Focus on Form 教學觀點在第二語中文聲調辨識教學的應用

Focus on Form as a Pedagogical Framework for Fostering a Native-like Mandarin Tonal Identification System

藉由中文聲調的理論與研究，本報告認為母語和非母語人士為了能夠迅速正確地辨識中文聲調，除了得建立一套清楚、有系統的聲調心理表徵外(categorical tonal representation)，還得將這套聲調表徵和心理詞彙 (mental lexicon) 作連結；藉由這連結，聽者才能迅捷、有效地辨識平常口語中的“變調現象”(tone sandhi or allotone in connected speech)。但是，現今的聲調訓練課程往往著重在無前後文語境的聲調辨識練習 (decontextualized drills)，因而無法有效地幫助非中文母語人士建立聲調表徵以及心理詞彙之間的連結；即使在情境化的聲調辨識教學環境中，教師往往在沒有考慮學習者「線上語料處理策略」(online processing strategies) 的情況下，使得教師的外在操縱 (external input enhancement/manipulation) 不見得能夠有效地切入學習者的內在聚焦 (internal salience driven by the learner’s attention)。本篇報告參酌了Focus on Form (FonF) 的教學原則與認知心理學對學習者線上處理模式的見解，提出一套適用於中文聲調教學的建議，希望能幫助語言教師針對非中文母語人士的線上語料處理模式，提供更有效率的聲調（或是變調）教學（補救）策略。

Second-language acquisition (SLA) research has shown that given short-term intensive form-focused training, non-native Mandarin speakers are able to establish a categorical tonal representation, which allows them to identify systematically features of tones borne by isolated words. However, developing a categorical tonal inventory is a necessary but insufficient condition for a native-like tonal identification system. Native Mandarin speakers’ tonal inventory is well connected to the mental lexicon, which allows them to efficiently resolve any tonal ambiguities resulting from phonemic sandhi or phonetic transformation in connected speech. Existing L2 form-focused training programs, as seen in Sun (1997), have not shown positive effects on entrenching the link between the tonal inventory and the mental lexicon. Drawing upon the insights from studies conducted within the framework of focus on form (FonF)—a pedagogical intervention used to direct learners’ attention to the formal aspect of a linguistic construction in meaningoriented activities, this paper contends that implicit FonF, when taken into consideration of L2 learners’ internal learning agenda and universal processing strategies, can provide an optimal encoding environment for internalizing intricate tonal behaviors. To this end, this paper first elucidates “what do native and nonnative tonal speakers actually do?” when identifying tone in connected speech. Based upon the reviewed literature, the paper then discusses issues that need to be considered in L2 tonal instruction, and proposes how FonF pedagogical guidelines may be used to remediate problematic tonal tokens in context and hence foster an efficient tonal identification system for non-native tonal speakers—a domain rarely discussed under the FonF framework and in the SLA literature.