中國大陸4—6歲幼兒語法能力之探究：MAPS分析
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2025
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本研究旨在瞭解4—6歲幼兒語法能力和細粒度語法結構的發展差異，並進一步對幼兒親子共讀經驗和幼兒語法能力進行差異性分析。研究以浙江省某幼兒園90名4—6歲幼兒為對象，採用無字圖畫書作為敘事任務《青蛙你在哪裡？(Frog,where are you ?)》(Mayer，1969) 自然誘發故事語言樣本，並基於MAPS -R (張顯達等，2024) 對漢語幼兒特有語法結構（如被字句、趨向補語）進行編碼評分，同時通過自編問卷量化親子共讀經驗（包括頻率、互動策略等7個維度），以瞭解幼兒的語法能力。研究以描述性統計、獨立樣本t檢定和獨立樣本單因子變異數分析為統計方法對資料進行分析。研究結果如下：(一) 年齡是影響幼兒語法能力的主要因素。幼兒的性別、主要照顧者及其受教育程度、手足數和親子共讀經驗擁有情況並未對幼兒的語法能力發展造成顯著影響。(二) MAPS-R與MLU具有高關聯性，MAPS-R可作為MLU的有效補充手段，觀察幼兒語法複雜度的發展情況。(三) 參與本研究的4、5、6歲幼兒的語法能力具有顯著差異。4—6歲的幼兒的語法發展顯著表現在「名詞短語」、「介詞短語」和「句子」三個向度上。6歲幼兒在「名詞短語」、「介詞短語」、「句子」等語法向度上的表現顯著優於4、5歲幼兒，説明了5—6歲幼兒處於語法能力迅速發展的時期。「特定量詞」、「X的Y」、「方位詞」、「趨向補語」、「動前介詞」、「被字句」、「複謂句」、「帶連詞複句」和「感知/心理狀態主謂句」等複雜語法結構的使用頻率和種類在6歲幼兒的語言產出中顯著增加。(四) 4-6歲幼兒在故事敘述情境中較為擅長使用「體貌標記」、「方位詞」、「結果補語」和「趨向補語」。相對地，他們較不擅長使用「情態補語」、「可能補語」、「數量補語」、「緊縮複句」。隨著年齡增長，4-6歲幼兒「特定量詞」、「動前介詞」、「動後介詞」、「被字句」、「複謂句」、「帶連詞複句」、「感知/心理狀態主謂句」的發展有顯著進步。(五) 「提供事物的屬性」、「結合幼兒的經驗」、「給予積極反饋」、「讓幼兒重複或擴展」、「詢問開放式問題」、「跟隨幼兒的興趣」和「讓幼兒評論書中事物」這七種親子共讀策略使用頻率的差異，並不會造成4-6歲幼兒語法能力上的顯著差異。
This study aims to understand the developmental differences in syntactic abilities and fine-grained syntactic structures among 4 to 6-year-old children, and further analyze the differences in children's syntactic abilities based on their shared reading experiences. The study involved 90 children aged 4 to 6 from a kindergarten in Zhejiang Province. A wordless picture book, Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969), was used as a narrative task to naturally elicit language samples. The Mandarin Assessment of Productive Syntax-Revised (MAPS-R; Cheung, 2024) was employed to code and score Chinese-specific syntactic structures (e.g., passive sentences, directional complements). Additionally, a self-designed questionnaire was used to quantify shared reading experiences (including frequency and interaction strategies across seven dimensions) to assess children's syntactic abilities. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA were used for data analysis. The findings are as follows:(1) Age is the primary factor influencing children's syntactic abilities. Gender, primary caregiver, caregiver's educational level, sibling status, and shared reading experiences did not significantly affect children's syntactic development. (2) MAPS-R and MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) are highly correlated, indicating that MAPS-R can serve asan effective supplementary tool to MLU for observing the development of syntactic complexity in children. (3) Significant differences in syntactic abilities were observed among 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children. The syntactic development of children aged 4 to 6 was prominently reflected in three dimensions: noun phrases, prepositional phrases, and sentences. Six-year-old children significantly outperformed 4- and 5-year-olds in these dimensions, suggesting that the period between 5 and 6 years is a rapid developmental phase for syntactic abilities. The frequency and variety of complex syntactic structures, such as specific classifiers,"X de Y" structures, locative words, directional complements, pre-verbal prepositions, passive sentences, serial verb constructions, conjoined complex sentences, and perceptual/psychological subject-predicate sentences, significantly increased in the language production of 6-year-olds. (4) Children aged 4-6 are more proficient in using "aspect markers," "locative words," "resultative complements," and "directional complements" in narrative contexts. In contrast, they are less adept at using "modal complements," "potential complements," "quantitative complements," and "contracted complex sentences." As they grow older, children aged 4-6 show significant improvement in the development of "specific classifiers," "pre-verbal prepositions," "post-verbal prepositions," "passive constructions with 'bei'," "complex predicate sentences," "complex sentences with conjunctions," and "subject-predicate sentences expressing perception/mental states." (5) The frequency of using seven shared reading strategies—providing attributes of objects, connecting with children's experiences, giving positive feedback, encouraging repetition or expansion, asking open-ended questions, following children's interests, and encouraging children to comment on book content—did not result in significant differences in children's syntactic abilities.
