（外國(guó)語言學(xué)及應(yīng)用語言學(xué)專業(yè)論文）英語專業(yè)學(xué)生交際策略運(yùn)用對(duì)比研究.pdf

iii 英語專業(yè)學(xué)生交際策略運(yùn)用對(duì)比研究英語專業(yè)學(xué)生交際策略運(yùn)用對(duì)比研究 摘摘 要要 策略能力是交際能力的一部分。 語言學(xué)習(xí)者的策略能力在很大程度上決定了 其目標(biāo)語表達(dá)的流利程度以及對(duì)會(huì)話技巧的掌握。 培養(yǎng)學(xué)生的策略能力也就是培 養(yǎng)他們對(duì)各種交際策略的有效選擇及熟練運(yùn)用。 交際策略作為在交際條件不充足 時(shí)根據(jù)實(shí)際情況采取的應(yīng)變措施，對(duì)外語學(xué)習(xí)者是十分重要的，因?yàn)檫@些策略能 彌補(bǔ)他們語言知識(shí)的不足，能幫助他們解決或處理各種交際問題，使交際渠道保 持順暢，讓交際得以順利進(jìn)行。國(guó)內(nèi)外對(duì)交際策略的研究多集中在對(duì)其的定義和 分類上，對(duì)于交際策略的使用與學(xué)習(xí)者目標(biāo)語水平的關(guān)系的研究并不多。學(xué)習(xí)者 對(duì)交際策略的選擇與其目標(biāo)語水平有著緊密的聯(lián)系。將兩者結(jié)合進(jìn)行對(duì)比研究， 有助于更好地了解語言學(xué)習(xí)者的交際策略選擇是如何隨著其目標(biāo)語水平的提高 而變化的，同時(shí)也從交際能力的角度探討如何提高學(xué)習(xí)者的語言水平。筆者對(duì)一 個(gè) 30 人的英語專業(yè)二年級(jí)班級(jí)進(jìn)行數(shù)據(jù)采集，使用橫向和縱向兩種對(duì)比研究方 法，調(diào)查受訪者英語語言水平與交際策略運(yùn)用之間的關(guān)系。調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示不同語 言水平的受訪者在口語和寫作中所傾向使用的交際策略有所不同， 總體看來低水 平組的受訪者更傾向于縮減策略，高水平的受訪者則更傾向使用成就策略。同時(shí) 本研究還顯示受訪者目標(biāo)語言水平的改變會(huì)引起其交際策略使用的變化， 即目標(biāo) 語水平提高將導(dǎo)致其更多地使用成就策略，減少使用縮減策略。 本文正文部分一共分為四章。介紹部分陳述了本研究的意義與研究目的。第 一章是本文的理論基礎(chǔ)部分，回顧了 tarone, hymes, canale，swain等語言學(xué)家 對(duì)于交際能力、 策略能力以及交際策略提出的相關(guān)理論， 分析了三者之間的關(guān)系， 并介紹了三個(gè)與本研究相類似的前人研究的實(shí)驗(yàn)設(shè)計(jì)與結(jié)果。 第二章與第三章是 全文的主體部分，第二章詳細(xì)描述了實(shí)驗(yàn)的設(shè)計(jì)，包括實(shí)驗(yàn)對(duì)象、工具與步驟， 以及對(duì)所收集數(shù)據(jù)類型的劃分；第三章運(yùn)用 spss 軟件對(duì)所得數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行了相關(guān)分 析，揭示了實(shí)驗(yàn)對(duì)象的英語語言水平與其對(duì)交際策略的選擇兩者之間的聯(lián)系。第 四章就數(shù)據(jù)分析結(jié)果提出相應(yīng)的英語教學(xué)啟示和建議。 本文結(jié)論部分對(duì)研究結(jié)果 與其重要性進(jìn)行了總結(jié)，并指出了本文的兩點(diǎn)局限性。 關(guān)鍵詞：交際策略；語言水平；交際能力 i a contrastive study of the use of communication strategies by college english majors abstract strategic competence is a part of communicative competence. language learners strategic competence largely determines the learners fluency and conversational skills in the target language. mastery of this competence includes the mastery of communication strategies(cs) which generally refer to the means that speakers use to solve their communicative problems. most researches on communication strategies have focused on the identification and taxonomy of the learners cs in target language communication without providing a link between the learners use of these strategies and their levels of target language proficiency. investigation of learners cs use within the framework of language proficiency may provide a good understanding of how a shift in the learners level of target language would affect their use of cs. in the meantime, such study may shed some light on the construct of language proficiency itself and its complex constituents. this study attempts to examine the relationship between learners cs use and their target language proficiency through the cross-sectional and longitudinal data collected from one class of 30 second-year english majors. the findings of this study show that learners of different levels of target language proficiency differ in their preference of css in speaking and writing. generally speaking, the less proficient learners would like to turn to reduction strategies while the more proficient ones more frequently turn to achievement strategies. this study also shows that a shift in a learners level of proficiency would affect his use of cs. the more proficient a learner becomes, the less reduction strategies he would use. this thesis consists of four chapters. in the introduction part, the significance and objectives of this study are presented. chapter one reviews the theories about communication competence, strategic competence, and communication strategies proposed by linguists such as tarone, hymes, canale and swain, along with the previous case studies that is related to the authors research. chapter two provides detailed descriptions of the experiment design. in chapter three, the data collected from the experiment are processed by computer and analyzed, and the findings are ii discussed. according to these findings, in chapter four, pedagogical implications for cultivating learners communicative competence are presented. in the conclusion part the author summarizes the findings of the study, discusses the significance of these findings, and points out two limitations of the study. key words: communication strategies; language proficiency; communicative competence; 獨(dú)創(chuàng)性聲明 本人聲明所呈交的學(xué)位論文是本人在導(dǎo)師指導(dǎo)下進(jìn)行的研究工作及取得的 研究成果。據(jù)我所知，除了文中特別加以標(biāo)注和致謝的地方外，論文中不包含其 他人已經(jīng)發(fā)表或撰寫過的研究成果， 也不包含為獲得 成都理工大學(xué) 或其他教 育機(jī)構(gòu)的學(xué)位或證書而使用過的材料。 