Literature learning and task design in Hong Kong Chinese language text-books

Abstract

The new high school Chinese language curriculum in Hong Kong (2002) calls for the integration of literature after more than two decades of emphasis on language skills learning. However, many language teachers do not really know how to incorporate literature instruction into a language class and rely heavily on textbooks. The textbook becomes the “hidden teacher”, guiding the content of learning, the sequence of teaching and the approaches to learning. Few teachers investigate the learning tasks designed by material writer(s) and question the nature of these tasks, or the underpinning pedagogy. This article reports on a survey of three sets of commonly used Chinese language textbooks in terms of the structure of learning units and the design of learning tasks for literary texts.