Background: Students in Hong Kong often lack creativity when writing compositions. Based on the dual coding theory and the Multidimensional Interactive Creative Imagination Imagery Model, imagery training may help students to write more creatively.
Aims: This study is to investigate the effectiveness of the imagery teaching method imagery as a creative thinking skill.
Sample: 2 classes of students (37 and 36) participated in this pre-test, intervention, post-test writing study. One class received imagery training while the other class did not.
Method: Using hierarchical regressions, path analyses and a structural equation model, their compositions were evaluated in 4 ways: fluency, uniqueness, content, and grammar/convention.
Results: Students receiving imagery training performed better than the other students in the areas of fluency, uniqueness and content, but not grammar. Furthermore, girls were more likely to do well on the content part in the post-test than boys.
Conclusion: Imagery training is useful in enhancing students' creativity in Chinese Composition. Further research is suggested in the following two areas: training program and the process of creative writing by dual-coding theory.
香港的學生在寫作時一般都被認為欠缺創意，基於the dual coding theory 和the multidimensional interactive creative imagination imagery model，意象教學相信有助學生寫出更有創意的文章。本研究請來兩班各有37 及36 名學生，參與了包括預先測試、介入教學及培訓結束考核的寫作教學研究，其中一班受過意象教學訓練，另外一班則未有受訓。透過等級制度的回歸、軌道分析及 結構性的 方程式模型 ，們的作文會就以下四方面得到評核：流暢性、獨特性、內容及語法。結果顯示，受過意象教學訓練的一班學生在流暢性、獨特性、內容等方面的表現均比沒有受過意象教學訓練的一班較佳，但在語法上則沒有影響；同時，在培訓結束考核中，女生在語法的表現亦較男生為佳。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

本研究是以問卷，配合抽樣訪談的方式，對本港九所小學的四年級和六年級的學生作出調查，探討他們對中國語文科的看法，以期從學生的角度著眼，探究本港小學中國語文的課程和教學，並對本港小學中國語文的課程和教學作出改善的建議。
This study employs questionnaire and sampled interviews to survey primary four and six students from nine schools in Hong Kong and explores their views of the subject of Chinese Language. It hopes that such an inquiry of the primary Chinese Language curriculum and instruction from the students' perspective can provide recommendations for the improvement of the primary Chinese Language curriculum and instruction in Hong Kong.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

致力培育創意及想像力的藝術教育對香港社會經濟轉型應能發揮積極作用。藝術教育所培養巿民藝術情操及優質文化，對巿容面貌的改善及提升香港成為亞洲文化大都會有深遠的貢獻。檢視香港教育改革及學校藝術教育課程，有助反省香港學校美育發展的方向和成效。2001 年6 月香港教育署課程發展處公佈《學會學習》學校課程改革文件，將整體課程分類為八個學習領域︰中國語文、英國語文、數學、科學、科技、個人及社會學科、藝術及體育等，學校教育強調全方位學習、課程統整、減少現有課程內容。《學會學習——學習領域藝術教育》將藝術教育分為四大學習目標︰培育創意及想像力、發展藝術創作技能與過程、培育評賞藝術能力、認識藝術的情境等。並以課程架構模式發展校本課程。本文從官方公佈的資料及與西方新近學校藝術教育課程比較，批判分析香港學校藝術教育的新近發展。
Arts Education which develops people's sense of creativity and enhances imagination will undoubtedly play an important role in the period of economic transition of Hong Kong. In addition, Arts education not only may nurture Arts and culture of a high calibre, but also will contribute to the improvement of the image of the Hong Kong city to become an Asian metropolitan. The review of the recent education reform and the change of school arts education curriculum in Hong Kong provide us with a chance on the direction and effectiveness of school arts education. In June 2001 the Curriculum Development Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region released the document of curriculum reform, Learning to Learning which divides all subjects into eight key learning areas: Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics, Science, Technology, Individual and Social Subjects, Physical Education and Arts. According to the document, school education should emphasize learning from all directions with an integrated curriculum, reducing the bulky contents of the current curriculum, etc. Moreover, the document, Learning to Learn—Learning Area : Arts Education suggests four learning objectives of Arts education: Developing Creativity & Imagination, Developing Skills and Processes, Cultivating Critical Response, and Understanding Arts in Context. The document suggests the use of a curriculum framework to help school develop a school-based curriculum. This paper is to study and compare the local official documents with those of Arts education in western countries and critically analyse the problems and development of the school

