HKIER

Abstract

The present study reviews the current status of the medium of instruction issue in Hong Kong and further investigates the effect of different modes of medium of instruction on student achievement in major school subjects. A total of 779 secondary-3 students from different schools took achievement tests in English and in mathematics. The English and mathematics teachers of these sampled students were surveyed to determine the modes of instruction in their classes. In addition, information regarding teacher and student characteristics was collected by means of questionnaire survey on the participating teachers and students. The findings reveal that in terms of mathematics achievement, students in the Chinese-dominant classes excel those in the English-dominant and Chinese-and-English-mixed classes while students in the latter classes are not significantly different, and that in terms of English achievement, the Chinese-and-English mixed mode is superior to the English-dominant mode.

摘要

本研究嘗試檢討香港中學教學語言問題之現況，並探求不同教學語言對學科成績之影響。研究樣本選自不同學校779名中三學生。該等學生曾參加數學、英文兩科學科成績測試。教學語言乃由該兩科教師填報。至於樣本學生與有關教師特性之資料則由調查問卷中獲得。研究結果顯示：（一）以中文為主要教學語言之學生，其數學科成績較以英文或中英文夾雜為主要教學語言者為高；（二）以英文為主要教學語言及以中英文夾雜為主要教學語言之學生，二者之數學成績無顯著分別；（三）以中英文夾雜為主要教學語言之學生，其英文科成績勝於以英文為主要教學語言者。