文献回顾例子

Four elements of Literature Review

•1) an overview of the subject, issue or theory under consideration, along with the objectives of the literature review

•2) Division of works under review into categories (those in support of a particular position, whose against, and

those offering alternative theses entirely)

•3) Explanation of how each work is similar to and how it varies from the others

•4) Conclusions as to which pieces are best considered in their argument, are most convincing of their opinions,

and make the greatest contribution to the understanding the development of their area of research.

Try to identify the four elements in the following literature review.

The Choice of Medium of Instruction in HK Secondary Schools:

A Brief Critical Review

The debate over the medium of instruction in the Hong Kong educational domain has a long history. The subject is a crucial one because it is directly linked to the qualitative aspect of education. It has been a major area of concern of most educationists and researchers.

As early as Hong Kong became the colony of Britain, there have been

government reports over the language issue. Like the Brewin Report in 1902, it gave an undue emphasis on English teaching with an attempt to gain imperial interests (see Fong, 1991). It is a common practice for a colonial government to cultivate her language to be superior. English, as an instructional medium, was quite a firm language policy of the government until the eighties when reports and researches found that the effectiveness of English medium in teaching was undesirable. According to Lo (1991), the presentation of government publications typically Llewellyn Report and Bumey Report suggested that the government tended to change its attitude from supporting the English medium at its early position to encourage the use of the Chinese medium at a later period, because these publications primarily pinpointed the ineffectiveness of using English as the medium of instruction in secondary schools.

There are also papers and researchers examining the place of mother tongue and English in this bilingual society. As stated by Gibbons (1989), English enjoyed an extraordinary high status in Hong Kong where over 98 percent of people are of Chinese extraction. English is influential both within and outside the territory. English is the major language of official communication within the civil service. There are only a small number of people who are able to speak and write effective English. They are usually regarded as elites and are examples to many of the ordinary