句子教學是小學中國語文教學中重要的一環，香港的小學教師多運用閱讀教材所提供的句子教學材料來進行句子教學。本文選取了三套香港大部份小學採用的中國語文課本，檢視其中小學一年級課本中有關句子教學的材料，就句子長短、數量、式樣等方面進行比較，初步探索了一些小學句子教學的問題，為語文教學工作者提供討論的材料，以期集思廣益，提升句子教學的素質。
Sentence teaching is an important segment in the teaching of Chinese Language in Primary Schools in Hong Kong. Teachers always use the materials of the sentence teaching provided by the textbooks. This paper compares the materials of sentence teaching of three sets of Primary 1 Chinese textbooks. The differences between the length and the pattern of the sentences, the quantity of the materials will be discussed. It is hoped that such discussions can help to enhance the quality of sentences teaching in the teaching of Chinese Language.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

本研究採用家長問卷調查方式，在香港和北京兩地進行了調查，主要考察了中文閱讀障礙的特點，不同口語背景對閱讀障礙的影響以及閱讀與知覺和動作技能之間的關係。結果發現，中文閱讀障礙在不同年級兒童中有不同的表現，低年級兒童最大的困難是字形識別、語音解碼與書面語理解，高年級兒童讀寫上的最大困難是段落產生；口語背景影響兒童的閱讀獲得及閱讀障礙的表現；中文兒童讀寫障礙與知覺加工和動作技能上的缺損顯著相關。這些結果對於促進對閱讀障礙機制的理解以及鑒別和治療均具有重要意義。
A survey was conducted among parents to investigate the specific characteristics of children with reading disabilities. The effect of different dialects and the relationship between reading, perceptual processing and motor skills were also studied. Different presented characteristics showed reading disabilities among different grades of students. Lower graders had the most difficulties in word recognition, phonological decoding, and comprehension in written characters, while production of paragraphs seemed to be the most difficult part among higher graders. A child's spoken language affects on reading acquisition and presentations of reading disabilities. Chinese reading disabilities were closely related with perceptual processing and deficits in motor skills. These results enhance the understanding of the mechanism of reading disabilities, and bring the significant contribution of identification and teaching children with reading disabilities.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

本文的目的，是分享一些有用的網址和光碟去支援常識科的跨範疇統整。
香港教育統籌委員會第四號報告書指出課程出現問題是因為學校不同課程的分割。根據課程發展委員會的建議，將社會、科學、健教三科綜合成為常識科，不單簡化了相似的課程，更容許學童在不同的角度觀察事物，從而有一個整體的學習經驗。為了減輕這個問題，課程發展者將小學其中三科綜合成為常識科，已1996 年推行，並得到很多小學的採用。此課程的另一項優點是包容跨課程的主題，例如: 環境教育，公民教育，倫理道德教育及性教育。根據課程發展議會於2000 年十一月的諮詢文件，常識科會進一步修訂，加入個人、社會及人文教育，科學教育，與科技教育三個學習領域的基本學習元素。
常識科課程改革主要路向之一，是讓學生在學習過程中運用資訊科技，進行探究學習，增強科學與科技元素的教學。而作為跨學習領域的課程，常識科締造了很大的空間讓學生培養終身學習所需的共通能力。
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