This study aims to understand the developmental differences in syntactic abilities and fine-grained syntactic structures among 4 to 6-year-old children, and further analyze the differences in children's syntactic abilities based on their shared reading experiences. The study involved 90 children aged 4 to 6 from a kindergarten in Zhejiang Province. A wordless picture book, Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969), was used as a narrative task to naturally elicit language samples. The Mandarin Assessment of Productive Syntax-Revised (MAPS-R; Cheung, 2024) was employed to code and score Chinese-specific syntactic structures (e.g., passive sentences, directional complements). Additionally, a self-designed questionnaire was used to quantify shared reading experiences (including frequency and interaction strategies across seven dimensions) to assess children's syntactic abilities. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA were used for data analysis. The findings are as follows:(1) Age is the primary factor influencing children's syntactic abilities. Gender, primary caregiver, caregiver's educational level, sibling status, and shared reading experiences did not significantly affect children's syntactic development. (2) MAPS-R and MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) are highly correlated, indicating that MAPS-R can serve asan effective supplementary tool to MLU for observing the development of syntactic complexity in children. (3) Significant differences in syntactic abilities were observed among 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old children. The syntactic development of children aged 4 to 6 was prominently reflected in three dimensions: noun phrases, prepositional phrases, and sentences. Six-year-old children significantly outperformed 4- and 5-year-olds in these dimensions, suggesting that the period between 5 and 6 years is a rapid developmental phase for syntactic abilities. The frequency and variety of complex syntactic structures, such as specific classifiers,"X de Y" structures, locative words, directional complements, pre-verbal prepositions, passive sentences, serial verb constructions, conjoined complex sentences, and perceptual/psychological subject-predicate sentences, significantly increased in the language production of 6-year-olds. (4) Children aged 4-6 are more proficient in using "aspect markers," "locative words," "resultative complements," and "directional complements" in narrative contexts. In contrast, they are less adept at using "modal complements," "potential complements," "quantitative complements," and "contracted complex sentences." As they grow older, children aged 4-6 show significant improvement in the development of "specific classifiers," "pre-verbal prepositions," "post-verbal prepositions," "passive constructions with 'bei'," "complex predicate sentences," "complex sentences with conjunctions," and "subject-predicate sentences expressing perception/mental states." (5) The frequency of using seven shared reading strategies—providing attributes of objects, connecting with children's experiences, giving positive feedback, encouraging repetition or expansion, asking open-ended questions, following children's interests, and encouraging children to comment on book content—did not result in significant differences in children's syntactic abilities.
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細粒度語法分析, MAPS, 親子共讀, 語法, 幼兒, fine-grained syntactic analysis, MAPS, shared reading, syntax, children