本章主要介绍了美国儿童读物的分类、分级和重要童书质量评审奖项与标准。童书分级不是孤立的现象，只有和读者阅读水平测试配套使用才有意义，再加上科研例证的有效教学方法，才能真正起到推广阅读的作用。目前，中国阅读分级研究主要集中在英语教学上。《中国中小学生英语分级阅读体系标准研制》，作为全国教育科学“十二五”规划教育部重点课题，由外语教学与研究出版社与北京师范大学外国语言文学院联合研究和探索适合我国的英语分级阅读标准、中小学生英语分级阅读参考书目与英语教学方案与教学法 （http：//www.chinareading.org/），取得了显著的成绩。值得注意的是英语在我国是作为外语教学，这和美国用于母语阅读的分级教学有很大的区别。
台湾地区在中文图书分级方面取得了一定进展。台湾师范大学宋曜廷教授主持的可读性研究团队已开发出中文文本可读性指标自动化分析系统 （Chinese readability index explorer，CRIE）。该系统能够自动分析文本的多项特征，包括高频字数、句长等可读性公式指标，同时也纳入一些深层文本特征，如内容可预测性、图文关联性、概念密度与难度、文体、主题、观点等 ，是一个实用且强大的文本分析工具。
虽然国内网上也可以找到很多中文的系列分级读物，如新浪亲子网上的“中国儿童分级阅读参考书目”，但大部分书都是译著。中文和西方字母文字是不同的语言体系，西方的分级系统不能经过翻译后等同中文的分级。我们需要研究出适合中文的阅读分级体系，但这个过程中要取长补短，避免照搬照抄。
摘要 Abstract
Book leveling by readability is a familiar concept in North America, having been implemented in the United States for more than half a century and, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, for quite a few years.It has been promoted in Mainland China more recently.China has seen a boom in publishing for children since the beginning of the new millennium.It is a challenge for parents and educators to choose from a vast body of children’s books that are of high quality and interest level, as well as at the appropriate difficulty level for a young reader.This article intends to introduce three aspects of American children’s literature, including categories of juvenile books, evaluation of its quality, and book leveling systems.We hope this overview will inspire Chinese educators and parents in finding appropriate materials for recreational reading, defining reading goals in the curriculum, and providing guidance in pedagogical framework and classroom reading instruction.
Key words:
the American children’s literature, reading level, book categories, book quality, book levels, children’s books
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[1] 俄克拉荷马州立大学教育学院
[2] 普林斯顿大学科特森儿童图书馆