A Study of English Passives Used by EFL College Learners in Taiwan: A Discourse-Syntactic Perspective

由篇章－句法的觀點探討臺灣大學生英語被動句之使用

周敏潔(Min-Chieh Chou)

《Hwa Kang English Journal》 17卷1期 (2011/04) Pp. 1-32

https://doi.org/10.7109/HKEJ.201104.0001

摘要

本研究旨在了解臺灣大學生在學習英語被動句的過程中如何受中文篇章功能的影響。學生在英語篇章中所使用的被動句，包括錯誤的被動句、「假被動句」(pseudo-passives)、「準被動句」(targetlike passives)是本研究的焦點。本研究的語料來自中國文化大學英文系兩名學生在六個月內定期繳交的英文作文和札記。研究結果顯示學生英文程度是影響其使用不同被動句型重要的因素，反映了不同程度的學生其英語被動句的發展。而且會寫出「假被動句」或錯誤的被動句的學生也較常寫出其他屬於「主題突出性」的句型，顯示了學生在英語習得的過程中，受中文篇章功能影響的程度。再者，「假被動句」中，省略的主詞的實際意義應決定於篇章中之指涉功能。最後，程度好的學生寫出來的「準被動句」和英語母語者所使用的被動句仍有差異，應可歸因於中文篇章功能的隱性干擾。本研究的結果不但顯示了中文篇章功能對中國學生在學習英語被動句的影響程度，也突顯了在第二語言習得過程中，篇章內不同因素交互作用的特質。

關鍵字

臺灣大學生英語學習者 ； 假被動句 ； 準被動句 ； 跨語言影響 ； 主題突出特質

並列摘要

The study aimed to demonstrate how the application of English passives of Taiwanese EFL college learners was affected by the discourse functions of L1 Chinese. The learners' uses of English passives in context, including malformed passives, pseudo-passives, and targetlike passives were the focus of the study. In this study, two English majors' writing output produced over a period of 6 months was investigated. The passives and some topic-prominent features in their writings were under scrutiny. The results validated that the learner's proficiency was an important factor in the discrepancy in their production of pseudo-passives and malformed passives, demonstrating the syntactic development of the target structures of the L2 learners. Also, the learner who tended to produce ill-formed passives or pseudo-passives exhibited an inclination to produce other discourse-prominent features, revealing a discourse-oriented tendency of the L2 acquisition of the EFL learner. Moreover, the suppressed subject in the pseudo-passives was discourse-determined, providing additional evidence for the effect of discourse on the L2 acquisition. Finally, some targetlike passives by the more advanced EFL learner were distinct from real English passives as the result of implicit influence of the discourse function of L1 Chinese. The study demonstrated how the Chinese discourse affected the syntactic development of the L2 target structures and revealed the extent to which the interaction of various elements of L1 discourse bore on the L2 acquisition.

並列關鍵字

Taiwanese EFL college learners ； pseudo-passives ； targetlike passives ； cross-linguistic influence ； topic-oriented features

參考文獻

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