聚焦形義聯結於使用中－－結合大學 EFL 寫作教學英語的時與體

Focusing on Form-Meaning Pairing in Context: Teaching/Learning English Tense and Aspect Through College EFL Writing

各語言都有可用來將事件分類的語義與標示機制，如時（tense，亦作時態、時 式）、體（aspect，亦作貌）及其表現形式。時與體形式與語義的聯結是語言學與語 言習得研究的重要課題，而且有理論與教學方面的雙重意義。華語中時無須形式上 的標示，英語則不然。英語動詞形態的正确使用對許多母語為華語的學習者來說是 一個難點。具有中等英語能力之華語人士在英語時、體習得中的形義聯結問題是本 文討論的重點。通過剖析大學EFL 寫作中時、體的應用，本文指出對具有中等英語 能力之華語人士來說，英語時與體的習得主要是一個學會英語時、體形式與語義聯 結的問題。要學的不只是英語時、體的標示形式，而是必須理解相關的語義成分及 其編碼方式從而得以應用適當的形來呈現所要表達的義。英語寫作有助於增進並檢 視學習者對英語時、體形義聯結的理解。建議在教學中利用具體且典型的實例以及 抽象出來的相關分析（尤其是Reichenbach（1947）將時、體語義關系結構化、視覺 化的系統分析），明示英語時、體之各形義聯結以及作為一個系統，這些形義聯結 的語義、結構要點，區別和關連，並通過多加練習和實際應用，幫助學生有結構有 系統地習得英語的時與體。

Languages have mechanisms to classify eventualities by semantic distinctions of situation type, tense, and aspect, often with overt grammatical encoding, and form-meaning pairing is an important area of research in both linguistics and language acquisition studies, theoretically and pedagogically. Appropriate use of the various English verb forms has been difficult for many EFL learners whose native tongue is Chinese, where verb tense requires no overt morphological marking. The focus of this paper is on form-meaning pairing problems in acquiring/learning the English tense-aspect system by intermediate proficiency level Chinese EFL learners. Based on evidence from college EFL writing, it is argued and shown that for Chinese EFL learners, acquisition/learning of the English tense-aspect system is basically a form-meaning pairing problem, not just a matter of focusing attention on the different morphosyntactic forms but also of attending to the semantic distinctions that the forms are supposed to encode and pairing the forms and meanings one intends to convey. Furthermore, explicitly directing attention to particular form-meaning pairings (using prototypical concrete examples and abstract schemata) and the way they are organized as a system, coupled with practice and actual use, is recommended to facilitate learning. EFL writing offers a setting for students to actively engage in meaningful learning where progress may be monitored and insights from linguistic semantics (in particular, Reichenbach, 1947) may be explicitly taught and incorporated with use in context to help students master form-meaning pairing in the English tense-aspect system in a structured and principled way.