The Use of English Article by Chinese and Spanish Speakers

CNU IR > Chna Nan Annual Bulletin > No.34 (2008) > Item 310902800/21293

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Title:	The Use of English Article by Chinese and Spanish Speakers 母語對於學習外語之影響：以西班牙語母語人士與華語母語人士使用英語冠詞為例
Authors:	Chih-Chin Lin Yi-Chia Agnes Lin An-Chi (Angel) Chung
Contributors:	應用外語系
Keywords:	English article system Language transfer Spanish speakers Chinese speakers EFL ESL 英語冠詞語言轉移西班牙語母語人士華語母語人士英語為外語英語為第二語言
Date:	2008
Issue Date:	2009-05-14 15:39:26 (UTC+8)
Abstract:	This study is to investigate the different influences of an L1 with article system on the second language acquisition (SLA). Specifically, how the positive and negative transfer of a [+article] language Spanish and a [-article] language like Chinese as L1s to English as a second language (ESL) interferes with respect to the use of the English articles. The instrument consists of three parts : (l) a diagnostic test of twenty questions about general English ability of the participants, (2) a cloze test consisting of thirty fill-in questions about three categories of the use of the English articles, and (3) a self-report questionnaire about the participant’s demographic information. The voluntary participants included fourteen Spanish and fifteen Chinese adults with higher level of English proficiency in an ESL context. They were selected for two experiments. Ten from each language group with higher scores of the diagnostic test were chosen for Experiment 1. For Experiment 2, another ten from each languagegroupwith1ower scores of the same diagnostic test were chosen as subjects. Some of the participants in each language group were included in the two experiments respectively. Part 11 of the instrument consists of thirty fill-in questions about the use of the English article system (three categories : definite article the , indefinite article a, and zero articleφ) for the participants to answer by choosing an appropriate article to complete the sentence in the cloze test. t-test was used to analyze the data collected, and the results revealed that overall, the Spanish speakers have higher score than the Chinese speakers . In particular, the former performed better in the usage of the article the than the latter. It seems that the Spanish speakers positively transferred their LI to their use of the English article in ESL setting because the definite article is used in their L1. The results also showed positive transfer of Ll with article system (Spanish) and negative transfer L1 without article system (Chinese) to the English article use In ESL environment. Implication for the instruction on the English article system in ESL/EFL context is proposed and further, study is also suggested. 本研究探討母語裏有冠詞與母語裏無冠詞者對學習英語為第二語言的冠詞所產生的影響，特別是有冠詞系統的西班牙語母語人士與無冠詞系統的華語母語人士對於學習、使用英語為第二語言所產生的正向與負向語言轉移和影響。本研究使用的測量工具包含三部份：第一部分為診斷測驗，用以測量受試者的一般英語能力。第二部份為英語冠詞(定冠詞the、不定冠詞a、及零冠詞φ)的克漏字測驗，為本研究所分析的主要語料來源。第二部分為受試者的背景資料，用以作為篩選受試者的輔助資料。參與本研究者有十四位西班牙譜母語人士和十五位華語母語人士，他們都有良好的英語表達能力。本研究包含二部分，均以T 測驗分析實料。實驗(一)採取西班牙語組和華語組各十位診斷測驗高分者的英語冠詞克漏字測驗成績做比對分析。實驗(二)採取西班牙語組和華語組各十位診斷測驗低分者的英語冠詞克漏字測驗成績做比對分析。其結果顯示：一般而言，西班牙語母語人士的英語冠詞克漏字測驗成績高於華語母語人士，特別是以西班牙語為母語的受試者在英語定冠詞” the”的表現上比華語為母語的受試者好。此一結果似乎顯示出以西班牙語為母語的受試者正向地轉移其母語的使用於英語為第二語言的使用上。本研究結果也顯示出，在英語為第二語言的環境裏，母語裏有冠詞系統者正向地轉移與母語裏無冠詞者負向地轉移其母語的使用於英語冠詞的使用上。本研究也提出有關英語冠詞教學在英語為外語(EFL)或第二語言(ESL)教學的應用之建議以及後續的研究建議。
Relation:	嘉南學報(人文類)34期：p.423-439
Appears in Collections:	[Dept. of Applied Foreign Languages] Periodical Articles [Chna Nan Annual Bulletin] No.34 (2008)

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