台灣英語學習者英語進行式習得之研究

Taiwanese EFL Learners’ Acquisition of English Progressive Aspect

莊惠如(Hui-Ju Chuang)

指導教授 ： 林惠玲

國立中正大學/文學院/外國語文學系/碩士(2012年)

摘要

本研究主要根據時貌假設理論 (the Aspect Hypothesis)，旨在探討詞彙時貌 (lexical aspect) 對台灣英語學習者英語進行式 (progressive aspect) 習得之影響。研究對象為台灣南部地區國立大學非英語主修科系總計143位學生。所有參與受測的學生皆接受英語程度測驗以及主要測驗，其中主要測驗題型包含克漏字填充題與填空題。英語程度測驗施測目的為測驗學習者英語基本能力，而主要測驗實施目的在於調查詞彙時貌對學習者英語進行式習得之影響。上述兩種測驗作為收集受測學生表現的研究工具並且用於探討下列研究問題: 1) 時貌假設理論中對進行式的假設，2) 英語以及中文的時間標記對學習者英語進行式習得的影響，與3) 學習者英語程度以及詞彙時貌於英語進行式習得的關係。然後，將收集資料加以統計分析以探討其結果，方法包含單因子變異數分析 (one-way ANOVA)，T檢定 (t-test)，Tukey’s HSD事後檢定(Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test)，以及Scheffe事後檢定 (Scheffe post-hoc test)。
　　主要測驗結果分析顯示本研究受測學生的表現支持時貌假設理論中對進行式的假設，也就是英語進行式先與活動動詞 (activities) 連結，接著連結至完成動詞 (accomplishments)，然後延伸到終結動詞 (achievements)，同時也極少拓展至狀態動詞 (states)。此外，分析結果亦顯示英語以及中文的時間標記對學習者英語進行式習得同時具有影響但是並不顯著，換言之，在受測學生表現當中，中文時間標記無法明確地顯示出正向的跨語言影響。再者，具有較佳英語程度學習者的表現在時貌假設理論中不會受到詞彙時貌的影響，此分析結果代表著當學習者的英語程度提升時，他們在英語進行式於詞彙時貌的表現上更佳。

關鍵字

第二語言習得 ； 進行式 ； 詞彙時貌 ； 時貌假設理論

並列摘要

This study aimed to investigate the effect of lexical aspect on Taiwanese EFL (English as a foreign language) learners’ acquisition of English progressive aspect in terms of the claims of the Aspect Hypothesis (Andersen & Shirai, 1996; Bardovi-Harlig, 2000; Shirai, 1991). A total number of 143 non-English major undergraduates of two national universities in southern Taiwan were recruited in this study. All of the participants were required to take an English proficiency test and a main test which included the cloze test and the fill-in-the-blank test. The English proficiency test was utilized to assess EFL learners’ English proficiency, and the main test was adopted to inspect their acquisition of English progressive aspect among four categories of lexical aspect. These two research instruments were employed to elicit data from participants’ performance and explore the research questions regarding 1) the claims of the Aspect Hypothesis on English progressive aspect, 2) the influence of English and Mandarin Chinese temporal markings on EFL learners’ acquisition of English progressive aspect, and 3) the relationship between EFL learners’ English proficiency levels and their acquisition of English progressive aspect among four categories of lexical aspect. Then, the collected data were quantitatively analyzed by means of the statistical analyses including one-way ANOVA, t-test, Tukey’s HSD post-hoc test, and Scheffe post-hoc test. Finally, the outcomes were presented to scrutinize the effect.
The results provided support to the claims of the Aspect Hypothesis on English progressive aspect. Namely, English progressive markings were primarily associated with activities, later attached to accomplishments, and then spread to achievements. Meanwhile, English progressive markings were rarely overextended to states. In addition, the results revealed that both English and Mandarin Chinese temporal markings might cause effect on EFL learners’ acquisition of English progressive aspect but did not reach significant differences. In other words, Mandarin Chinese temporal markings might not apparently indicate positive cross-linguistic influence. Furthermore, the results signified that EFL learners with better English proficiency might not be influenced by the effect of lexical aspect with respect to the Aspect Hypothesis. That is to say, when EFL learners’ general English proficiency increased, their performance of English progressive aspect among four categories of lexical aspect would be nearly native-like.

並列關鍵字

second language acquisition ； progressive aspect ； lexical aspect ； The Aspect Hypothesis

參考文獻

Andersen, R. W. (1984). The one to one principle of interlanguage construction. Language Learning, 34, 77-95.

Andersen, R. W. (1989). La adquisición de la morfología verbal [The acquisition of verb morphology]. Lingúística, 1, 90-142.

Andersen, R. W. (1991). Developmental sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In T. Huebner, & C. A. Ferguson (Eds.), Crosscurrents in second language acquisition and linguistic theories (pp. 305-324). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.

Andersen, R. W. (1993). Four operating principles and input distribution as explanations for underdeveloped and mature morphological systems. In K. Hytlenstam, & A. Viborg (Eds.), Progressions and regression in language: Sociocultural, neuropsychological and linguistic perspectives (pp. 309-339). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Andersen, R. W., & Shirai, Y. (1994). Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 16, 133-156.