A Comparison of English Textbooks from the Perspectives of Reading: IB Diploma Programs and Japanese Senior High Schools
A Comparison of English Textbooks from the Perspectives of Reading: IB Diploma Programs and Japanese Senior High Schools
复制标题
从阅读角度比较英语教材：IB文凭课程与日本高中
DOI：
--
复制
发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
M. Kawano
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
M. Kawano
文部科学省（MEXT）正在推动国际文凭（IB）计划，旨在到2018年将日本的IB学校数量增加到200所（MEXT，2012年）。虽然IB课程被公认为授予国际资格，但在日本，并没有多少教育工作者熟悉这些课程，也很少有研究来阐明IB课程。本文从第二语言阅读的角度对IB文凭课程使用的英语教材和文部科学省审定的高中英语教材进行了比较。本研究分析了两套IB英语B教材和两套交际英语II教材。首先，对阅读文章的主题和风格进行了分类。内容分析的结果发现，IB教科书的内容主要涉及传播、全球问题和社会关系等方面，而日本教科书的内容虽然包括环境问题和传播等方面，但更多地侧重于传记、科学和技术。至于文章的风格，报纸和互联网上的报道占IB教科书的一半以上;日本教科书主要是探索性文章。第二，根据安德森的分类法（2001）的认知水平对文章的任务和阅读理解问题进行了分类，发现IB教材和日语教材中的任务和阅读理解问题的模式不同。前者的任务涉及低级和高级思维技能，而后者则侧重于理解和记忆等低级思维技能。
The Ministry of Education (MEXT) is promoting International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, aiming to increase the number of IB schools in Japan to 200 by 2018 (MEXT, 2012). Although IB programs are recognized as awarding an international qualification, not many educators in Japan are familiar with the programs and there have been few studies conducted to elucidate the IB curricula. In this paper, I compare and contrast the English textbooks used in IB Diploma programs and the senior high school textbooks approved by MEXT, especially from the perspectives of reading in the second language. Two IB textbooks of English B and two textbooks of Communication English II were analyzed in this study. First, the themes and styles of reading passages were categorized. As a result of content analysis, the IB textbooks were found to cover topics related to communication, global issues, and social relationships, while the Japanese textbooks, though they included such topics as environmental problems and communication, focused more on biography, science, and technology. As for the styles of passages, reports in the newspaper and on the Internet accounted for more than half of IB textbooks; the Japanese textbooks included mostly exploratory essays. Second, tasks and reading comprehension questions of the passages were categorized according to the cognitive levels of Anderson’s Taxonomy (2001), which revealed different patterns in IB textbooks and Japanese textbooks. The former had tasks of both lowerand higher-order thinking skills, while the latter focused on lower-level thinking skills such as understanding and remembering.