Acquiring Incidental Vocabulary from Magazine Reading

從雜誌閱讀習得偶得字彙

曾淳美(Sunny Tseng)

《全人教育學報》 6期 (2010/06) Pp. 46-81

https://doi.org/10.6272/JHE.2010.06.3

摘要

本研究旨在從四方面評估學生從閱讀雜誌文章習得偶得字彙的成果：學生的字彙增加之數量，閱讀理解能力之改善程度，學習焦慮是否降低，及是否能夠培養閱讀雜誌的習慣。為達成目標，本研究以74名私立大學必修課程大一英文之中級程度學生兩班為對象，分為控制組與實驗組，實施一年的實驗教學。研究對象接受了前、後測以及教學前後調查問卷。兩組都被要求讀一系列的英文雜誌文章；控制組學生讀雜誌文章時可以自由查字典；而實驗組則不可查字典，但每篇均附中文註解格及空白格並列，用來猜出所應對的英文生字。每一篇讀完後兩組都立即接受克漏字測驗，以檢測記下多少生字。隨後在每週還有兩篇文章在家用同樣方法閱讀。所讀過的文章及猜出的生字數量都加以計算並累計。亦施行學生之自我報告。研究結果有以下發現：（1）中文註解較查字典有助改善閱讀理解。實驗組與控制組的後測成績有顯著的差異（63.42% vs. 51.79%）。（2）中文註解較查字典有助學生的字彙增加。實驗組較控制組有較高比例的正確生字數（81.77% vs. 38.25%），克漏字測驗成績（73.21% vs. 33.47%），以及較高的在家閱讀的生字總量（79.42% vs. 56.71%）。（3）中文註解亦有助於實驗組降低學習焦慮。教學後問卷調查顯示對於中文註解及查字典何者較可以協助降低壓力，運用中文註解的實驗組有較好的感受 （8.46 vs. 7.57）。（4）獲取偶得字彙的訓練能激發學生願意培養雜誌閱讀的習慣。教學後問卷調查顯示，相對於比較組，實驗組較有信心培養閱讀雜誌的習慣 （7.97 vs. 4.78），且更進一步有助於他們未來閱讀主修科目的英文出版品（7.51 vs. 4.72）。

關鍵字

偶得字彙習得 ； 廣泛閱讀 ； 克漏字測驗 ； 註解

並列摘要

The purpose of this study evaluates several aspects of college students’ incidental vocabulary acquired from magazine reading: Increase of vocabulary size, level of reading comprehension, anxiety level, and nurturing of reading habit. To achieve these goals, a one-year-course was designed for 74 students from two classes of intermediate-level students who were divided into the control group and the experimental group. Both groups took the pretest and posttest, and did pre-instruction and post-instruction surveys. The control group read a series of magazine articles with the freedom of consulting a dictionary; while the experimental group was required to read popular magazine articles with the aid of Chinese annotation boxes juxtaposed with blank boxes for readers to identify the prospective new English words. With each reading, we conducted immediate after-reading cloze tests to help both groups check on their retention of the new vocabulary items just learned. The numbers of articles and vocabulary items identified were recorded in a record sheet. A self-report was also done. The findings were as follows: (1) The Chinese annotation boxes served better than dictionary-consulting in improving reading comprehension. There is a significant difference in posttest scores of the experimental group and the control group (63.42% vs. 51.79%). (2) The students’ vocabulary sized larger in reading with Chinese annotation boxes than reading with dictionary-checking. The experimental group marked higher than the control group in number of accurate vocabulary items (81.77% vs. 38.25%), cloze test results (73.21% vs. 33.47%), and the take-home readings (79.42% vs. 56.71%). (3) Chinese annotation boxes also helped reduce learning anxiety with the experimental group. The post-instruction survey indicated the experimental group assumed less pressure than the control group (8.46 vs. 7.57). (4) The training of incidental vocabulary acquisition motivated students to nurture a magazine-reading habit. The post-instruction survey showed that the experimental group was more confident in nurturing a magazine-reading habit (7.97 vs. 4.78) which would also benefit their future reading in reading English publications in their major field (7.51 vs. 4.72).

並列關鍵字

incidental vocabulary acquisition ； extensive reading ； cloze test ； annotation