Aspects of English medium textbook use in Hong Kong: 英文教科書在香港之使用情況

This paper will consider the use of English medium textbooks in bilingual situations and will briefly present the results of a survey of 24 schools in Hong Kong. Language and textual constraints may both inhibit the efficient reading of content subject textbooks in school. It will be argued that textbooks are "inconsiderate" in not making rhetorical (top-down) structures clear and that this is a neglected cause of student difficulty. Practical examples for making books more "considerate” will be offered. 本論文探討在雙語環境中英文教科書的使用及簡述在二十四間香港中學進行意見調 查的結果。結果顯示，語言及原文的約束可能妨礙學生有效地閱讀學科教科書。本文的論 點是教科書沒有顯明「由上而下」的修辭結構，實為學生閱讀困難的被忽視的原因。本文 將提出教科書應如何顧及讀者的實際方法。