經由課堂任務型教學探討學習者的語言吸收和領會

An Empirical Investigation of Learner Uptake through Classroom Tasks

黃文志(Wen-Chi Huang)

指導教授 ： 徐文正

中原大學/人文與教育學院/應用外語研究所/碩士(2008年)

https://doi.org/10.6840/cycu200800257

摘要

過去數十年來，「任務式教學法」在國內外儼然已成為語言課程發展的重要一環。簡單說來，「任務」是一種「以目標為導向」、「以學習者為中心」的課堂活動，學生藉日常生活語言來達成特定的結果(Skehan, 1996)。Willis (1996)也提出，在任務式互動的過程當中，最重要且最有活力的要素便是學習者的創造力。藉著模擬真實情境的教材，「任務式教學法」的中心思想在於促使學生以目標語溝通，分工合作地完成「任務」(Nunan, 1989)。
此外，「互動理論」(Long, 1981, 1983a, 1996) 提出，為了增加學習者的了解度，越多的訊息被提問、循環、以及改述或解釋，學習者就越有可能瞭解這項訊息。畢竟，最終還是要以學習者的個人需求為主。然而，到目前為止仍有不少研究抱持反對的立場，認為「互動理論」沒有足夠的實質證據來支持其理論。有些研究認為 ( Macky, 1999; Ellis, Tanaka, & Yamazaki 1995)，任務型互動能幫助語言的學習；然而，另一部分的學者 (Loschky, 1994) 認為並不存在這樣的關連性。也正因為如此，這兩種對立的研究更促使第二外語習得的學者們開始探討互動學習是否與第二外語習得有所關聯。因此，這篇有關學習者的吸收與領會 (Ellis, Basturkmen, & Loewen, 2001a, 2001b; Lyster & Ranta, 1997) 探討了任務型互動是否會影響學習者的吸收與領會；更進一步探討經由任務型互動，學習者的吸收與領會是唪能促進第二外語習得。
整體來說，總計有170位學生以及一位正式英語教師參予這項研究，經由任務型互動來探討學習者的吸收與領會以及第二語言習得的關係。這項研究中，研究者依據英語教師的正規課程摘要設計出三種不同的任務，並用以在教室內進行任務型互動，進而探討老師與學習者在對話互動中所產生的關鍵特徵與因素。而這些互動的特徵與因素正好是決定學習者的吸收與領會是否成功的關鍵。之後，所有的影像資料都轉譯成文字檔案，並由研究者和另一位研究生一起檢視轉譯的文字檔案，目的就是為了避免研究者的主觀認定。最後，所有檢視過的文字檔案會經由卡方測試來分析、並計算結果；而重點當然是放在本研究的主題，亦即是，互動裡的特徵與因素，以及學習者的吸收與領會的關係。
結果指出，經由任務型互動，學習者成功的吸收與領會可以促進第二語言的習得。此外，這項研究更發現，「種類」、「來源」、「複雜性」以及「回應」，這四種互動的特徵和因素，對於學習者成功的吸收與領會有正向的關係。最後，就本研究中三種不同的任務而言，「創意卡任務」是最能促發學習者成功的吸收與領會；「故事排列任務」則次之，而三者中較無法促發學習者成功的吸收與領會的是「完成探險任務」。

關鍵字

任務型教學 ； 互動假設 ； 第二外語習得 ； 語言吸收與領會

並列摘要

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), which is in vogue both abroad and currently also in Taiwan, has emerged as a significant component in the development of the language curriculum for the past few decades. To put it simply, the task, which is goal-oriented and learner-centered, is a classroom activity in which students use real-life language to achieve a specific outcome. In other words, TBLT utilize authentic tasks and materials for students, and the focus of TBLT is on learners completing the task successfully by means of communicating through interaction and cooperation in the target language.
Moreover, Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1981, 1983a, 1996) proposes that the more the input was queried, recycled and paraphrased, to increase its comprehensibility, the greater its potential usefulness as input because it should become increasingly well-targeted to the particular needs of the individual learner. However, many findings to date appear to be conflicting that it is deficient in the empirical evidence to support the Interaction Hypothesis (Mitchell & Myles, 2004). Some studies (e.g., Macky, 1999; Ellis, Tanaka, & Yamazaki 1995) demonstrate that task-based interaction can facilitate acquisition of specific linguistic features; on the contrary, others (e.g., Loschky, 1994) propose no such effect or relationship. As a result, the contradicting findings trigger a variety of SLA researchers to question whether negotiated interaction can be empirically linked to second language acquisition. This study examines the field of uptake research (Ellis, Basturkmen, & Loewen, 2001a, 2001b; Lyster & Ranta, 1997) by exploring the relationship between negotiated interaction, learner uptake and task-based language teaching. In addition, this study reports on an empirical investigation whether a task-based negotiated interaction affects learner uptake and if learner uptake influences the second language acquisition through the task-based language teaching.
On the whole, 170 students and one formal English teacher participated the investigation of the relationships between second language acquisition and learner uptake through task-based interaction. Three tasks based on the English teacher’s regular syllabus were designed for the participants to carry out the task-based interaction, and interactional characteristics of the teacher and learners’ conversation which can specifically determine learner uptake and successful uptake were evaluated. Moreover, all of the recorded data were qualitatively transcribed into written forms and another graduate student was invited to identify the transcription for hoping to avoid the possibility of being subjective. Finally, the Chi-Square test was carried out to calculate and analyze the identified transcription, generally putting emphasis on the interactional characteristics which aimed at investigating the links between negotiated interaction, learner uptake and the language acquisition.
Results suggest that learner uptake and the success of it occurring during the task-based interaction will probably lead to second language acquisition. Additionally, the findings also indicate that the four interactional characteristics — type, source, complexity, and response have positive effects on learner uptake and successful uptake to promote second language acquisition. As a final point, in terms of the differences among three various designed tasks in this study, creative task is the best one to trigger learner uptake and successful uptake, and the next one is story-sequencing task, while the last one to trigger learner uptake and successful uptake is achievement task.

並列關鍵字

Interaction Hypothesis ； Second Language Acquisition ； Learner Uptake & Successful Uptake ； Recast ； Task-based Language Teaching ； Pushed & Modified Output

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