A Psychological Research on Characters in Middle School Chinese Textbooks in China/UNE RECHERCHE PSYCHOLOGIQUE SUR LES CARACTERES DE MATERIELS CHINOIS DANS LES ECOLES SECONDAIRES EN CHINE
Benxian, Yao, Daoyang, Wang, Canadian Social Science
This study made a statistical study and analysis of the Chinese textbooks for six-year-system students. The results showed: (1) in terms of nationality, the number of characters of the Han nationality was 4 times as many as that of minority nationalities. 74.3 per cent of the students can't tell the differences. In comparison, in primary school Chinese textbooks (The People's Education Press, in 1993), the progress had been made without doubt; (2) in terms of countries, the number of Chinese characters was 3.98 times as many as that of foreigners and the description of foreigners did not meet well the requirement of times development; (3) in terms of genders, characters of male were 2.4 times as many as female; (4) in terms of live environment, the proportion of the characters living in ancient was 46.7%. So the description of the contemporary and rural circumstance was not enough;(5) concerning identity and occupation, they focus on men of letters and so on, but pay little attention to ordinary people occupation.
Key words: Middle School Chinese Textbooks, Students, Character's Feature
Résumé: Cette etude a fait des statistiques et l'analyse de matériels chinois pour les élèves du cycle de 6 ans d'études . Le résultat a montré: (1) En terme de nationalité, le nombre de caractères de la nationalité Han était de 4 fois celui des groupes minorités. 74.3 % des élèves ne parviennt pas à dire les différences. Comme comparaison, dans les écoles primaries, les matériels chinois (la Presse d' Education du peuple, en 1993), il est indoutable qu'ils ont connu un progrès; (2) En terme de pays,le nombre de caractères chinois était de 3.98 fois celui des étrangers dont la description n'ont pas satisfait les demandes du développement; (3) en terme de genre, les caractères masculins étaient de 2.4 fois ceux des féminins; (4) En terme de l'environnement de vie, la proportion de caractères anciens était de 46.7%. Donc la description de la contemporaine and la circomstance rurale n'était pas suffisante;(5) Concernant l'identité et l'occupation, ils mettent un accenti sur les hommes de letttres etc, mais mettent très peu d'attention à G occupation des gens ordinaires.
Mots clés: Matériels Chinois dans les Ecoles Secondaires, Elèves, caractéristiques des caractères
Researchers have studied something about Chinese Textbooks, and they have achieved some meaningful conclusions. Furthermore, they have given some valuable suggestions . Chinese Textbooks have value orientation, cultural composition, meaning and instrumental function. These factors play an important role on students' learning and accepting conventional culture and value norms, and on students' forming social roles . However, those researches have two characteristics. One is "only-one-facet", that is, they only studied one facet, such as sexual role, value orientation, social role, and so on; the other is "primarilizing", that is, the research subjects were almost primary Chinese textbooks . In fact, middle school students are in their youth when is the vital period for forming their views on the world and value. And the formations of these views are the important marks of the maturation of the youth's mental development . Therefore, we selected middle school Chinese textbooks as the subjects, and had a statistical analysis on such aspects of characters in textbooks as gender, nationality, country, living environment and occupation
2. RESEARCH METHOD
The selected textbooks were the publications of the people's education press, which were first used as full-time common middle school textbooks in 2000. The statistical unit was respective paper, which had characters in it. These papers included the papers mainly described characters (we called these papers "character papers") and those mainly described scenes but reflected characters (we call those papers "non-character papers"). The statistical characters were the main characters both in character and non-character papers. …