英語主修生在英文寫作課中的語言偏好和寫作焦慮

English Major Students’ Language Preferences and Writing Anxiety in the English Writing Class

楊美君(Mei-jyun Yang)

指導教授 ： 林進瑛

朝陽科技大學/人文暨社會學院/應用外語系/碩士(2011年)

摘要

在外語學習的課室中，僅以英語當作唯一授課語言的作法引起了許多英語教學老師和專家的廣泛討論。此外，相對於大量的研究投注於母語的寫作焦慮，鮮少研究將焦點放在第二語言或外國語的寫作焦慮上。本研究的目的在於探究英語主修學生在英文寫作課中對母語和目標語的偏好與看法，評估學生的寫作焦慮程度，並且檢驗其與語言偏好的關聯性。
本研究的對象為118位英文寫作課的學生，他們必須有上過英文寫作課是用全英文授課或中英文交互使用的經驗才符合本研究對象的篩選。研究工具為問卷，其包含了兩個量表和開放式問答題都於學期末發放給學生自由填答。
本研究的結果如下：
(1)學生對母語和目標語的語言偏好，顯示了他們在英文寫作課中偏好使用中文的趨向。在接受文法教學、與同學老師談話、抄寫筆記的情況之下，他們的喜好傾向中文。而在選擇教科書和撰寫作文大鋼的情況之下，他們較喜歡使用英文。
(2)整體看來，學生的英文寫作焦慮值不高，但是當他們的作文投稿至出版社評閱，或是在時間限制下寫作文，卻會造成學生較高的寫作焦慮。
(3)學生的語言偏好和寫作焦慮呈現明確的關聯性，其說明了若學生的語言偏好傾向中文，可能有較高的英文寫作焦慮，反之亦然。
(4)關於學生對於授課語言的看法，他們認為老師交互地使用中英文，可能是上英文寫作課時較佳的授課語言。
總括而言，本研究顯示了學生視老師的授課語言為主要的語言輸入，藉以增進他們的聽力理解。然而，他們同時也認為母語在課室中扮演了重要的角色，用以解釋文法和交換意見的利器。由此可見，交互地使用中英文作為授課語言，是迎合學生學習需求較好的解決方法。

關鍵字

英文寫作 ； 寫作焦慮 ； 授課語言 ； 語言偏好 ； 英語主修生

並列摘要

In the EFL classroom, exclusive use of English as the medium of instruction raises doubts among English teachers and second language acquisition experts. In addition, as most research on writing anxiety centers on the L1 settings, little focuses on writing anxiety in the L2 or EFL classroom. The purposes of this study were (1) to explore EFL students’ preferences and perspectives to the use of native language (NL) and target language (TL), (2) to assess EFL students’ writing anxiety levels, and (3) to examine how language preferences relate to writing anxiety in EFL writing classes.
The participants in this study were 118 English major students who attended general English writing courses and had experiences in receiving both English-only and mixed Chinese-English instruction. The instrument was a questionnaire containing two scales and open-ended questions, and was distributed to students after they had completed a semester of English writing instruction.
The major findings in this study were summarized as follows:
(1) Students’ preferences toward the NL and TL showed a tendency to favor Chinese in English writing classes. They preferred to use Chinese in contexts such as receiving grammar instruction, talking to classmates and teachers, and taking notes. On the other hand, they preferred to use English in contexts like reading textbooks and writing an outline.
(2) Students’ overall English writing anxiety was not high; however, their anxiety was highest when their writing was evaluated by the public and when they were writing under a time constraint.
(3) Students’ language preferences were significantly associated with the English writing anxiety. This finding implies that students who prefer to use Chinese might have higher levels of English writing anxiety, and vice versa.
(4) Concerning students’ perspectives toward teachers’ TL and NL use, they thought that Chinese-English mixed (alternating) would be the optimal medium of instruction in English writing classes.
In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that students regard teachers’ TL use as an essential source of English input to enhance their listening ability. However, they agreed that the NL plays an important role in the class and serves best for explaining grammatical points and exchanging ideas. Obviously, using the TL and the NL alternately in writing instruction might be the best solution to meet students’ needs.

並列關鍵字

instructional languages ； English writing ； writing anxiety ； English major students ； language preferences

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