後設言談教學在學術英語課程中的可行性與接受性

Metadiscourse Instruction in EAP Courses: Feasibility and Acceptability

楊雨芹(Yu-chin Jill Yang)

指導教授 ： 徐憶萍

國立清華大學/人文社會學院/外國語文學系/碩士(2006年)

摘要

近年來台灣的研究生人數急遽增加，研究生的英文寫作也相對地日趨重要。雖然近幾年來，已有越來越多的研究報告探討學術論文寫作中的後設言談，然而，對於後設言談在學術英語課程中的教學效能卻少有研究。
此研究針對台灣研究生對於論說文的知識以及寫作行為進行調查，並評估後設言談教學在學術英語課程中的可行性及接受度。研究對象為修讀基礎論文寫作課程的四十位台灣某國立大學博士生。資料的蒐集包含了不同的問卷調查，以便了解學生的論文寫作經驗與知識，以及對於後設言談學習的反應與感受。另外，對於學生在論說文中所使用的人際後設言談(interpersonal metadiscourse)，也進行分析與探討，以揭示潛在的修辭結構；而後續的訪談則旨於引導學生提供更多個別的回應及說明。
本研究結果顯示在傳統教學法下，大多數的博士生雖然對於自身的閱讀能力有信心，但對於學術上的英文寫作程度不甚滿意。因此，台灣博士生的自我學習方法為藉由閱讀學術文章來獲得初步的學術寫作知識。儘管這樣的方式並不完善且有待改正，學生們豐富的閱讀經驗彌補了他們有限的寫作能力，並且增進學習後設言談的效率。然而，由於缺乏正規的後設言談教學，大多數的學生因為使用頻率以及自覺性的差異，指出使用文本後設言談(Textual metadiscourse)與人際後設言談(interpersonal metadiscourse)時的困難。另一方面，台灣博士生在論說文寫作中，人際後設言談的使用率，僅略少於教科書中使用的範例。此一現象反映了學生們的寫作表現已符合學術文體的要求體裁。
總而言之，大多數的學生對此學習過程都表達了正面的態度，亦肯定了學術英語課程中，後設言談教學的可行性與接受度。此外，學生們的回應與後設言談使用表現，不僅擴展我們對學生背景知識的理解，也對於教學方法設計以及學習內容的優先順序排定，提供了寶貴的資訊。

關鍵字

後設言談教學 ； 學術英語課程 ； 人際後設言談 ； 文本後設言談 ； 連慣性

並列摘要

In an EFL context like Taiwan, academic English writing demands considerable attention to match the rapidly increasing numbers of graduate students in recent years. There has been more and more research concerning academic writing on metadiscourse lately, which revealed Taiwanese student writers’ immature writing skills, yet few of them discussed the teaching and learning efficacy of metadiscourse in EAP courses.
To gauge the feasibility and acceptability of metadiscourse instruction in EAP courses, this study explored Taiwanese graduate students’ knowledge and performance in metadiscourse use in argumentation. Participants involved are 40 doctoral students registered in basic academic writing courses at a national university in northern Taiwan. Data collected included different questionnaires and surveys on subjects’ previous writing experiences, knowledge of academic writing, perceived difficulties in and reaction to metadiscourse learning. In addition, students’ use of interpersonal metadiscourse in argumentation was coded and analyzed to disclose the potential rhetorical patterns. Moreover, follow-up interviews were also conducted to elicit more and clarify participants’ individual responses based on questionnaires.
The findings showed that, because of traditional education focus, most doctoral students are confident of their reading ability, yet unsatisfied with their writing proficiency for academic purposes. Nevertheless, relying heavily upon reading journal articles as the major media of self-learning, Taiwanese doctoral students have acquired an initial understanding of academic writing, although their academic knowledge remains incomplete and deficient. Learners’ abundant reading experiences complement their limited writing proficiency, and facilitate metadiscourse learning process. However, without formal instruction in metadiscourse, most students revealed that unequal awareness and frequency caused different difficulties between textual and interpersonal metadiscourse learning. In writing argumentation, Taiwanese doctoral students used slightly fewer interpersonal markers than in textbooks, the authoritative models of academic writing, representing the preliminary conformity of learners’ writing behaviors with the expected academic genre. In conclusion, most students expressed positive attitudes toward the learning process, confirming the acceptability and feasibility of metadiscourse instruction in EAP courses. Moreover, participants’ responses and metadiscourse use in their writing performance not only expanded our understanding of students’ background knowledge, but also assisted in prioritizing teaching techniques and learning focuses.

並列關鍵字

metadiscourse ； English for Academic Purposes ； interpersonal metadiscourse ； textual metadiscourse ； coherence and cohesion

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