Taiwanese High School Students' Participation in Competitive English Debate

Abstract

學術性辯論比賽之參賽研究在歐美已有多年歷史，但在台灣卻一直付之闕如。爲能在此議題上獲得初步之了解，此研究針對六十四名參加二○○七年「台北市西賽羅盃英語辯論比賽」之高中生進行以開放性問題為主之問卷調查。研究發現，台灣學生之參賽動機可分滿足「學術性」、「競爭性」及「個人性」需求等三類。在參賽成效上，優點首屈「提升英語能力」，其次依序為增進「溝通／公眾演說」、「批判／分析性思考」及「論辯」等能力與技巧，而缺點則多與時間因素有關，如「準備辯論耗時」及「時間壓力所造成之身心疲累」。大部分之參賽動機和優點及部份參賽缺點與文獻中之記載相同。研究發現證明，對英語有中上能力之台灣高中生而言，參與學術性英語辯論比賽確實深具教育功效。

Although students' experience of competitive forensic involvement has long been researched in the US, it is a topic yet to be explored in Taiwan. To achieve a preliminary but broad understanding of Taiwanese students' competitive English debate participation, a study was conducted which surveyed 64 high school students for their perceptions on participating in the 2007 Taipei Cicero English Debate Tournament. Among other findings, the study showed that like their American counterparts, Taiwanese debaters deemed educational needs followed by competitive and personal needs as incentives to participate in the competitive debate. In addition to improved English skills, Taiwanese debaters also considered enhancement of communication/public speaking, critical/analytical thinking, and debating/argumentation skills as the major benefits, and time-related factors as the chief cost of debate involvement. Over all, the findings of the study spoke powerfully for the educational values of competitive English debate involvement for Taiwanese high school students.