以中文為母語之英語學習者對英語冠詞之使用   全文下載

The Use of the English Articles by Chinese Learners of English

儘管大量研究 (例如 Butler, 2002; Jarvis, 2002; Lee, 1999; Mizuno, 1999; Parrish, 1987; Takahashi, 1997; Yoon, 1993; Young, 1996) 投入各國學英語為第二語言或外國語言學習者使用冠詞之研究，顯少研究針對學習英語之中國人。正因對此人口研究的缺乏，本文將探討以中文為母語且現正學習英語為第二語言之中低程度及進階程度學習者所學冠詞之順序以及常犯之冠詞錯誤。研究徵求八位以中文為母語之學生，其中包括四位中低程度及四位進階程度英語第二語言學習者，並給予英語校正工作。研究結果顯示不定冠詞a/an 與零冠詞Ø 比起定冠詞the 學習得早，亦即定冠詞the 為最晚學習之冠詞。此外，結果指出中低程度與進階程度兩組皆未充分使用不定冠詞a/an。過度使用不定冠詞a/an 則較為少見。然而，過度使用定冠詞the 稍顯頻繁，且過度使用零冠詞Ø 的量更遠勝過度使用不定冠詞a/an 與定冠詞the，特別是在中低組中。至於零冠詞Ø 之學習發展順序，研究意指隨著學習者英文更趨熟練增加使用不定冠詞a/an與定冠詞the，隨之零冠詞Ø 將減少使用。

Although a considerable amount of studies (e.g., Butler, 2002; Jarvis, 2002; Lee, 1999; Mizuno, 1999; Parrish, 1987; Takahashi, 1997; Yoon, 1993; Young, 1996) concerning the English article system have been conducted on various populations of second or foreign language learners of English, little attention has been paid to Chinese learners of English. Due to the scarcity of research on this population, the present study was to uncover acquisition order and common article errors made by low-intermediate and advanced level English as a second language (ESL) learners from a Mandarin-speaking linguistic background. Eight Mandarin-speaking students including four low-intermediate and four advanced level ESL learners were recruited to carry out an English article editing task. The findings reveal that a/an and Ø are acquired earlier than the. In other words, the is the last type of article to be acquired. In addition, the results point out that both the low-intermediate group and the advanced group underuse the indefinite article a/an. The overuse of the indefinite article a/an is rare. Nevertheless, the overuse of the definite article the is somewhat frequent, and the overuse of the null article Ø is beyond the amount of the overuse for a/an and the, specifically among the low-intermediate group. As for the developmental sequence of the null article Ø, the study implies that learners increase the use of a/an and the and decrease the use of Ø as they become more proficient in English.