Language Education Key Learning Area Curriculum Guide (Primary 1–6), it treats these artefacts, following Ball’s notion of policy as “text” and “discourse,” as key sites where reform is summarised, branded and “sold” to school leaders and teachers (Ball, 1993). In contrast, the 2017 guide circulated without parallel visual materials, relying almost exclusively on dense textual exposition. Drawing on social‑semiotic multimodality (Kress, 2010; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) and multimodal critical discourse analysis (Ledin & Machin, 2018; Machin & Mayr, 2012), the study examines colour, typography, icons, spatial layout, visual metaphors and verbal–visual couplings, and compares how the 2017 text‑only guide and the 2025 text‑plus‑visual package differently foreground pedagogical priorities. The analysis shows how “major updates” are visually ranked through size, colour contrast and central placement, with clusters around 21st‑century skills, values education and self‑directed learning afforded high salience, in line with Hong Kong’s official Values Education and National Security Education frameworks (Curriculum Development Council, 2021; Education Bureau, 2022). National security and patriotic themes are embedded in harmonious palettes and child‑friendly illustrations, softening contentious content for practitioners. The paper argues that multimodal policy artefacts now play a crucial role in shaping how teachers understand curriculum change, values education and national security education in high‑stakes language‑in‑education reform (Fairclough, 1992; Jones, 2025).

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