以色列籍華語學習者讚美回應之跨文化語用分析與教學應用
Abstract
語用能力是目前教學與教材中較容易忽略之處，然而，語用能力卻是關係學習者是否能適切溝通的重要語言技能。本研究主要以讚美回應行為為例，試從華語、希伯來語進行對比，找出以色列籍華語學習者語用失誤的原因，期能提供結合語言形式和語用功能的教學方法，增強學習者在跨文化語境中的溝通能力。
本文以Yu（2003）的研究架構為基礎，再參照Leech（1983）的禮貌準則與Brown& Levinson（1987）的禮貌策略，提出不同語境下華語讚美回應的常見句式。本實驗中的組別分別有三：華語母語者、希語母語者、以色列華語學習者。筆者分別探討三組的讚美回應策略的選用情形，以及在不同的讚美主題—外表、能力，與不同的社會變項—性別差異、相對權勢、社會距離中，華語和希語兩組的策略選擇差異為何，從中找出學習者語用失誤的原因。主要的研究方法為角色扮演及個別訪談，從真實語料的採集、量化分析的數據、質化分析的紀錄三方面解構華語母語者、希語母語者的語言表徵和文化內涵，以及學習者在跨文化語境中的表現狀況。
就筆者觀察的實驗結果顯示，以「委婉間接」為主的華人文化，台灣華語母語者使用不明顯接受亦不明顯拒絕的避免讚美策略，以色列文化則以「真誠直接」為導向，呈現以色列人大方接受讚美且無模擬兩可的答案。三組在「性別差異」、「相對權勢」與「社會距離」變項下，出現了明顯的趨向與差異。以性別差異而言，台灣人和以色列人呈現跨文化的普遍性原則，趨向一致的回應方式；以相對權勢而言，研究結果顯示台灣人較重權勢、以色列人較重平權；以社會距離而言，熟識與否的因素影響台灣人甚於以色列人。因此，在母語文化背景的影響下，華語學習者的讚美回應方式偏向希語母語者，導致其回應方式較單一直接，也較不重視相對權勢或社會距離的改變。
在教學應用上，本文以實驗所觀察的華語讚美回應的語言表現和文化內涵為取材標準，搭配溝通式教學法，將不同權勢及社會距離融入練習活動中。筆者亦依據不同程度的學習者調整教學內容，並以「跨文化語用」為核心概念設計教學流程，搭配不同的教學技巧，充分結合語言形式與文化概念。
Pragmatic competence is easily neglected by language teachers and teaching materials; however it is an important skill that learners need to master before they can attain communicative competence. There are three groups in the experiment: Chinese native speaker, Hebrew native speaker and Israeli learners of Chinese. The aim of this study is to investigate the similarities and differences between responses to compliments in these three groups, and examine the factors that lead to pragmatic failures by Israeli learners of Chinese. At the end of this study, the author provides a teaching plan based on the synthesis of language forms and language functions that is intended to improve learners’ communicative ability when responding to compliments. This study utilizes the research framework used by Yu (2003), and takes into account the politeness principles proposed by Leech (1983) and Brown and Levinson (1987). The author analyzes the strategies available to speakers of Chinese and Hebrew for responding to compliments regarding various topics, such as “appearance” and “ability”, and takes into account social factors like “gender”, “relative power” and “social distance”, with the goal of finding patterns in Chinese responses to compliments in varying situations. The data used in this study has been collected using role plays and personal interviews of native speakers of Chinese and Hebrew, and Israeli learners of Chinese. The results of this study show that Taiwanese respondents, whose culture is defined by indirectness, tend to use self-praise avoidance strategies to respond to compliments, while Israelis, whose culture is oriented towards sincerity, tend to use acceptance strategies. The data analyzed in this study also reveals that: 1) Response strategies are the same for both genders in both Chinese and Hebrew. 2) “Relative power” and “social distance” have greater influence on the choice of strategy in Chinese than in Hebrew. Under the influence of Hebrew response strategies, responses to compliments by Israeli learners of Chinese tend to be direct. Textbooks also influenced the strategies used by Israeli learners of Chinese, as evidenced by their use of “nail nali”, which was not used by Taiwanese respondents. This paper concludes with a teaching plan based on the author’s findings. This plan takes cross-cultural pragmatics as its conceptual basis. The author proposes a teaching method that associates language forms with language functions; she integrates ‘relative power’ and ‘social distance’ into class activities and suggests communicative language teaching (CLT) methods be used.
Pragmatic competence is easily neglected by language teachers and teaching materials; however it is an important skill that learners need to master before they can attain communicative competence. There are three groups in the experiment: Chinese native speaker, Hebrew native speaker and Israeli learners of Chinese. The aim of this study is to investigate the similarities and differences between responses to compliments in these three groups, and examine the factors that lead to pragmatic failures by Israeli learners of Chinese. At the end of this study, the author provides a teaching plan based on the synthesis of language forms and language functions that is intended to improve learners’ communicative ability when responding to compliments. This study utilizes the research framework used by Yu (2003), and takes into account the politeness principles proposed by Leech (1983) and Brown and Levinson (1987). The author analyzes the strategies available to speakers of Chinese and Hebrew for responding to compliments regarding various topics, such as “appearance” and “ability”, and takes into account social factors like “gender”, “relative power” and “social distance”, with the goal of finding patterns in Chinese responses to compliments in varying situations. The data used in this study has been collected using role plays and personal interviews of native speakers of Chinese and Hebrew, and Israeli learners of Chinese. The results of this study show that Taiwanese respondents, whose culture is defined by indirectness, tend to use self-praise avoidance strategies to respond to compliments, while Israelis, whose culture is oriented towards sincerity, tend to use acceptance strategies. The data analyzed in this study also reveals that: 1) Response strategies are the same for both genders in both Chinese and Hebrew. 2) “Relative power” and “social distance” have greater influence on the choice of strategy in Chinese than in Hebrew. Under the influence of Hebrew response strategies, responses to compliments by Israeli learners of Chinese tend to be direct. Textbooks also influenced the strategies used by Israeli learners of Chinese, as evidenced by their use of “nail nali”, which was not used by Taiwanese respondents. This paper concludes with a teaching plan based on the author’s findings. This plan takes cross-cultural pragmatics as its conceptual basis. The author proposes a teaching method that associates language forms with language functions; she integrates ‘relative power’ and ‘social distance’ into class activities and suggests communicative language teaching (CLT) methods be used.
Description
Keywords
讚美回應行為, 中介語, 語用失誤, 禮貌準則, 跨文化語境, compliment response speech acts, interlanguage, pragmatic failures, politeness principle, cross-cultural environment