EFL Learners’ Acquisition, Generalization, and Overgeneralization of Adjective-noun Collocations through Exposure

以英語為外語學習者透過閱讀習得搭配詞及引申與過度引申之研究

紀佩吟(Pei-yin Chi)

指導教授 ： 卓江 ； 柯安娜

國立清華大學/人文社會學院/外國語文學系/碩士(2012年)

https://doi.org/10.6843/NTHU.2012.00251

摘要

本研究是關於台灣英語學習者搭配詞(collocations)的學習，旨在探討 (1)學習者是否能透過閱讀習得搭配詞 (2)在習得搭配詞之後，學習者是否會自行引申到有語意關聯的搭配詞 (3)同時，是否也會有過度引申的現象發生。
研究對象為95位大一非外語系學生，分為實驗組與控制組。實驗涵蓋72個形容詞-名詞的搭配詞，其中三分之一的搭配詞是用來檢視學習者透過閱讀習得的程度，暫稱為「習得搭配詞」；三分之一為「引申搭配詞」，引申搭配詞與習得搭配詞可兩兩配對，例如：heavy drinker 和 heavy smoker，每一對的名詞在語意上都有所關聯；另外三分之一則為「偽搭配詞」，用以觀察受試者是否會過度引申。實驗過程包含四個階段：前測、閱讀、立即後測與延遲後測。三次測驗中，受試者須判斷各個搭配詞是否可被接受；閱讀材料則是使用了「習得搭配詞」的48個獨立句子。控制組則未閱讀句子，只進行三次的搭配詞判斷，用以檢視測驗的內在效度。
研究結果顯示閱讀的效果顯著，學習者可以自行從句子中習得搭配詞，進而引申到語意相關的搭配詞(例如從heavy drinker引申到heavy smoker)，但卻也伴隨著過度引申形容詞語意的現象。透過閱讀所習得的搭配詞多能留存在長期記憶中，而引申及過度引申在兩週後甚至有增加的趨勢。本研究也探討了特定搭配詞較容易習得、引申與過度引申的可能因素，包括搭配詞的中英文一致性(congruency)、語意的關聯性等。
本研究顯示了閱讀對於搭配詞習得的效用，也揭示了學習者的確在學習搭配詞的過程中會自行引申，然而除了引申到語意相關的搭配詞外，學習者也會過度引申到偽搭配詞。這些研究成果將可作為未來相關研究的基礎。

關鍵字

搭配詞 ； 搭配詞習得 ； 引申 ； 過度引申 ； 閱讀

並列摘要

This study aimed to explore whether learners acquire adjective-noun collocations through exposure, whether they generalize from what they have acquired to like collocations which share close semantic relations, and whether they overgeneralize at the same time.
Ninety five non-English majors participated in the study, divided into an experimental group and a control group. The research items were seventy two adjective-noun collocations/pseudo-collocations, which fell into three categories. “Acquisition collocations” were included to examine learners’ acquisition through exposure. Each acquisition collocation had a corresponding collocation (referred to as “generalization collocation”) whose noun collocate was semantically related (e.g. heavy drinker and heavy smoker). “Pseudo-collocations ” were adopted as indicators of overgeneralization. The participants received a pretest, reading exposure, an immediate posttest and an identical delayed posttest. These tests asked them to judge the collocability of the target collocations/pseudo-collocations. The reading materials consisted of 48 isolated sentences which contained the acquisition collocations. The control group received no treatment but took the three judgment tests, which were administered to examine the internal validity of the tests used.
The results showed that reading exposure had significant effects on learners’ acquisition of collocations. Based on the acquired collocations, learners generalized within the paradigmatic sets of the noun collocates (e.g. from the acquisition collocation heavy drinker to the generalization collocation heavy smoker). Overgeneralization occurred at the same time as a result of the exposure they received; in other words, learners accepted significantly more pseudo-collocations on the posttest than they had accepted on the pretest.
The acquired collocations were significantly retained after a two-week delay. On the other hand, the learners showed even more generalization and overgeneralization two weeks later. Through item analysis, this study also probed into factors such as congruency and perceived semantic relations which might influence the extent of acquisition, generalization, and overgeneralization.
It also showed that learners will generalize from the collocations they are exposed to, correctly accepting semantically related collocations but also wrongly accepting a great many pseudo-collocations. This and other findings of the study can serve as a basis for future research further exploring these issues.

並列關鍵字

collocation ； acquisition ； generalization ； overgeneralization ； congruency ； reading ； incidental learning

參考文獻

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