摘要
This study examines whether and how cues focusing enhances Chinese-speaking English learners’engagement in comparison,thereby facilitating their acquisition of English articles within xu-based comparative continuation writing tasks.Fifty English majors from a Chinese university were randomly assigned to three groups and each group was required to complete a comparative continuation task with one of three conditions:paired cues(cues presented in pairs),randomized cues(cues presented in random order),or implicit cues(no explicit cues provided).All participants undertook pretests,posttests,and delayed tests on English article knowledge,and ten of them volunteered to take follow-up interviews.The results indicate that:1)paired cues were more effective than randomized or implicit cues in promoting the acquisition of English articles;and 2)learners in the paired cues condition produced more target-like article usage in their continuation writings compared to those in the other two conditions.The effectiveness of paired cues is attributed to an enhanced contrast effect,which prompts learners to identify similarities and differences between cues within each pair,relates cue explanations and examples with actual article usage in the reading text,and reflects upon and compares their own article productions against those in the provided reading text.The study concludes that the process of learning through continuation is fundamentally supported by learners’capacity for comparison,reinforcing its role as a core element of xu-competence.
本研究考察对比续写任务中,线索聚焦对中国英语学习者对比行为及英语冠词习得的影响。50名英语专业学生随机分为三组,分别在配对线索、乱序线索和隐性线索条件下完成对比续写任务,并接受英语冠词前测、后测和延时后测。其中10名被试自愿参与事后访谈。结果发现:1)相比于乱序线索和隐性线索,配对线索更能促进英语冠词习得;2)在配对线索条件下,被试续作中产出了更多符合使用规则的冠词。配对线索的促学优势在于其激发了更强的对比效应,能促使被试对比线索异同,对比线索说明及示例与阅读文本中的冠词使用实例,并对比自身产出的冠词与冠词使用实例间的差距。研究证实了对比在以续促学过程中的重要价值,为续能核心要素的界定提供了依据。
基金
国家社科基金一般项目“基于续论的外语教学法理论构建与应用研究”(20BYY106)的阶段性成果。
