中国EFL学习者加工英语习语的策略调查_英文_

20068294()CELEAJournal(Bimonthly)Aug.2006Vol.29No.4STRATEGYUSEINCHINESEEFLLEARNERSpPROCESSINGOFENGLISHIDIOMS3WangXiaominChangshaBroadcast&TVUniversityZhangWenzhongNankaiUniversityAbstractThisempiricalstudyinvestigatesthedifferencesinstrategyusebetweenadvancedandintermediateChineseEFLlearnerswhenprocessingunfamiliarEnglishidioms.Theresultsshowthat(1)avarietyofstrategiesareusedwhensubjectsinitiallyprocessunfamiliarEnglishidioms;(2)thesubjectsacrossproficiencylevelsvaryintheoverallfrequencieswithwhichtheyemploystrategiesaswellasintheparticulartypesofstrategiestheyusetoprocessunfamiliarEFLidiomsinitially;(3)guessingstrategiesarethehighest2rankingcategoryamongboththeadvancedandtheintermediatelevelsubjects.ThispaperconcludeswithanumberofpedagogicalsuggestionsfortheteachingandlearningofEnglishidioms.KeywordsEnglishidiomcomprehension;processingstrategy;effectsoflearnerproficiencyIntroductionIdiomisthecrystallizationofhumancollectivewisdom.Itisanindispensableelementofalanguage,theuseofwhichgreatlyenlivensonepsstyleofwritingandspeaking.Englishidiomsaremostlyconcise,andtothepointvividandfigurative,forcefulandexpressive.Themeaningofsomeidiomsisself2evident(e1g1putthecartbeforethehorse),whereasthemeaningofotheridiomsisoftenimplicit,whichisdifficulttodeducefromtheliteralinterpretationoftheirindividualconstituents(e1g1chewthefat).ThisdifficultyconstitutesoneofthechiefstumblingblockstoEFLlearnersintheirsemanticinterpretationofEnglishidioms.However,whenwereviewChinesescholarspstudiesonEnglishidioms,wefindthatmostofthemfocusontheL12L2idiomtranslation(e1g1Ying1998;ZhangNing1999;ZhangRuolan2003).Someresearchersintroducedstudiesonthecomprehensionoftheidiomaticexpressionsfromthepsycholinguisticperspective(e1g1Sheetal.1998,2000,2001)orfromthecognitivelinguisticperspective(e1g1Liu&Zhou2002).OurreviewshowsthatlittlehasbeendonetoinvestigatehowChineseEnglishlearnerslearnEnglishidiomsfromaprocessingperspective.Asweseeit,systematicstudiesoftheEnglishidiominterpretationandcomprehensioncanbeofimmensevaluetoESL/EFLteachingandlearning.ThispaperexploresthepatternsofstrategyuseinEnglishidiomprocessingbetweenadvanced2andintermediate2levelEnglishmajors,andproposessuggestionsforteachingandlearningEnglishidioms.33ThisarticleisbasedonthefirstauthorpsMAthesis(HunanUniversity,2005),partofourongoingresearchprojectDevelopmentofOralProficiencyinEnglishMajorswhichissponsoredbytheHunanSocialSciencesResearchFund(AHundredHumanitiesandSocialSciencesResearchFellowsProject,05BR39)SpecificResearchQuestionsinthePresentStudyThepresentstudyaimsatinvestigatingthestrategiesusedbyChineseEFLlearnerswhenprocessingnovelEnglishidiomsandtheextenttowhichthelearnerspproficiencylevelsinfluencetheirchoicesofprocessingstrategies.Thestudydealswiththefollowingquestions:1)WhatstrategiesdoChineseEFLlearnersemploywhentheyprocessnovelEnglishidioms?2)Towhatextentdotheadvancedlevellearnersdifferfromintermediatelevellearnersintheirstrategyuse?3)Howdoeslanguageproficiencylevelinfluencelearnerspchoiceofstrategyuse?MethodologyParticipantsAtotalof29subjectsfromaUniversityinCentralChinaweredividedintotwogroupsaccordingtotheirEnglishproficiencylevels.Theintermediategroupcomprises13secondyearEnglishmajors,withanaverage7yearsofEnglishlearningexperienceand,atthetimeofdatacollection,wereallpreparingfortheTEM24examination.Theadvancedgroupconsistsof16second2yearpostgraduatestudentswithBAdegreesinEnglishLanguageandLiteraturewhohavestudiedEnglish12215years.TargetIdiomSelectionAfteradministeringapilottestofninetyEnglishidiomstotwentyEnglishmajorswhowerenotsubjectsofthemainstudy,twenty2sixidiomsmarkedbythestudentsasunfamiliarorunknownwerechosentobethetargetidiomsforthemainstudy(providedinAppendix).ProcedureAfterchoosingthetestidioms,weadministeredtheidiomrecognitiontest(IRT).Inaprivateroomwepresentedtheseidiomsonebyonetoindividualparticipantsbyshowingthesubjectscardswithidiomswrittenonthem.Alltheparticipantswereaskedtoprocessthesameidiomsundertwomodesofidiompresentation.Theywerefirstpresentedwithanidiominisolationonthefrontsideoftheidiomcardandwereaskedtoverballyreporttheirimmediatethoughtprocessesastheytriedtocomprehendthegivenunfamiliaridiomaticexpressiononthespot,withouttimeforreflection.Afterthat,theywerepresentedwiththesameidiominsentencecontextonthereversesideoftheidiomcard.Theywerealsoaskedtoverbalizetheirthoughtswhileprocessingthesameidiomwithcontextualcues.Thewholeprocesswasrecordedforpurposesoftranscriptionanddataanalysis.Thethink2aloudprotocolwascollectedinaccordancewithestablishedproceduresusedinthemostcurrentverbalreportresearch.ResultsandDiscussionQ1:WhatstrategiesdoChineseEFLlearnersemployinprocessingnovelEnglishidioms?Basedonthetranscriptionofthink2aloudprotocols,weanalyzedthesubjectspmeaningprocessingtechniqueanddeterminedthenumberandtypeofprocessingstrategiesemployedbythesubjectsinthecurrentstudy.StartingwithCooperps(1999)82itemstrategytypology,wewereabletoidentify14strategiesthatwereadoptedbyoursubjectsinthedataprotocol.Cooperpssystemwasthereforeexpandedbyaddingnewstrategies,sucha