本研究是以問卷調查的形式，分別就中文輔導班的教學內容、教學方法和習作類別探討現時香港一般中學中文科輔導教學的模式，及學生對中文科輔導教學效能的觀感。調查結果顯示，中文科輔導班的教學內容主要集中在範文教學和低層次的字詞教學上，較少進行高層次的閱讀和寫作策略教學；在教學方法方面，大多數的教師都是以直接的知識灌輸為主，課堂形式較為單向，學生的參與機會較少，而教師主要是以外在強化的方法提高學生的學習動機。另外，在學生對輔導教學效能的觀感方面，學生的意見較為中性，大部分學生對輔導教學效能的評分不高，但又至於完全否定輔導教學的效能。針對目前中文科輔導教學的不足之處及配合香港未來的教育改革方向，本文建議香港的教育工作者可以嘗試參考西方的介入研究，從提高學生掌握高層次的讀寫策略、後設認知的能力及學習中文的內在興趣著手，改變傳統的中文科教學模式，使輔導教學更能切合成績落後學生的需要。
This study aimed to investigate the Chinese language remedial teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools. Specifically, the teaching content, teaching instruction, and types of assignment in the Chinese language remedial classes, as well as the students' perspectives on the effectiveness of remedial teaching, were examined. The survey findings in this study revealed that teaching in Chinese language remedial classes was dominated by prescribed texts and lower-level word skills while higher-level reading and writing strategies were seldom taught. Moreover, teachers mainly focused on knowledge transmission rather than teaching students how to acquire knowledge by themselves. Students in remedial classes had very few chances to participate and they were mainly motivated by extrinsic reinforcement. Regarding the effectiveness of remedial teaching, the survey findings indicated that students had a moderate attitude on their learning in Chinese language remedial classes. Although they thought remedial teaching could not help them much, they did not completely disregard its importance. Finally, this paper posited that, in order to meet the special needs of Chinese low achievers and the recent educational reform in Hong Kong, the tradition Chinese language remedial teaching practices should be altered through emphasizing the importance of higher-level reading and writing ability, metacognitive ability, and intrinsic motivation on learning Chinese language.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association

漢語拼音教學是普通話教學中的一項關鍵任務。本文分析、討論了香港小學普通話課程中拼音教學的兩個基本原則問題：一進行漢語拼音教學的前提是小學生必須已經熟悉普通話，具有普通話基本交流能力。如果學生的普通話語音積累不夠，那麼，教學拼音事倍功半，效果差；二香港小學的漢語拼音教學不能完全套用內地小學拼音教學的模式，因為兩地小學生的普通話能力和普通話學習環境很不相同。我們從課文內容，課文形式，課文語言以及課堂教學活動詳細介紹我們的香港小學漢語拼音教材的設計和我們一年來的拼音教學實驗情況。最後，本文描述香港小學生學習漢語拼音的特點。
Pinyin is a very important component in Putonghua teaching. This paper reports our research and one-year classroom experiment in teaching Pinyin to Hong Kong primary school children. We summarize two principles in Pinyin teaching: 1) Pinyin teaching in Hong Kong shouldn't follow the curriculum of mainland; 2) Pinyin teaching should start when children have already had the basic Putonghua proficiency. In this paper, we will discuss in detail the designing of Pinyin materials, the classroom activities and the special patterns and characteristics of Hong Kong primary school children in learning Pinyin.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

The present study is unique in being one of the few conducted with the teacher trainees in Hong Kong to gather and analyze relevant data related to environmental education. In this regards, this study aims to investigate (i) the environmental worldviews, (ii) the environmental dispositions, (iii) the perception on the urgency of major local and global issues, (iv) perception towards various environmental protection issues, (v) various aspects of green behavior, (vi) environmental knowledge and (vii) the related academic background, of the teacher trainees of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The research method adopted is basically quantitative, in which a set of questionnaire serves as the measuring instrument to access the teacher trainees' environmental attitudes, behavior and knowledge. These findings will provide useful information for curriculum development purposes such as developing relevant and appropriate teaching content, strategies and methods for new and existing environmentally related modules.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]

香港的中學中史教科書具有內容全面、體系完整、敘事客觀、持論平實、製作精美等諸多優點，但也有一些值得完善、改進和提高的地方，如筆者以為的內容方面略顯陳舊，對中外史學界新的研究成果吸收不夠等等。 本文以一個在香港中學中史教科書廣泛流行然而卻不盡準確的關於元代歷史的說法為對象，進行多方評析，期以說明本港的中學中史教科書實有吸收新的史學研究成果的必要。
Hong Kong's secondary school textbooks on Chinese history have many commendable merits, such as balanced structure, objective narration, well-grounded argument and exquisite design. There are, however, a few areas where improvements are needed, and one of them is the slowness in absorbing fresh historical research findings. Many outdated concepts or sayings which have been convincingly proven false by history researchers are still prevalent. This article addresses this problem by focusing on analyzing a popular yet inaccurate saying on the history of Yuan dynasty and argues that the contents of Hong Kong's secondary school textbooks on Chinese history need updating.
[Copyright of New Horizons: The Journal of Education, Hong Kong Teachers' Associationl is the property of Hong Kong Teachers' Association at http://www.hkta1934.org.hk/]