臺灣高中英文教科書學術性字彙選用之分析研究

Abstract

本研究主要目的在於現行五個版本高中英語教科書中的學術性單字數量以及其分布進行分析比較，以期能瞭解現行高中英文教材在字彙學習方面如何協助學生發展其閱讀大學原文教科書之能力。學術性生字選用比較參照標準，乃以Coxhead 學者於2000年所發表之學術用字詞彙表(the Academic Word List) 為主。同時，本研究亦找出未收錄於各版本之重要學術性詞彙，進而彙編成各版本相對應之補充字表，以供教師編製補充教材或學生進行自主學習使用。 生字選用分析對象為目前市面上廣受採用之五個版本高中英文教科書(A、B、C、D及E版本)，共計三十冊。本研究分析之字彙聚焦於各版本基礎教材部分列於生字表之生字。所採用之研究分析工具為Web VocaProfile Classic v.4 軟體,學術性單字詞彙量之分析單位為字族(word family)。 本研究的主要發現如下: (一) 五套高中英文教科書中的學術性單字總量呈現顯著差異。C、D及E三個版本含有50%以上學術用字詞彙表之學術性生字，分別選用了289個，306個以及315個學術性單字。A及B兩版本含有42%以及45%學術用字詞彙表上的學術性生字，分別為240個及256個學術性單字。 (二) 從字頻角度來看各版本教科書學術性單字的選用時，各版本在高字頻學術性單字選用上並無顯著差異，但各版本在稍低字頻(less-frequent)學術性單字選用上呈現顯著差異。整體學術性單字總量的差異主要來自於稍低字頻學術性單字的選用。 (三) 各版本涵蓋最具學習價值來自最高字頻學術性單字字表(sublist 1)的數量及百分比分別為D版本(47個，78%)、C版本(45個，75%)、A版本(42個，70%)，B版本(41個，68%)以及E版本(41個，68%)。而各版本前180個高字頻學術性單字的涵蓋數量及百分比則為C版本(124個，69%)，D版本(118個，66%)，A版本(113個，63%)，E版本(111個，62%)以及B版本(105個，58%)。 (四) 至於學術性單字在各冊中的分布，學術性單字的數量並未如預期呈現隨冊數增加而不斷增加的趨勢，而是出現起伏的現象。大部分的版本在第四冊介紹最多的學術性單字，E版本則是在高二上第三冊時，便呈現最大量的學術性單字。 本研究結果，希望能提供教師更多關於現行高中教科書中字彙選用之概況，以便能為不同程度之學生選擇適切之教材。教科書編寫者亦能重新評估是否調整其學術性單字的選用。同時，也希望藉由補充字表之彙編來協助學生學習重要學術性單字，以協助其能早日發展出理解大學原文書之能力。This study aims to analyze and compare the sizes and distribution of academic words in the current five senior high school English textbook series following the 2010 Senior High School Curriculum Guidelines. The Academic Word List (Coxhead, 2000), acknowledged by experts to be beneficial in preparing students for higher education, is utilized as the reference point in this study. With the intent of assisting students to develop their academic vocabulary competence, this study also identified the academic words from the AWL being excluded from each textbook series to form complementary word lists which allow instructors to create supplementary teaching materials or serve as materials for students’ autonomous learning. Research data involves the vocabulary presented in the new word section in the five textbook series (A, B, C, D,& E). All of the vocabulary data in the textbooks were first lemmatized and then processed with lexical frequency analysis software, Web VocaProfile Classic v.4. The vocabulary data were then analyzed with the counting unit of “word family.” The major findings of this study are: 1. Significant differences were found in the sizes of academic words from the AWL among five textbook series. Three textbook series contains more than 50 percent of academic words from the AWL: textbook Series Cwith 315 word families, textbook series E with 306 word families and textbook series D with 289 word families. The A and B textbook series were found to include 42 percent and 45 percent of academic words from the AWL: textbook series B (256 word families) and textbook series A (240 word families). 2. In terms of distribution of academic words across sublists, statistical testing shows that the five textbook series do not differ in their strength in terms of selecting the most frequent academic words from the high-frequency academic word sublists (sublist 1 and the first three sublists). The differences of the amount of academic word selection among five textbook series mainly arise from the selection of academic words in the sublists which contain the less-frequent academic words (sublists 4-10). 3. The size and percentage of academic words selected from sublist 1 of the AWL in the five textbook series are as follows: 42 word families (70%) in textbook series A, 41 word families (68%) in textbook series B, 45 word families (75%) in textbook series C, 47word families (78%) in textbook series D and 41word families (68%) in textbook series E. The size and percentage of academic words selected from the first three sublists of the AWL are as follows: 105 word families (58%) in textbook series A, 113 word families (63%) in textbook series B, 124 word families (69%) in textbook series D, 118word families (66%) in textbook series C and 111word families (62%) in textbook series E. 4. As for the distribution of academic words across six volumes, most of the textbook series contain the largest amount of academic words in the fourth volume except that SM has the largest amount of academic words in the third volume. Dramatic increase or decline patterns for the amount of academic words presented in advanced volumes were identified. Based on the findings, some pedagogical implications are provided for teachers, students and textbook writers. It is hoped that the results could facilitate students’ academic vocabulary development and provide teachers more information when selecting textbooks. Textbook writers could also re-evaluate their academic vocabulary selection in the new textbook series.