與我一同工作的人員對(duì)本研究所做的任何 貢獻(xiàn)均已在論文中作了明確的說明并表示謝意。 學(xué)位論文作者簽名：何云亭 2010 年 5 月 10 日 學(xué)位論文版權(quán)使用授權(quán)書 本學(xué)位論文作者完全了解 成都理工大學(xué) 有關(guān)保留、 使用學(xué)位論文的規(guī)定， 有權(quán)保留并向國(guó)家有關(guān)部門或機(jī)構(gòu)送交論文的復(fù)印件和磁盤， 允許論文被查閱和 借閱。本人授權(quán) 成都理工大學(xué) 可以將學(xué)位論文的全部或部分內(nèi)容編入有關(guān)數(shù) 據(jù)庫(kù)進(jìn)行檢索，可以采用影印、縮印或掃描等復(fù)制手段保存、匯編學(xué)位論文。 （保密的學(xué)位論文在解密后適用本授權(quán)書） 學(xué)位論文作者簽名：何云亭 學(xué)位論文作者導(dǎo)師簽名：孔繁津 2010 年 5 月 10 日 acknowledgements i would like to take this chance to express my heart-felt gratitude to my supervisors, professor kong fanjin, professor wang huizhou and associate professor zhu yan. they have devoted generous support in my research. they patiently read and revised my drafts, and gave me a lot of valuable suggestions. without their guidance and support, the completion of this study would have been impossible. i would also like to express my deep thanks to all the teachers in the college of foreign languages and cultures of cdut, for their help during my three years of studying. they are professor luo yijun, professor li wuquan, professor luo runtian, professor he dashun, associate professor duan cheng, professor zheng huan, ect. finally, my grateful acknowledgement is devoted to my family, who have given me a lot and helped me overcome all kinds of difficulties in the past three years of study. introduction 1 introduction to most efl (english as a foreign language) teachers, the awareness is common that some english learners tend to be braver than other learners when speaking to english native speakers. it can be found in these learners a much stronger desire to speak in english, and their actual language output tend to be more in amount and more effective for communication, even if some of them may not be as much grammatically and phonologically developed as other learners. a college sophomore, for example, who cannot pass cet4 may be able to make friends with an english native speaker by whom he can be well understood even when they are having a conversation of considerable length and without the help of a third person. he may not be proficient in english from a traditional view in which a learners knowledge of grammar, phonetics, and amount of vocabulary is emphasized, and in which a learners language proficiency is evaluated by test papers. one of the reasons that account for this phenomenon is that these learners have established, consciously or unconsciously, a good strategic competence. in other words, they have a good command of communication strategies. according to canale and swain, strategic competence, along with grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, and discourse competence, composes a persons communicative competence. this concept views language as a functional system used to fulfill a range of communicative purposes. efl teachers are not surprised to find some of the english learners, although performing poorly in the mastery of the language code itself, i.e. grammatical competence, are doing quite well in the following two areas: (1) compensating for breakdowns in interlanguage communication; and (2) enhancing the effectiveness of interlanguage communication, because they can use css effectively. moreover, faerch and kasper ( 1986 :179-181) state that there is an inevitable gap between what learners are taught and what they need in coping with unpredictable situations. this is where css are needed to bridge the gap and keep the communicative channels open. the research on learners use of communication strategies began in the 1970s, represented by corder, tarone, faerch, kasper, bialystok, and many others. these scholars defined the term, offered their own categorizations, discussed its uses, functions and influence on communications. the latest publication may be faerch and 成都理工大學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文 2 kellermans works communication strategies: psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives in 1997. in china, the introduction of this concept started in the 1990s, after which there have been many publications introducing methodologies and research findings in this field. while most scholars have indicated that the cultivation of strategic competence is indispensable in efl teaching, empirical studies based on efl students in china are not sufficient. researches focused on the interaction between the use of css and the target language proficiency have been carried out both at home and abroad. in the west for example, tarone (1997) found that learners of a lower-level prefer to use reduction strategies, and ellis (1983) noticed that a beginner also has a preference for reduction strategies. it still remains uncertain whether these findings apply to chinese efl learners. some chinese scholars have made empirical studies on college-level students. most of these studies used questionnaires as the only means for data collection, focusing on the css used in spoken english. few studies investigated what css learners use in their actual conversation, or what css are used in english writing. this study is concerned with the relationship between chinese college english majors language proficiency and their choice of css when communicating in english. it aims at finding out in what way the former influences the latter through contrastive analysis of sophomore english majors of different language proficiency levels. the objectives of the study are: 1. to identify the types and the number of css used respectively by learners of lower, intermediate and higher levels in spoken english. 2. to identify the types and the number of css used respectively by learners of lower, intermediate and higher levels in english writing. 3. to describe adjustments in cs use in response to the shift of english proficiency of the learners. 4. to offer pedagogical recommendations in relation to css. based on tarone (1980)s definition and description of cs, and taxonomies proposed by tarone (1977) et al., two questionnaires are designed for a class of 30 english sophomores to find out their application of css in both spoken english and english writing. the subjects need to fill the first questionnaire at the beginning of a semester and the second at the end of that very semester. side by side with the questionnaire, task-based interviews are carried out to find out learners actual use of introduction 3 css. data collected from the questionnaires and the taped-interviews are analyzed in three categories: 1) what css the learners believe they would use when speaking in english; 2) what css the learners actually use when speaking in english; and 3) what css the learners believe they would use in english writing. data for the writing part are collected solely from the questionnaire, as many css used in actual writing are not detectable for people other than the subjects themselves. these three categories are checked in two ways. the first is a horizontal comparison. the class is divided into three groups (low proficiency, intermediate and high proficiency) according to the test results of the previous semester. the application of css of the learners at different proficiency levels is compared. the second is a four-month longitudinal investigation, comparing the application of css of the same learners at different stage of their english development. the result of the study proves that the learners language proficiency does have an influence on his choice of css, and the study provides some recommendable implications on efl teaching. this study involves an experiment in a college sophomore class of english majors. as the author of this thesis teaches the course of basic english writing in the college of foreign languages and cultures in chengdu university of technology, it is possible for her to select one of the sophomore classes she teaches to carry out the experiments. the most important criterion in the selection of an experimenting class is the widely varied english proficiency levels of its members, which can be reflected by the results of the final tests of the previous semester. the varied english levels of the subjects ensure the validity of the horizontal comparison. since data were collected at the beginning and the end of one semester, there was a span of four months between the first and the second survey, which ensured development of english proficiency in every subject, and thus made the longitudinal study valid. furthermore, linguists such as ellis, tarone and bialystok have already carried out related experiments, which gave the author much clue on the design of questionnaires and interviews. lastly, support from the college, the supervisors and the subjects made it possible to carry out the experiment successfully. this thesis investigates the following research question: is english majors use of css influenced by their english proficiency? it begins by reviewing the related theories about communication competence, strategic competence, and communication strategies presented by linguists such as tarone, hymes, canale and swain, and the previous case studies related to the authors research. then the thesis provides 成都理工大學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文 4 descriptions of the experiment. by analyzing these data, the thesis investigates whether and how learners english proficiency level influences their choice of css. finally, pedagogical implications for cultivating learners communicative competence are presented. chapter one literature review 5 chapter 1 literature review 1.1 definitions of communication strategy since half a century ago, in the linguistic world there has been a change of emphasis from presenting language as a set of forms (grammatical, phonological, lexical) which have to be learned and practiced, to presenting language as a functional system which is used to fulfill a range of communicative purposes.