臺灣高中生英語忠告語言行為之發展研究

Abstract

本研究旨在探討以中文為母語的臺灣高中生在英文忠告言語行為的發展。過往研究 (Ding, 2010) 指出，中文母語者最常使用的忠告為間接忠告，其次為緩和忠告。然而，他們在使用英語給忠告時，卻往往傾向使用直接忠告 (Hinkel, 1994& 1997)。本研究以此差異為出發點，探討下列影響忠告言語行為的因素：被忠告者的社會地位、事件的嚴重程度、以及題型效應。總共有六十位臺灣高中生參與了本研究的三項測驗：嚴重程度判斷、言談情境填充、選擇式問卷。受試者依據其英文程度進一步分成初、中級兩組，另外亦含有二十位英語母語人士組成的對照組。本研究發現如下： (一) 英語母語人士對照組較常不提供忠告。當選擇提供忠告時，中級組及母語對照組皆最常使用緩和忠告，初級組則選擇直接忠告居多。 (二) 中級組對被忠告者的社會地位的看法與母語對照組相近，初級組尚無法區分對平輩與晚輩的忠告形式的不同。 (三) 事件嚴重程度足以影響受試者給忠告的意願以及忠告的形式。當事件嚴重程度加劇，受試者往往更願意給忠告，且會使用較多直接忠告。 (四) 在選擇式問卷中，受試者傾向選擇緩和忠告；在言談情境填充中，受試者最常使用直接忠告。 (五) 整體而言，第二語言程度對於受試者作答表現有明顯影響。 根據上述結果，我們認為文化差異影響受試者給忠告的意願，被忠告者的社會地位、事件的嚴重程度、以及題型則影響受試者對忠告策略的運用。研究亦發現當受試者的第二語言能力越強時，會發展出更高的語用知識，因此也會使用更多的禮貌策略。The present study investigated the development of English advice-giving by Taiwanese EFL learners in high school by looking into various factors influencing advice-giving: the advisee’s social status, the severity of an event, and the task effect. Ding (2010) found Chinese people favored understatement and hedged advice in their mother tongue. However, when they were asked to provide English advice, the Chinese participants offered more direct advice (Hinkel, 1994& 1997). Based on these differences, the present study examined whether and how Chinese EFL students employ English advice-giving from multi-aspects. Sixty high school students were recruited to complete three tasks (i.e., a severity judgment task, a discourse completion task (DCT), and a multiple-choice questionnaire (MCQ)). They were further divided into two experimental groups based on their L2 proficiency, and 20 native speakers of English as a control group. The major findings are summarized as follows: (1) The English native speakers tended to opt out in situations involving advice giving. When giving advice, both the intermediate participants and the native speakers favored hedged advice the most, while the elementary group selected direct advice the most. (2) The intermediate participants perceived social distance similarly to the native speakers while the elementary participants were not able to differentiate between equal and lower social status advisees. (3) The participants’ willingness to give advice and choice of advice types were affected by the severity of the events. More direct advice and less opting out were found in events with severe consequences highlighted. (4) The participants preferred hedged advice in the MCQ; while direct advice was offered in the DCT. (5) L2 proficiency was found to be an important factor shaping their performance in giving advice. The results indicated that culture played an important role in choosing to opt out in advice giving, and that the social status of the advisee, the severity of the event, and the task effect also influenced the participants’ choice of advice types. Moreover, as proficiency level got higher, the participants developed more pragmatic competence, and thus employed more politeness strategies.