论文评价Word文档下载推荐.docx

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THEROLEOFAWARENESSINCHINESESTUDENTS’LEARNINGOFENGLISHPREPOSITIONALSTRUCTURE

Abstract

ThispaperisaquantitativeanalysisoftheroleofawarenessinEnglishprepositionalstructurelearninginrelationtoSchmidt’snoticinghypothesis施密特的注意假说aboutprocessingthetargetlanguageform.Thepurposeistoidentifythelong-perplexingproblemthatChinesestudentsarereluctanttoproduceEnglishprepositionalstructureintheirwriting.Theresearchisacontrolledexperimentinatranslation-basedsettingwhichprovidesempiricalsupportfortheclaimthatthelevelofawarenessplaysacrucialroleinthelearners’intakeandwrittenproductionthetargetform.Theimplicationisthatamoreexplicitpedagogical显性教学approachtowardcomplexgrammarrulelearningmaybenecessary.

Keywords:

awareness;

Englishprepositionalstructure;

controlledexperiment;

translation

1.Introduction

Oneofthefundamentaldebatesinsecondlanguageacquisitionresearchhasbeenwhetherexplicit,consciousapproachorimplicit,unconsciousapproachismoreeffective.Withinthedebate,Seliger（1983:

187）firmlybelievesthatitisattheunconsciouslevelthatlanguagelearningtakesplace.WinterandReber（1994）maintainthatlanguagestructurecanbelearnedimplicitlythroughageneralcognitivemechanism.Krashen’s（1985,1993,2003）comprehensionhypothesissuggeststhatlanguageteachingshouldfocusonunderstandingthemessage,andallowthelearnerstounconsciouslyabsorbthegrammarrulesinsteadofconsciouslylearningtherules.Inhisview,theeffectofexplicitinstruction明确的指示isperipheral,andcaninfluenceonlylearningofrelativelysimplerulesasexplicitknowledge.Krashen’stheoryhasgeneratedmassiveacademiccriticismwhichmainlypointstoits“lackofempiricalcontent.”（Gregg,1984:

94）ItisfurtherrefutedbyMcLaughlinasfailureateveryjuncture,as“theempiricalbasisofthetheoryisweak,andthetheoryisnotclearinitspredictions”（1987:

56）.

IncontrasttoKrashen’s（2004）statementthatoncewehaveunderstoodit,wehavelearnedit.Schmidtholdsthat“ifnoticed,itbecomesintake”（1990:

139）.Schmidt（1990,1995,2001）hasconstantlyarguedthatconsciousawarenessofthetargetlanguagesystemisnecessaryiflearnersaretoproducecorrectformsandusethemappropriately.Thisnotionhasgainedwidesupportfromresearchfindingswhichsuggestthatoverall,consciouslearningdoesseemtocontributetosuccessfulsecondlanguageacquisition（e.g.Doughty,1991,Robinson,2003,Leow,2000,NorrisandOrtega,2000）.

Aftertwodecadesofresearch,itstillseemstoberelevanttofurtherassessthevalidityoftheroleofawarenessonthesubsequentprocessingofcertainlanguageforms.ToinvestigatethisissueintheframeworkofEnglishteachinginChineseuniversities,wediscoverthattheteachingguidanceis,toalargeextent,basedonKrasen’s（1985）comprehensivehypothesiswhichassumesthatstudentscanimprovetheirgrammaticalcompetencebyreceivingmassiveamountsofcomprehensibleinputinclasses.InanexemplifyingsituationoflearningtheEnglishprepositionalstructurecontainingprepositionplusnoun,theteachingisnotdesignedtodrawthestudents’attentiontothisspecificlinguisticform.Instead,thestudentsaresimplyassignedwithalotofreadingtaskslooselycontainingsuchstructure.Wearguethattheunderlyingtheoreticalconstructcanbeassociatedwiththeimplicitapproachthatabundantcomprehensiveinputwillnaturallyleadtosubconsciousabsorbance.Theresult,however,isnotasatisfactoryone.IthasbeenalongperplexingproblemfortheEnglishteacherthatChinesestudentstendtoproduceintheirEnglishwritingaverb-involvedsentencewhereaprepositionalstructureisidiomaticallymoreacceptable.

ThepresentstudyisanattempttoidentifyandsolvethisproblembyhypothesizingthatamoreexplicitteachingdesignthatdrawsattentiontothespecificformwillfacilitatemasteryoftheEnglishprepositionalstructure.Thepaperisorganizedasfollows:

First,wepresentareviewoftheresearchesontheroleofawarenessinsecondlanguageacquisition.Next,weexplainourresearchmotivationandcontext.ThenwereportonthecontrolledexperimenttestingtheeffectofawarenessonthelearningoftheEnglishprepositionalstructure,andexaminingthepotentialofChinese-Englishtranslationforawarenessenhancement.Andfollowingthis,wesuggestthatamoreexplicitpedagogicalapproachtowardthemorecomplexgrammarruleslearningmaybenecessary.Finally,weacknowledgethelimitationsofthestudyandprovidedirectionsforfutureresearch.

2.ReviewofResearchLiterature

2.1AwarenessandNoticingHypothesis

Toavoidterminologicalambiguity用语含糊不清,Schmidt（1990:

20）identifiesconsciousnessinlanguagelearningatthreelevels:

awareness,intentionandknowledge.Thef