科學語言既是通往科學領域之必要途徑，卻往往是造成科學學習的障礙。如何透過語言學習科學，以培養學生科學閱讀理解的能力至為重要。術語或稱專有名詞係用於指涉該學科領域特定概念及意義；複合詞係將兩個以上的自由詞素結合成一個詞彙，其中至少有一個詞素是整個複合詞的語意核心，有特別的結構規律。本研究採內容分析及訪談法，旨在探析科學術語複合詞的態樣、類型與特徵，並提出對教學、教科書編寫及學術名詞審譯等方面應用的建議。教師教學應強化複合詞之識別意識，亦應瞭解學生的先備知識以引導學生解讀詞彙意義、隱含的語法規則及語義成分；教科書可針對詞彙設計教學，例如詞彙定義、剖析涉及的知識內涵概念層次，以深化有意義的學習；學術名詞審譯可參酌複合詞建構規則，依據類別屬性擇取適當對應詞彙，將能進行更精確的轉譯。

Terminology refers to a collection of conceptual naming in a particular subject. Both the scientific language and its special word forms are necessary and essential to science and technology applications. Therefore, it is important to learn science through them, which also becomes a fundamental task to develop students’ comprehensive ability to read scientific papers. Compound words and structures refer to two or more free morphemes combined into a word, under certain structural rules, of which at least one morpheme is the semantic core of the whole compound unit. Though this conceptual system is not obvious, the importance of its lexical combination rules cannot be ignored. The main purposes of this study are to explore the principles of compound words formation, to analyze semantic analysis and understanding of science textbooks used in secondary schools. The research methods conducted consist of a text analysis and teachers’ interviews. Based on the results, a conclusion, together with a discussion of the implications of the findings, suggests some practical guidelines for curriculum planning and teaching, textbook editing and reviewing, translating and compiling academic terminologies in order to deepen the learners’ learning.