《2020年度碩論佳作獎》

姓名：王俊凱 (國立清華大學 外國語文學系碩士班 語言認知與教學組)

指導教授 : 許淳潔教授

論文題目：

以英語為第二語言者對於孤島限制的習得與語句處理:第二語言能力扮演的角色以及教學帶來的成效

中文摘要

以生成語法為主的第二語言習得研究(GenSLA)都集中於了解普遍語法(Universal Grammar)是否可以進入到第二語言成人學習者。而孤島限制(island constraints)這個現象被假設為普遍語法的一部分，在該領域研究中扮演一個重要的角色。第二語言成人學習者是否可以察覺到英文中的孤島限制這個議題已經被廣泛地研究，但檢視這個研究主題的結果充滿著不確定性。此外，之前的研究都只專注在高程度的第二語言學習者。課室教學是否會影響到像孤島限制這類抽象句法知識的習得也是令人好奇的。為了填補先前文獻中這些空白模糊處，此研究專注在關係子句孤島限制這其中一種孤島限制結構，並且探討以下兩個研究問題:(a)第二語言學習者對於關係子句孤島限制(the RC island constraint)這個現象的句法知識與實際語句處理如何被第二語言能力所調節(b)不同類型的教學方式是否對第二語言學習者學習關係子句孤島限制這個句法結構會發生作用。

實驗一調查第二語言能力在第二語言學習者對於關係子句孤島限制這類句子的句法知識與實際語句處理中所扮演的角色。以中文為母語的英文學習者被招募到此實驗，其中二十位為高等程度，另外二十位為中等程度。本實驗採用兩種工具:五點接受度判斷任務以及自我控制閱讀速度任務。接受度判斷任務的結果顯示，大多數的高等程度學習者展現出關係子句孤島限制的句法知識，但是大多數的中等程度學習者無法察覺到這個句法結構。然而，閱讀時間的資料顯示，這兩組都沒有顯示出在實際語句處理中應用關係子句孤島限制這個結構的明確證據。

實驗二採用前後測設計，比較外顯(explicit)/內隱(implicit)這兩種教學方法在學習關係子句孤島限制這個結構的成效。二十位參加實驗一的中等程度學習者被隨機分配到兩個組別，並分別接受一百分鐘的教學。各自教學的成效透過接受度判斷任務來檢驗。結果顯示，相對於採用內隱教學的組別，採用外顯教學的組別對於學習關係子句孤島限制這個結構展現出顯著較好的教學成效。實驗結果支持外顯教學在學習抽象句法知識上是有作用的。

英文摘要

Generative second language acquisition (GenSLA) research has focused on whether Universal Grammar (UG) is accessible to adult L2 learners. Hypothesized to be a part of UG, the phenomenon of island constraints has played a critical role. The issue of whether L2 adult learners show sensitivity to island constraints in English has been studied extensively, but the findings have been mixed. Besides, the previous studies focused only on highly-proficient L2 learners. It is also curious whether classroom instruction affects the acquisition of abstract syntactic knowledge like island constraints. To fill these gaps in the literature, this study focuses on one of island constraints, the RC island constraint, and examines two questions: (a) whether and how L2 learners’ knowledge and online application of the RC island constraint are modulated by L2 proficiency, and (b) how do different types of instruction affect the learning of the RC island constraint for L2 learners. 

Experiment 1 investigated the role of L2 proficiency on learners’ knowledge and real-time performance of sentences involving the RC island constraint. Twenty advanced and twenty intermediate L1 Chinese – L2 English learners were recruited. Two tasks were used: a 5-point scale acceptability judgment task and a self-paced reading task. The offline data suggested most of the advanced L2 learners revealed the knowledge of the RC island constraint, but most of the intermediate L2 learners could not detect it. However, the reading time data revealed that both two groups did not demonstrate clear evidence for successful application of the RC island constraint in real-time processing.

Experiment 2 compared the effects of explicit and implicit instruction on the learning of the RC island constraint in a pretest-posttest design. The 20 intermediate participants in Experiment 1 were randomly divided into two groups for receiving 100-minute instruction. The acceptability judgment task was conducted to examine the teaching effects. The results showed that the explicit instruction group revealed significant better teaching effect on learning the structure of the RC island constraint than the implicit instruction group. The results supported the view that explicit instruction could play a role in learning abstract syntactic knowledge. 

論文貢獻

本研究在理解第二語言能力和語言教學在學習關係子句孤島限制這個句法結構中所扮演的角色做出貢獻。研究發現，相對於實際語句處理，第二語言能力在句法知識層面上扮演更顯著的角色。研究結果也支持，外顯教學對於抽象句法知識有其影響力。