Measures of Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, and interest in reading were administered to 92 second grade children in Hong Kong, while questionnaires on parental literacy practices were administered to their parents. In a hierarchical regression equation, maternal education, children's age and vocabulary skill predicted 18% of the variance in reading, while home literacy practices and children's literacy self-efficacy predicted an additional unique 19% of the variance in Chinese reading skill. Results underscore the importance of some early home literacy practices for reading achievement, even among children who are already receiving formal literacy instruction.
[Copyright of Early Education & Development is the property of Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15566935eed1601_1 ]

An urgent need for a relatively large number of qualified Putonghua language teachers in Hong Kong has led the Open University of Hong Kong to establish a distance education programme for in-service language teachers, most of whom are non-native speakers. The programme designed by the university involves distance study coupled with regular face-to-face tutorials, and is designed to enable the in-service teachers to apply their learned knowledge directly in their daily teaching. The article explains how evaluation of the first presentation of the course in 1996 showed that the course alone could not fully address the actual deficiencies in the teachers' Putonghua listening and speaking skills while, additionally, there was also a need to restructure the teaching methodology component of the course. The basis upon which these judgements were made is explained, and the steps taken to strengthen the course to meet these perceived deficiencies, while not adding to the students' workload, are outlined.
[Copyright of Open Learning is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/026805100115434]

This study considered curricular and instructional influences on early Chinese literacy attainment in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. The participants included 198 pre‐school children, their teachers and parents. Children were administered the Pre‐school and Primary Chinese Literacy Scale at the age of either two or three years, and again one year later. Teachers were asked to report on their beliefs and practices related to literacy education, and classroom observations were conducted to determine the extent to which directives issued by the Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore governments were implemented. Investigation showed that there were marked differences across the societies in curriculum guidelines and approaches to literacy teaching. Results indicated that by the age of four, pre‐schoolers in Hong Kong and Singapore had significantly better Chinese literacy attainment than those in Beijing. Although age was the best predictor of attainment, location, teachers' qualifications and classroom experience also significantly contributed to children’s literacy attainment.
[Copyright of International Journal of Early Years Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09669760500295870]

這份報告書共有三章。第一章是委員會對這項研究的工作方針，包括工作小組的成員組織，一般觀察所得和報告書的結構等。第二章是現況總觀，第一部分：本港的語文狀況，第二部分：教學語言。第三章是相關的建議。（梁振威整理）

作者指出，跨課程寫作概念源於歐美，從60年代提出到80年代末，全美已有半數大專院校開展此計劃。這計劃取向為通過寫作「學認知與修辭」，及「學習怎麼寫」。作者以香港教育學院的一組學生試行一個跨課程的寫作教學設計，結果發現學生的知識及能力俱有增進；學生回應佳。作者認為這寫作計劃應跨學系共同合作將更具成效。（黃潔貞整理）