以普通話･粵語或粵普雙語作為教學語言對香港小一學生識字的影響

Abstract

Under the current policy of medium of instruction, schools in Hong Kong may use either Cantonese or Putonghua to teach Chinese Language subject. In this research, different media of instruction have been designed based on literature review and were imposed in five classes of primary one student studied in the same school. This study aims to examine the impact on using Putonghua, Cantonese or diglossia as the medium of instruction in Chinese language learning and teaching as well as the development of students’ competence in Chinese Characters. Data were collected from multiple sources, validated and checked for consistency using triangulation. Quantitative analyses were conducted via quasi-experimental study and questionnaire surveys to examine the impact on the development of students’ Chinese Characters competence as well as students’ learning. Qualitative analyses were executed via multiple case studies, classroom observation, teacher-student interviews and text analysis of transcripts of interview protocols to examine the impact on teaching and learning. A test of mental lexicons had been carried out. Students had to write down their mental lexicons among the areas of school, family and society within the time limit. The research results show that there are positive impacts on the Chinese language development of students. However, students have different performances in the mastery of mental lexicons among the five classes. From the analyses of all the data, it is found that the teaching goals, strategies and the allocation of teaching time are all affected by the different media of instruction. The results reflect that students’ competence of Chinese character and motivation of learning are slightly affected. In brief, this study is a basic research that provides information for future studies on the media of instruction of Chinese language learning and teaching. Moreover, the result of this study can also serve as a reference to policy makers and teachers in making their decision in selecting the medium of instruction of Chinese language learning.