本研究旨在了解學生能否利用科學知識來學習中文成語，同時探討科學概念如何影響他們理建詞義，以助提升學生語文及科學學習的成效。研究以問卷形式進行，調查香港小六學生對中文成語之間的相互影響。是次調查共有三間小學約400名小六學生參與。研究結果顯示，學生已有的科學概念，對其學習中文成語是有幫助的；相反，在學習中文成語時，亦有助於加深學生的科學概念，亦了解成語的比喻；二、認識成語的中文解釋，但不了解當中字詞的科學意義，這或由於教師在教授中文成語時，並沒有為學生仔細解釋字詞的科學概念；三、明白成語其中字詞的科學解釋，但並未能了解成語的引申意義。這是因為在教成語的時候，一般老師麵只注重詞語的比喻義或引申義，較少在字詞的本藝下工夫，這造成學生對詞語的認識住住是模稜兩可。因此，在掌握有科學概念的詞語時，可以在教學上加強字詞的本戡，給學生概念上更準確的意戡。這不但提高學生的學習興趣，也增強他們的科學知識，並訓練他們在跨學科概念上的互相應用。同時，教師應利用文字或語言特色設計教學活動，把科學學習與語文教學融合起來。

Most of the educational reading material primary-aged students read at school tends to fall within the informational text genre. Informational text has schematic or organizational characteristics that readers need to be access. Ability to understand informational texts (Duke, 2009) has been shown to support students with fictional text comprehension (Soalt, 2005) leading to higher reading achievement (Kletzien & Dreher, 2004). Three quasi-experimental studies investigating reading comprehension test score gains of first and second language (L1 and L2 respectively) English international primary school students (Years 2 and 6) in Hong Kong were conducted. Students were randomly assigned to one of two teaching interventions; one focused on teaching informational text schema and the other on English vocabulary building. Reading comprehension gains were measured using the Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning (asTTle) program and researcher-designed cloze fiction and nonfiction tests. Meta-analysis of the multiple measures and treatments found greater comprehension and cloze performance due to the teaching of informational texts compared to vocabulary training; though this was more pronounced for students with English as L1.

Many research studies on English reading support that phonological awareness is crucial to reading success. This paper reports about a study which examined the effect of phonological awareness training in English reading among Hong Kong children who learn English as their second language. Participants were 5-year old children studying the last year of preschool education, the year before formal primary schooling. Children in the experimental group (184) received phonological awareness training for about 6 months while the children in the control group (166) were taught with their original English curriculum. Children in the experimental group performed significantly better in both reading–related tasks (picture naming and word reading) and reading-related skills (rhyme detection and phoneme identification). The findings indicate that phonological awareness training is beneficial to the development of English reading skills among Hong Kong children.

Traditionally, children in Hong Kong are taught to read English by reading/memorizing the whole English words followed by sentences and stores. Many research studies on English reading support that phonological awareness is crucial to reading success. A study is conducted in Hong Kong to examine the phonological awareness approach in developing English reading skills among preschool children who learn English as their second language. Participants were 5-year old children studying the last year of preschool education, the year before formal primary schooling. Children in the experimental group (182) received phonological awareness training for about 6 months while the children in the control group (166) were taught with their original English curriculum. Children in the experimental group performed significantly better in both reading-related tasks (picture naming and word reading) and reading-related skills (rhyme detection and phoneme identification). Results indicate that phonological awareness training is an effective approach to the development of English reading skills among Hong Kong children. The findings of the project will provide data to facilitate the school curriculum planning and suggest changing teaching practices in English reading so as to prevent difficulties in learning.

This paper proposes a personalised instructional strategy, student-selected vocabulary, to facilitate secondary school students' vocabulary building. It then reports how this personalised instructional strategy was implemented and evaluated through a teacher-led intervention study of 57 low-achieving Hong Kong secondary school students. Data were collected with multiple measures: student-made vocabulary cards, paper questionnaires, and personalised vocabulary tests. The findings show that these low-achieving students selected words to learn in a responsible way to meet with their academic needs and achieved good retention rates of their personalised curriculum. Evidence also shows that learner differences were catered for and well addressed in this innovative personalised vocabulary pedagogy.
[Copyright of Language and Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2014.942318]

This study examined the influence of classroom pedagogic reading practices and out-of-school practices in explaining why the reading attainment of Hong Kong Grade 4 students was superior to that of their counterparts in Taiwan in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Analyses of scores from 9301 students (4712 from Hong Kong and 4589 from Taiwan) revealed that independent reading in school made a distinctive contribution to the reading performance of Hong Kong and Taiwan students after controlling for the effects of students' and parents' reading attitudes, the availability of supportive home educational resources and student engagement in a range of reading practices. Out-of-school informational reading was found to be negatively associated with students' reading attainment for both Hong Kong and Taiwan students. There was evidence that reading aloud in class in Taiwan classrooms significantly contributed to the Taiwan students' poor reading performance.
[Copyright of Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2014.927732]