讀後單字增強活動對字彙習得與記憶之效益研究

The Effect of Post-reading Vocabulary-enhancing Activities on EFL Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention

賴亦歆(Yi-hsin Lai)

指導教授 ： 林至誠博士

國立臺灣師範大學/文學院/英語學系在職進修碩士班/碩士(2009年)

摘要

本研究比較輔以單字增強活動的閱讀情境、以及純粹閱讀的情境，藉此探討讀後單字增強活動(post-reading vocabulary-enhancing activities)對於字彙習得(acquisition)與記憶(retention)之效益影響。另外，單字增強活動的效益是否與學習者的程度高低有相互影響，亦在本研究中有所探討。
受試者為台灣某高中的兩班高一學生；其中英文資優班學生代表程度較高的學生(higher-proficiency group)，而普通班學生則代表程度較低的學生(lower-proficiency group)，兩班各自再進一步分成單字增強組(reading-plus group)以及純粹閱讀組(reading-only group)。實驗開始前，研究者以一單字檢核表進行前測，以確認受試者不認識實驗中的主要單字(target words)。實驗中，單字增強組的受試者閱讀一篇含五個主要單字的選文，回答閱讀理解問題，接著完成一系列針對該五個主要單字的增強活動；而在純粹閱讀組中，受試者閱讀同樣一篇選文，回答同樣的閱讀理解問題，接著閱讀另一篇含同樣該五個主要單字的補充文章，再完成該文章的閱讀理解問題；之後，兩組受試者隨即接受後測(immediate posttest)，以得知兩組主要單字的習得狀況——這樣的程序在兩週內重複進行了四次，每次五個主要單字，共測驗了二十個主要單字。兩週後，受試者再次接受包含所有二十個主要單字的後測(delayed posttest)，以得知單字的記憶情形。
研究結果顯示，就量而言，不論是對程度較高的學生而言、抑或是對程度較低的學生而言，單字增強組都習得更多主要單字的知識並保留更多的記憶；而就質而言，不論是辨識字彙的能力(receptive vocabulary knowledge)，或是應用字彙的能力(productive vocabulary knowledge)，單字增強組亦較純粹閱讀組更有收穫。因此，本研究認為，對於以英語為外語(EFL)的高中學生而言，讀後單字增強活動對於字彙的習得與記憶較純粹閱讀更有效益。
至於單字增強活動與學習者程度兩者效益的相互影響，本研究發現，受試者程度所造成的效益，會依單字增強活動的施行與否有所不同--透過單字增強活動的施行，較高程度的學生在立即性後測(immediate posttest)的成績上沒有顯著高於較低程度的學生。對此，本研究推論，就短期字彙習得而言，讀後單字增強活動對於較低程度的學生之幫助大於對較高程度的學生；因此，對於中低程度的班級，讀後單字活動特別建議施行。

關鍵字

單字增強活動 ； 單字習得 ； 單字記憶

並列摘要

The current study investigated the effect of post-reading vocabulary-enhancing activities on vocabulary acquisition and retention, comparing the effect of this practice with that of supplementary reading. Whether or not the role of vocabulary-enhancing activities interacted with learners’ proficiency level was also explored.
Participants were students from two tenth-grade classes in a senior high school in Taiwan, with the English gifted class representing higher-proficiency group and a regular class representing lower-proficiency group; both were further divided into reading-plus group and reading-only group. Prior to the treatment, a checklist vocabulary pretest was employed to validate that students had no prior knowledge of the target words. As the treatment began, the reading-plus group read a main text embedded with five target words, answered multiple-choice comprehension questions, and completed vocabulary-enhancing exercises, whereas the reading-only group read the same main text, answered the same comprehension questions, and did supplementary reading with comprehension check. The same procedures repeated four rounds for two weeks, that is, a set of five target words in each round and twenty target words in total. To assess students’ knowledge of target word items, posttests were employed, with immediate posttests administered immediately after four rounds of treatments as acquisition tests, and a delayed posttest administered two weeks later as the retention test. Each posttest included one recognition test, in which students chose correct Chinese translations of the target words from a multiple-choice test, and one production test, in which students complete sentences using target words.
The results show that the reading-plus group demonstrated significantly more vocabulary gain than the reading-only group in both acquisition and retention tests for both higher- and lower-proficiency groups. The quality of the vocabulary gain is also better for reading-plus group in that the reading-plus group demonstrated both receptive and productive knowledge of more target words. It is thus concluded that reading plus post-reading vocabulary-enhancing exercises possesses superior effectiveness than reading-only instruction in enhancing vocabulary acquisition and retention among EFL senior high students.
As for the interaction effect, the influence of proficiency on vocabulary acquisition was shown to be interfered by the employment of vocabulary-enhancing exercises, rendering the difference in acquisition scores between higher- and lower-proficiency groups insignificant. It is interpreted that for short-term vocabulary acquisition, the effectiveness of post-reading vocabulary enhancing exercises is more pronounced for lower-proficiency students than for higher-proficiency ones. Thus, for classes of intermediate-low or lower levels, post-reading vocabulary-enhancing activities are especially recommended.

並列關鍵字

vocabulary-enhancing activities ； vocabulary acquisition ； vocabulary retention

參考文獻

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