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Article: Comprehension of non-technical words in science: The case of students using a ‘foreign’ language as the medium of instruction

TitleComprehension of non-technical words in science: The case of students using a ‘foreign’ language as the medium of instruction
Authors
KeywordsPoor Performance
Threshold Level
Foreign Language
Classroom Language
Issue Date1994
PublisherSpringer Verlag Dordrecht. The Journal's web site is located at http://springerlink.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=journal&issn=0157-244x
Citation
Research in Science Education, 1994, v. 24 n. 1, p. 322-330 How to Cite?
AbstractThis paper reports on an investigation into Hong Kong students' comprehension of English non-technical words used in science. The investigation was conducted in a context in which English, a foreign language to students, is the medium of instruction, in that textbooks and examinations are all in English but the classroom language used is mainly Chinese, with frequent Chinese-English code-switching. A total of 4644 Secondary 4, 5 and 6 students participated in the study. Many students did not correctly comprehend a large proportion of the words, confused them with words that were graphologically or phonetically similar, and even took them for their antonyms. Such poor performance raises doubts as to whether the majority of Hong Kong students have attained a ‘threshold level’ of competence in English to benefit from learning science in English.
Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/267843
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 2.2
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.045

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorTao, PK-
dc.date.accessioned2019-03-05T04:04:18Z-
dc.date.available2019-03-05T04:04:18Z-
dc.date.issued1994-
dc.identifier.citationResearch in Science Education, 1994, v. 24 n. 1, p. 322-330-
dc.identifier.issn0157-244X-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/267843-
dc.description.abstractThis paper reports on an investigation into Hong Kong students' comprehension of English non-technical words used in science. The investigation was conducted in a context in which English, a foreign language to students, is the medium of instruction, in that textbooks and examinations are all in English but the classroom language used is mainly Chinese, with frequent Chinese-English code-switching. A total of 4644 Secondary 4, 5 and 6 students participated in the study. Many students did not correctly comprehend a large proportion of the words, confused them with words that were graphologically or phonetically similar, and even took them for their antonyms. Such poor performance raises doubts as to whether the majority of Hong Kong students have attained a ‘threshold level’ of competence in English to benefit from learning science in English.-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherSpringer Verlag Dordrecht. The Journal's web site is located at http://springerlink.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=journal&issn=0157-244x-
dc.relation.ispartofResearch in Science Education-
dc.rightsThe final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/[insert DOI]-
dc.subjectPoor Performance-
dc.subjectThreshold Level-
dc.subjectForeign Language-
dc.subjectClassroom Language-
dc.titleComprehension of non-technical words in science: The case of students using a ‘foreign’ language as the medium of instruction-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.emailTao, PK: pktao@hkucc.hku.hk-
dc.description.naturelink_to_subscribed_fulltext-
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/BF02356359-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-33750131264-
dc.identifier.hkuros761-
dc.identifier.volume24-
dc.identifier.issue1-
dc.identifier.spage322-
dc.identifier.epage330-
dc.publisher.placeNetherlands-
dc.identifier.issnl0157-244X-

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