(tarone and yule, 1989). hence css have turned into a heated topic for all efl teachers and learners. the term communication strategy was first proposed by selinker (1972). in his work on interlanguage, he defined cs as one of the processes that are responsible for producing interlanguage errors, a by-product of the learners attempt to express meaning in spontaneous speech with their limited target language system. hereafter, linguists have come to realize that cs plays an important role in second language acquisition, and have proposed different ways to define this term. in bialystoks book communication strategies, she cites four definitions relating to the strategies of second-language learners (bialystok, 1990: 3): (1) a systematic technique employed by a speaker to express his meaning when faced with some difficulty; (corder, 1977) (2) a mutual attempt of two interlocutors to agree on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures are not shared; (tarone, 1980) (3) potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal; (faerch discourse competence is concerned with the ability to combine grammatical forms and meanings to achieve a unified spoken or written text in different genres; sociolinguistic competence refers to 成都理工大學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文 8 the extent to which utterances are produced and understood appropriately in different sociolinguistic contexts depending on contextual factors. the last one, strategic competence, is defined by canale and swain (1980:30) as verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or to insufficient competence. in simple terms it means the ability to successfully get ones message across(tarone and strategic competence involves the use of css in situations where message transmission is impeded in one way or another. to enhance the effectiveness of communication, appropriate application of css is indispensible. 1.3 classifications of communication strategies the taxonomies offered by different linguists inevitably vary, each having its particular orientation and emphasis. in this part two significant classifications of css are presented, the first based on tarone et al. and the second based on the nijmegen university group. 1.3.1 classification by tarone et al. according to tarone(1977), faerch and kasper(1983a), canale and swain(1980), css are comprised of three main categories: avoidance or reduction strategies; achievement or compensatory strategies; stalling or time-gaining strategies. the following is a detailed list of this taxonomy: avoidance or reduction strategies a. message abandonment: peoples leaving a message unfinished due to language difficulties. b. topic avoidance: peoples avoidance of topics or concepts that may exist language difficulties. achievement or compensatory strategies a. circumlocution: describing or exemplifying the target object or action (e.g., a chest where you put all your clothes). b. approximation: using a synonym (e.g., kind for amiable). 成都理工大學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文 10 c. use of all-purpose words: using a more general, empty lexical item (e.g., the over use of thing). d. word-coinage: coin a word in the target language based on a supposed rule (e.g., perfecter for perfectionist) e. use of nonlinguistic means: the use of mime, gestures, facial expression, or sound imitation. f. literal translation: translating a linguistic item literally from l1 to l2 (e.g., color wolf). g. foreignizing: using a l1 word by adjusting it to l2 phonologically or morphologically. h. code switching: using a l1 word with l1 pronunciation in l2. i. appeal for help: directly or indirectly asking for help from the conversation partner(e.g., what is in english? or a puzzled expression.). stalling or time gaining strategies a. use of fillers/hesitation devices: using filling words or gambits to gain time to think (e.g., well). from this list we can see that the avoidan