探究台灣大學生對於英語會話含意之聽力理解

Abstract

近年來跨文化語用學研究受到愈來愈多的關注，然而大部分文獻的研究仍限於外語學習者在言語行為上的表現，很少研究探討外語學習者對於語用功能的理解，尤其在會話含意上的理解更是相當缺乏。雖然以會話含意作為對話策略早已是人們所熟知的，但尚不清楚會話含意是否也是外語學習者有效使用的對話策略之一。有鑑於此，本篇研究旨在探討外語學習者是否能夠從會話的語境中理解會話含意，並探討其理解的準確性、推論策略的使用、以及在理解過程中所遇到的困難。 本篇研究對象為五十八位以英語為第二外語的台灣大學生，其英語程度為中低與高級程度。研究對象在電腦上完成二十一題會話含意聽力測驗，其測驗在於評量受試者對於七種類型會話含意的理解。除此之外，研究對象填寫推論策略的問卷，並接受訪談。 迴歸分析的結果顯示學習者的英語程度對於其會話含意的理解有顯著的影響。高低程度的學習者在理解六種會話含意題型的表現上有明顯的差異。高低程度的學習者也展現出不同偏好的策略使用：高程度的學習者使用較多自上而下的策略，而較低程度的學習者大多倚賴自下而上的策略。在理解過程中，高低程度的學習者遭遇相似的困難：學習者提到他們很難理解關聯性不顯著的題型，他們的認知與習慣性字面上的理解也造成他們理解上的困難。低程度學習者則提到他們的困難主要在於英語能力的不足，無法辨識說話者的意圖，及一些公式化隱含意義的題型。 總而言之，本研究不僅對於了解外語學習者理解會話含意的過程奠定了基礎，對於會話含意習得與教學也具有重要的義涵。Despite increasing interest in Interlanguage Pragmatics ILP) research, much of the work in ILP, to date, has been limited to L2 learners’ production of speech acts. Research on the comprehension of pragmatic function, however, has been scarce, particularly in the area of conversational implicature. Although conversational implicature as a conversational strategy is well known, it is not clear whether it is a useful conversational strategy for EFL learners. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the extent to which EFL learners can comprehend conversational implicature from the context in terms of accuracy of comprehension, inferential strategy use, and potential difficulties during comprehension process. Fifty-eight Taiwanese college students, ranging in proficiency from low-intermediate to advanced level, completed a 21-item computerized implicature listening test, measuring their comprehension of seven types of conversational implicature. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were also conducted to elicit learners’ inferential strategy use and their comprehension difficulties. Regression analyses revealed a positive L2 proficiency effect on learners’ implicature comprehension. Among the seven types of conversational implicature, learners comprehended significantly differently in six types of conversational implicature. Learners with different proficiency levels were observed to demonstrate different preferences for strategy use: High-proficiency learners were found to employ more top-down strategies, whereas low-proficiency learners relied more on bottom-up strategies. During comprehension process, both high-proficiency and low proficiency learners shared similar comprehension difficulties: Learners reported that their difficulties existed in less relevant implicature type, habitual use of literal interpretation and their assumptions. Low-proficiency learners reported that their difficulties mainly arouse from inadequate language proficiency, failure to recognize speaker intention and specific types of Formulaic-based implicature. To conclude, this study is important in laying the groundwork for understanding the nature of EFL learners’ comprehension process of conversational implicature and providing implications for acquisition and instruction on conversational implicature.