經典閱讀課程對大學生經典閱讀投入影響之研究

Abstract

經典被視為保存、傳承人類文化的重要方式之一。所謂經典，就是在文化或對人類思想有重大貢獻、且能經得起時代與眾人的檢視與考驗的作品，能成為人生的指引，自古以來就是東、西方知識份子養成教育不可缺少的一環。為了回應大學教育過於專科化的弊病，美國在二十世紀興起現代型的經典教育，台灣也開設許多經典閱讀課程。

為了了解經典閱讀課程對大學生的影響，本研究以台灣公、私立大學各十所的大學生為對象，從經典閱讀投入的三個構面－－閱讀行為、閱讀動機與閱讀策略，進行問卷調查。探討瞭解大學生閱讀經典的情形，並分析有修過經典閱讀課程與沒修過課的學生在經典閱讀投入上是否有差異。

調查對象為181名大學生，有修過經典閱讀課程的為81人，沒修過的有100人。結果發現，大學生閱讀經典的頻率與時間都偏低。此外是否修過課在閱讀動機的「態度」、「好奇心」以及「重要性」面向有差異，有修過課的學生會樂於閱讀經典，而不只是只當成一項閱讀任務。在閱讀投入的三個構面中，是否修課造成的差異在閱讀策略的表現最為明顯。然而在最高閱讀層次的策略使用上，是否修課並未造成差異，推測這樣的閱讀技巧可能需要更有系統的課程來訓練學生。

本研究發現整體的閱讀投入，是否有修課會造成差異，即是有修課與沒修課的學生在閱讀經典投入的總體表現上有差異，有修過課的學生可能在經典閱讀的表現上比沒修過課的學生好。經典閱讀課程也可視為幫助學生克服閱讀經典障礙的方法之一，並且為未來作準備。Classics are works that contributed greatly to the culture or human thinking, and could be tested over time, also could be human life’s guide. Reading classics was a necessary part of the elite cultivation no matter in ancient eastern or western societies. In order to solve the negative influences of inclination to professionalism of higher education, the U.S. developed the modern classics education in 20th century. Taiwan now also has many reading classics courses.

To understand the influences of reading classics courses to undergraduates, this study distributed a reading engagement questionnaire to 181 undergraduates from ten Taiwan public and ten private universities. About the 181 undergraduates, 81 are taking or has taken reading classics courses, while the others have never taken such courses. The reading engagement questionnaire has three facets, including reading behavior, reading motivation and reading strategies. The study aims to find out the classics reading engagement situation of undergraduates, and discover whether if reading classics courses made a difference in undergraduate performances.

Through the statistical analyzes, the conclusions were summarized below: First, the reading classics frequency and time which belong to reading behavior facet are both low. Moreover, the attitudes, curiosity and importance which belong to reading motivation facets make a difference between undergraduates who take reading classics courses and who don’t take. Students who take reading classics courses would take reading classics as a pleasure rather than merely finish a reading assignment. Among the three facets of reading engagement, reading strategies is the most significant facet. Undergraduates who take reading classics courses use more reading strategies than those who don’t take such courses. However, reading classics courses don’t make students’ performance different in the top level of reading strategies. The reason may be the students need more systematic courses training to master the reading strategy.

The study finds out that reading classics courses make students different in the overall reading engagement performances. That means students who take reading classics courses may have better reading classics performances than those who don’t take such courses. Reading classics course are also regarded as a way to help students overcome the barriers of reading classics, and also a preparation for future.