文章閱讀和單字表背誦對於提昇高中生閱讀及字彙能力的成效研究

Abstract

究旨在探討從閱讀文章及背誦單字表學單字對高中生英文閱讀及字彙能力之影響。研究時間為七個星期，包含訓練期兩週。參與本研究的學生為六十四位就讀台北縣某國立高中三年級的兩班男學生，三十三位同學每週閱讀文章來學單字，此為閱讀組；三十一位同學每週背誦單字表來學單字，此為單字組。閱讀組在每週四節的英文課開始的十五分鐘閱讀一篇文章，之後進行四題關於文意的簡答題小考。單字組亦在每週四節上課開始的十五分鐘內背十組中英對照的單字表，之後隨機抽五個單字小考。學生在本實驗開始前均參加閱讀及字彙前測，並根據閱讀前測成績，每班分為高低能力群。實驗結束之後，學生參加閱讀及字彙後測，同時也填寫一份對所接受的單字學習法的看法之問卷。 研究結果顯示： (1)閱讀組和單字組在閱讀上均有進步；然而，對於提高學生的整體閱讀成績而言，兩組同學的進步並無顯著差異。 (2)閱讀組和單字組在字彙能力進步上有顯著差別；對於學生的字彙能力而言，背誦單字表比閱讀文章在學單字上更能有效地提昇學生的字彙成績。 (3)對於高低程度的學生而言，背誦單字表比閱讀文章更能有效地提昇學生的字彙成績，但是兩種方法對於提昇學生閱讀成績而言，並無顯著差異。 另外，根據問卷的調查結果，大部份的學生均對於他們所接受的單字學習法，给予肯定的評價；同時，他們也提出兩種單字學習法的優缺點。閱讀組的同學覺得固定閱讀文章既可以訓練閱讀速度且又可以學習單字的正確用法，但卻耗時且新的單字也不容易記住。而單字組的同學覺得從單字表學單字是很有效率的方法，但所記的單字似乎忘得很快。學生對於這兩種教學法的意見，也提供給老師一些教學方向。本研究肯定單字學習在提昇學生閱讀及字彙成績的重要性，並提供高中英文教師在單字教學上一些建議。The study aims to investigate the effects of the two vocabulary-learning methods, i.e., learning words in context and learning words in isolation through translation, on EFL high school students’ reading and vocabulary abilities. The whole experiment lasted for seven weeks, including the two weeks for training session. The participants recruited were 64 twelfth-grade students in a high school in Taipei County, who were divided into two groups, with 33 participants in the Reading Group and 31 participants in the Word Group. Within each group, participants were subdivided into High Proficiency and Low Proficiency subgroups based on the scores of their reading pretest. They met four times a week, 50 minute per session, for English instruction. In the first 15 minutes of each class, the Reading Group was assigned one article to read, while the Word Group was given ten bilingual word lists with words chosen from articles read by the reading group to memorize. In the following 5 minutes, a quiz made up of four short-answer questions was held for the Reading Group, while the Word Group had to spell five words correctly with the Chinese prompts in the quiz. All the participants took reading and vocabulary pre-tests and reading and vocabulary post-tests so that their progress in reading and vocabulary proficiency could be measured. They were required to fill out the questionnaires to give their feedbacks after the experiment. The major findings are summarized as follows: (1) All the participants made significant progress in their overall reading abilities after they received one of the two vocabulary trainings. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of their gain scores in the reading tests. (2) There was significant difference between all participants’ vocabulary performances before and after they received one of the two vocabulary trainings. In addition, learning words in isolation through translation was proven to be more effective to raise participants’ vocabulary learning than learning words in context. (3) Learning words in isolation through translation was more effective in raising High Proficiency and Low Proficiency students’ vocabulary learning than learning words in context. On the other hand, form students’ response in the questionnaires, they gave positive comments to the two methods and they also pointed out the pros and cons of the methods. According to the Reading Group, the advantage of learning words from context was training reading speed and learning correct usage of words, while the disadvantage was time-consuming and new words couldn’t be memorized. As for the Word Group, the advantage of learning words in isolation through translation was high efficiency in memorizing words, and the disadvantage was short retention of memorized words. The study highlighted the importance of vocabulary instruction in an EFL classroom. Pedagogical suggestions are made based on the results of this study.