臺灣英語學習者在閱讀中指涉詞理解及影響因素

Abstract

指涉詞在建立閱讀連貫上對英語學習者相當重要。然而，過去的文獻對於以英語為外語學習者之指涉詞在閱讀中的理解及相關影響因素研究甚少。此外，多數研究僅探討單一可能因素之影響，而未考慮不同因素之交互作用。本研究目的在探討兩個文本因素對臺灣英語學習者在英語閱讀中指涉詞理解之影響：指涉詞與被指涉詞之距離（遠、近）及方向（前、後）。120位臺灣高中生參與本研究並接受四種英語指涉詞閱讀情況，包括遠與前、遠與後、近與前、近與後。研究者比較四組受試者的指涉詞關係辨識能力進而得出以下結果：第一、指涉詞與被指涉詞之距離對受試者的辨識能力有影響，方向則無影響。第二、學習者在距離較遠時表現較距離近為佳。第三、距離與方向兩因素無交互影響作用。論文最後以指涉詞距離及方向、文本情境以及學習者之推論能力討論並提出啟發。

Anaphor is critical to literacy coherence construction and important for English learners. So far, literature on EFL learners' anaphor performance and influencing factors is rare, and most studies investigated one single factor at a time without analyzing whether multiple factors have interaction effects on readers' anaphor resolution. The present study investigates whether distance between anaphor and its antecedent and direction affect Taiwan L2 readers' anaphor resolution performance. One hundred and twenty high school students read paragraphs of four versions based on the distance (near/far) and the direction of anaphor toward its antecedent (backward/forward). Each group read one version and answered the reference identification questions. The results showed distance, rather than direction, had significant effect on readers' performance. Unexpectedly, readers performed better when the distance between anaphor and antecedent is long, and no interaction effect was found. The findings are discussed based on the possible influence of distance/direction, contextual clues and readers' inference ability with implications also provided.