科學課文中零代詞對學生閱讀理解的影響

Abstract

本研究的主要目的是探討現行七年級「自然與生活科技教科書中含有零代詞(zero pronoun)對於學生閱讀理解的影響，並找出學生閱讀含零代詞課文時，影響學生判斷或尋找零代詞所指為何的因素。研究對象為臺北市某國民小學六年級的學生共69位，並於實驗的過程中，將受測學生分別依其「閱讀理解能力」、「先備知識」、與「日常零代詞用語閱讀理解能力」的高低不同而分組，並進行研究者從教科書中擷取出來的「科學課文中的零代詞測驗」。 研究有下列幾點的發現： 1.當學生在閱讀課文中含有零代詞的課文時，即使文章的內容完全相同，可是學生尋找到的零代詞所指對象卻多半並不相同，因此會讓學生衍生出許多不相同的解釋，並對課文內容產生不同的理解； 2.學生不同的「能力」高低也確實會影響學生對「科學課文中的零代詞閱讀理解」，也就是說高能力的學生在閱讀含有零代詞的科學課文時，其理解能力會比低能力的學生好； 3影響學生閱讀含零代詞的科學課文的學生能力依次為「日常零代詞用語閱讀能力」影響最大，其次為「閱讀能力高低」，再其次為「先備知識高低」； 4.而學生閱讀含零代詞課文時，影響判斷零代詞所指對象的因素，可分為四類： (1)距離(Distance) ：零代詞與其所指的對象在課文中提到的先後間隔距離；(2)競爭度(Competition)：零代詞前後可競爭作為其所指對象的詞語數量；(3)顯著性 (Saliency) ：指該段落中的競爭詞語若與該段落的話題越相符，則顯著性越高，作為零代詞的所指對象的可能性也越大；(4)一致性(Unity)：即零代詞與其所指對象是否屬於同一心理框架、觀點、部分或段落。這四個成分可以說幾乎是不論於口語中使用零代詞或閱讀零代詞文本時所共通的影響因素。 5.學生為了順利解答於課文中所看到的零代詞會運用下列四種策略： (1)先備知識：即利用搜尋記憶中對句子或語彙熟悉的部分，來彌補零代詞訊息產生的缺漏；(2)顯著性：多數的學生會判斷那些詞彙與當前的話題最為相符，亦即為顯著性越高；(3)詞彙或句子的線索：利用動詞、形容形、副詞等詞語的線索，或對照前後句子的語意，將使找出被零代詞的所指對象更為容易；(4)標點符號：利用標點符號的特性來將段落的句子作分隔，找出合適的語意。學生能使用這四種策略，有效幫助從科學課文中順利地尋回零代詞的所指對象，幫助學生理解課文內容。

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of zero pronouns on seventh graders’ reading comprehension in natural science and living technology text books. It also tried to find out the factors that influence students’ decision on choosing or looking back referents in texts with zero pronouns. The study subjects were 69 sixth graders in an elementary school in Taipei. In the experiment, they were divided into groups based on their levels of “reading comprehension”, “prior knowledge”, “daily zero pronoun reading comprehension” and were tested “the zero pronoun in science texts exam” chosen from text books by the researcher.

Major findings were as follows: 1. Even if the contents were identical, students picked different referents when reading the texts with zero pronouns. It made students have diverse explanations and understanding to the texts. 2. The difference between students’ ability influenced their reading comprehension to zero pronouns in science text books. More capable students had better understanding to the science text books than that of less capable students. 3. The most influential element that affected students’ reading comprehension to zero pronouns in science text books was “daily reading comprehension to zero pronouns”. The second one was “reading comprehension”, and the third one was “prior knowledge”. 4. The factors that influenced students’ choice of referents in a text with zero pronouns could be divided into four categories: (1) Distance: the distance between a zero pronoun and its referent in a text. (2) Competition: number of competitors between a zero pronoun and its referent. (3) Saliency: the more coherent between competitors and the topic of the paragraphs is, the more salient the zero pronouns and its referent is. (4) Unity: whether a zero pronouns and its referent belongs to a same frame, a viewpoint or a paragraph. The four elements are the common impact factors that influence students’ verbal usage of zero pronouns or reading with zero pronouns in text books. 5. Students applied the following four strategies in order to solve the problems of reading with zero pronouns in a text book. (1) Prior knowledge: students searched the familiar parts of the sentences or lexicons in their memories to fill the blank that zero pronouns made. (2) Saliency: Most students could recognize which lexicons fit the topic best. The more coherent between the zero pronoun and the topic was, the more salient the referent was. (3) The clues in lexicons and sentences: When students used clues brought by verbs, adjectives and verbs, or compared pre- and post- sentences, it would be easier to find out the referent to its zero pronoun. (4) Punctuation: Use the characteristics of the punctuation to separate the sentences in a paragraph to find out the proper semantics. The four strategies were effective in helping students to look back for referents to their zero pronouns, and helped students to understand the text better.