雙語工具對台灣國中學生搭配詞學習影響之研究

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2013

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  研究發現台灣的英語學習者缺乏對搭配詞的覺察與認知。許多研究因而致力於找出有助學習者學習搭配詞的方法。由於科技進步,檢索系統被利用在英語搭配詞學習上。研究證實,單語檢索系統所提供大量且情境豐富的例句能幫助學習者學習英語搭配詞,但單語例句中不認識的單字仍阻礙學習者查詢與學習英語搭配詞,因此,學習者需要能提供中文翻譯的雙語工具來學習英語搭配詞。   雙語檢索系統雖亦被證實對學習語言有助益,但研究對象大多為高中以上的學生,少有以國中生為對象的研究。且過去研究使用的雙語檢索系統所提供的例句難度較高。另一方面,雙語字典一直是學習者在學習語言時最常使用的工具,但傳統雙語字典僅提供字面意義對學習語言的效益不大。有別於傳統字典,JuKuu和Bing Dictionary提供較多雙語例句,且例句難度較低,但其效益尚未被驗證。   本研究旨在研究雙語檢索工具對於台灣國中生搭配詞學習效果的影響。兩個國中九年級的班級,共計63人參與本研究。一組使用雙語檢索系統JuKuu,一組使用雙語工具Bing Dictionary。在搭配詞檢索活動開始前,兩組皆接受前測,其結果顯示兩組在搭配詞知識與能力上為同質性。前測後,兩組接受簡短的搭配詞介紹以及雙語工具使用的說明與訓練,隨後馬上利用雙語工具進行搭配詞檢索任務。搭配詞檢索任務後,兩組學生皆須填寫問卷,並於一個禮拜後接受後測。   結果顯示雙語工具JuKuu及Bing Dictionary對於國中生搭配詞查詢與學習上皆有幫助,兩組學生在搭配詞檢索任務的表現,皆顯著優於前測;其中使用JuKuu的學生在搭配詞檢索任務表現顯著優於使用Bing Dictionary的學生。兩組學生在後測表現雖皆不如搭配詞檢索任務的表現,但仍然優於前測表現;兩組學生在後測表現並無顯著差異。因雙語工具同時提供英語例句與中文翻譯且操作容易,學生對於利用雙語工具學習搭配詞皆持正向態度,且未來願意繼續使用雙語工具學習搭配詞。學生使用雙語工具遇到的困難及對雙語工具的建議皆在研究中討論。
Some research shows that the EFL learners do not have sufficient awareness and knowledge of the English collocations. Many previous studies have been conducted to find ways to help them learn and use the English collocations. With the advancement of modern technology, concordancers are being utilized. Even though studies of monolingual concordancers have proved that the ample examples with various contexts provided by monolingual concordancers benefit the learners in their learning of collocations, they were often overwhelmed by a great number of unknown words in the contexts. As a result, bilingual tools which provide learners with native translations are now employed in English collocation learning. Research also suggests that bilingual concordancers are beneficial in language learning; however, the benefits were only applied, in the previous studies, to the participants at a senior high level or at a tertiary level instead of a junior high level. Few studies have ever focused on the effects of the bilingual tools on junior high students’ collocation learning. In addition, the example sentences in the existing bilingual concordancers in Taiwan are difficult for junior high students. On the other hand, bilingual dictionaries are most frequently used by learners when learning a language (Lai, 2010). However, traditional bilingual dictionaries only provide learners with word meanings which do not facilitate learners’ collocation learning. Two new online bilingual tools, JuKuu and Bing Dictionary, provide more and easier examples, and their effects on junior high students’ collocation learning have not been verified. As a result, the main purpose of the present study is to investigate the effects of the two Chinese-English bilingual referencing tools, JuKuu and Bing Dictionary, on junior high students’ collocation learning. Two intact classes of 63 ninth graders in the EFL junior high school were recruited. One of the classes was randomly assigned as “JuKuu group,” and the other “Bing Dictionary group”. Two tests and a task of collocation retrieval were utilized to explore the effectiveness, and two questionnaires were used to analyze learners’ perceptions toward collocation learning by consulting online bilingual tools. Before the concordancing activity, both groups took the pretest. The results revealed that the participants in these two groups were homogenous in their collocation knowledge. Following the pretest, a brief introduction of collocations and a demonstration on how to use the two online bilingual tools were given to the participants. They, then, completed the task of collocation retrieval with the help of the two online bilingual tools respectively. After the task, learners had to fill out a questionnaire. A week later, all the participants took a posttest. The results indicate that online bilingual tools indeed facilitate junior high students’ finding proper collocates and enhance their collocation learning. The participants in both groups performed significantly better in the task of collocation retrieval than in the pretest. Moreover, the participants in the JuKuu Group significantly outperform those in the Bing Dictionary Group in the task. Furthermore, the performances of the participants in the two groups in the posttest were worse than those in the task but better than those in the pretest. No differences existed between the performances of the JuKuu Group in the posttest and those of the Bing Dictionary Group in the posttest. As to the perceptions toward collocation consulting with the help of the two online bilingual tools, many of the participants held positive attitudes. Furthermore, they were willing to use the online bilingual tools in the future because the tools provide English examples and Chinese translations at the same time and they are easy to use. Difficulties that learners encountered when utilizing the bilingual tools and their recommendations are also discussed in the present study. In view of the findings, some pedagogical implications are provided. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

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雙語檢索系統, 雙語工具, 搭配詞, 搭配詞學習, 國中生, bilingual concordancers, bilingual tools, collocations, collocation learning, junior high students

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