中国成人英语学习者语音意识与阅读能力的相关性研究

摘要

二十世纪七十年代以来，“语音意识”这一概念引起了语言习得研究者的广泛兴趣。大多数研究围绕语音意识与阅读能力的关系展开，众多的研究证明语音意识与阅读能力密切相关(Bradley和Bryant，1983；Rieben和Perfetti，1991)。但是，研究对象基本上是针对以英语为母语的儿童(例如Perfetti， Beck， Bell和Hughes，1987；Wagner和Torgesen，1987)。对以英语为外语(EFL)的成人学习者的语音意识与阅读能力的相关性研究还十分缺乏。而另一方面，关于语音意识的哪些成分对阅读更具有预测性这一问题，近年来也引起了研究者的关注(Hulme，Hatcher,Nation,Brown,Adams和Stuart，2002)，但至今为止学术界对此的看法还没有达成一致。
　　 本研究以重庆市某一重点高校软件学院54名大一学生为研究对象，探讨了以下三个问题：(1)中国成人英语学习者在阅读中是否使用自下而上的阅读策略?(2)语音意识是否与阅读能力具有相关性?(3)首音-韵脚意识和音位意识相比，哪类语音意识对阅读能力的预测性更强?整个研究历时9天，分两个阶段完成。第一阶段为阅读策略问卷调查，以确定是否学生采用自下而上的阅读方式，然后对学生进行面对面的访谈，以作补充。第二阶段以Stanovich(1986)的语音缺陷假说为理论基础，涉及本研究的核心问题，即语音意识和阅读能力的相关性问题。第一阶段的研究目的是为第二阶段的研究提供依据。研究结果表明：(1)中国成人英语学习者阅读中使用了自下而上的阅读策略；(2)语音意识与阅读能力之间具有高相关性；(3)与首音-韵脚意识相比，音位意识对阅读能力具有更强的预测作用。研究结果(3)与Hulme等(2002)的研究结论一致。研究结果(2)不仅肯定了前人关于语音意识与阅读能力具有相关性的研究结论，而且证明了这一结论同样适用于中国的成人英语学习者。研究结果对鉴定成人学习者的阅读困难提供了新的方法与途径，强调了语音意识在阅读中的重要性，同时也对今后有关语音意识与阅读的关系，语音意识不同成分对阅读能力的预测作用，以及语音意识的培训方面的研究有一定的理论和实际参考价值。

目录

文摘

英文文摘

声明

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Purpose of the Study

1.2 Significance of the Study

1.3 Structure and Contents of the Thesis

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions and Theories about Reading and Phonological Awareness

2.1.1 Definition and Nature of Reading

2.1.2 Theories Concerning Second and Foreign Language Reading

2.1.3 Phonological Processing and Stanovich’s Phonological Deficit Hypothesis

2.1.4 Definition of Phonological Awareness

2.1.5 Measurements of Phonological Awareness

2.2 Theoretical Foundations for Phonological Awareness and Reading

2.2.1 Phonological Awareness as a Prerequisite of Learning to Read

2.2.2 Phonological Awareness as a Consequence of Learning to Read

2.2.3 Phonological Awareness as both the Causation and the Consequence of Learning to Read

2.3 Empirical Studies on the Correlation between Phonological Awareness and Reading

2.3.1 The Importance of Phonological Awareness in L1 reading

2.3.2 The Importance of Phonological Awareness in L2/FL Reading

2.4 Limitations of the Previous Studies

2.5 Summary

CHAPTER THREE PRESENT STUDY

3.1 Research Purpose and Questions

3.2 Operationalizations of Variables

3.2.1 Phonological Awareness

3.2.2 Reading Ability

3.3 Methods

3.3.1 The Research Site

3.3.2 Participants

3.3.3 Instruments

3.3.4 Scoring and Coding Criteria

3.3.5 Data Collection

3.3.6 Scoring and Coding

3.3.7 Methods of Data Analysis

3.4 Summary

CHAIPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Research Results

4.1.1 Do Adult Chinese EFL Learners Use Bottom-up Strategies in Reading?

4.1.2 Is There a Correlation between Phonological Awareness and Reading Comprehension in Adult Chinese EFL Learners?

4.1.3 Which Subcategory of Phonological Awareness Plays a Greater Predictive Role in the Reading of Adult Chinese EFL Learners, Onset-rime Awareness or Phoneme Awareness?

4.2 Discussions

4.2.1 Reading Strategies Used in the Reading of Adult Chinese EFL Learners

4.2.2 The Correlation between Phonological Awareness and Reading of Adult Chinese EFL learners

4.2.3 The Predictive Power of Onset-rime versus Phoneme Awareness of Reading Ability of Adult Chinese EFL Learners

4.3 Summary

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION

5.1 Summary of the Study

5.2 Implications of the Study

5.2.1 Practical Implications

5.2.2 Theoretical Implications

5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

REFERENCES

APPENDICES