臺灣、日本與美國高中地理課本中國區域地理教材內容之分析比較

Abstract

本研究的主要目的是要針對臺灣、日本和美國這三個國家的高中地理教科書描述中國的部分進行內容分析，比較這三個國家課本內容的組成與異同，透過研究中歸納出地理學者和教育專家所認定該放入高中教科書的地理知識。在本研究中同時使用量化與質化的分析方法。 研究中將課文內容歸納為十二項類目，包括：位置與範圍、地形、氣候、水文、植物與土壤、礦產與能源、人口、經濟、交通、都市與鄉村、文化。每一類目下又經過細分，藉此來區分講述的範圍與深度。此外，並針對以下項目作分析比較，包括三國教科書中討論到中國的比例、地圖及其他圖像資料出現的頻率及比例、文字的組成、圖像的組成、強調和遺漏的資訊、以及教科書書寫的特色等。根據文獻資料與分析結果，本研究綜合歸納出如下結論： 1.臺灣課本的中國地理論述佔世界地理以及總課程的比例都是三國中最高的。 2.從內容涵蓋的方面來看，臺灣和美國的地理教科書較能針對中國這個地方做全面性的地理論述，而日本的地理教科書則是較偏重於人文地理議題。 3.臺灣課本以議題方式撰寫；美國依自然地理→人文地理順序撰寫，夾雜歷史及社會研究：日本依自然→人文→相互關係的順序撰寫，且著重後兩部分。 4.三國在導論寫法上表現不同，臺灣平鋪直敘且無統一風格，日本和美國用圖像來引起動機。 5.三個地理課本中的圖像，仍然以照片為大宗，其次是地圖。 6.三國地理課本中含有圖像的頁數比例皆大於80%，且以日本為最高。 7.三國地理課本中的圖像大小，以日本的圖像為最小，美國最大，這是受到課本大小所影響。 8.日本的主題地圖中所含資訊是最多的。 根據上述結論，本研究針對未來之教材編輯、教學和後續研究提出若干建議。

The major purpose of this study is to conduct a content analysis of China geography in high school geography textbooks among Taiwan, Japan, and the United States. It is anticipated to result in a list of categories that summarize what geographers and educators would recommend for inclusion in high school geography textbooks. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used in this study for comparison. A list of twelve content categories is developed, which includes: location, landforms, climate, water resources, vegetation and soil, mineral and energy resources, population, economy, transportation, urbanization, and culture. Each category is further analyzed for its inclusion, intensity, and degree of description and exemplification. In content analysis, six analytical categories are used: number and percentage of pages contained in this study, frequency and percentage of various maps in illustration, composition of content in geography textbooks, composition of illustration in geography textbooks, inclusion or omission of specific factors in each topical category, analysis of specific points about each textbook. According to results from literatures review and analysis, the main findings of this study are summarized as follow: 1. Taiwan's textbook contains the highest propotion of China geography among the three countries’ textbooks. 2. The textbooks of Taiwan and U.S. provide more comprehensive information of China, while the Japan’s textbook emphasizes more on human geography than physical geography. 3. Taiwan’s textbook takes a topic-oriented writing style. U.S. authors write physical geography and human geography in order with some ingridients of history and social study. Japan authors emphasize human geography and international relationship. 4. The writing style of the introduction is different among textbooks. Taiwan’s textbook is somehow dry, flat and not well organized while Japan and U.S. authors make better use of images so that their textbooks appear more interesting and attractive. 5. All three textbooks rely more on pictures than maps. 6. The ratio of the number of pages containing images are more than 80%, and the highest is Japan’s textbook. 7. The size of images in Japan’s textbook is the smallest, while which of U.S. textbook is the biggest. This difference is affected by the size of textbooks. 8. The thematic maps in Japan’s textbook contain the most information. According to the conclusions above, this study offers suggestions for future textbooks editing, teachers’ instruction and further study.