中国英语专业大学生四、八级作文词汇丰富性实证研究

论文摘要

词汇的丰富性是用来测量说话者或作者词汇运用的广度的。近年来,引起了二语习得研究者的关注。Nation (1995)认为,如果不考虑其他因素,词汇运用的好,自然是一篇好作文。Engber(1995)的研究也证实了词汇丰富性及正确率与作文质量有一定的相关性。本研究从词汇多样性、词汇复杂性、词汇错误等三个维度,探索中国英语专业大学生作文中词汇丰富性的发展趋势。语料选自上海理工大学、复旦大学、上海师范大学和上海外国语大学的100名英语专业大学生的2003年的四级、2005年的八级考试作文卷200份。采用了Lexical Tutor Website(http://132.208.224.131)提供的词汇分析工具Vocabprofile来分析词汇多样性及词汇复杂性指标上的变化情况,对词汇错误的考查,首先对语料中的错误进行了赋码,然后运用Wordsmith中的Concordance软件检索各类错误的频率。最后运用SPSS统计软件对所得数据进行了统计、分析。研究结果发现,随着英语学习的深入,英语水平的提高,作文中词汇的多样性和复杂性都呈线性上升的趋势,而词汇错误,无论是在类型上还是在数量上都在明显增加,他们写的越长,词汇错误出现的频率就越高。其中,错误频率最高的是冠词,在动词的运用上则有明显的好转。学院之间的比较发现,复旦大学的学生四级作文质量最高,而八级作文的词汇丰富性则出现了退步,尤其在词汇的多样性方面。其它三个院校的学生在词汇多样性上都不同程度地有进步体现。本文就这些现象进行了分析,探究了造成这些现象的原因,并提出了一些教与学的建议,指出了本研究的不足,对将来的研究提出了设想。

论文目录

• Acknowledgements
• Abstract
• 摘要
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• 1.1 Significance and purpose
• 1.2 Theoretical basis
• 1.3 Research questions
• 1.4 Organization
• Chapter 2 Literature Review
• 2.1 Lexical diversity （richness） in writings
• 2.1.1 Lexical richness and quality of writing
• 2.1.2 Lexical features of Chinese learners’writing
• 2.1.3 Lexical diversity in first and second language acquisition
• 2.2 Lexical diversity measures
• 2.2.1 Lexical variation measure
• 2.2.2 Lexical sophistication measure
• 2.2.3 Lexical error dimension
• 2.3 Holistic ratings
• 2.4 Summary
• Chapter 3 Methodology
• 3.1 Samples
• 3.2 Data analysis
• 3.3 Hypotheses and research questions
• Chapter 4 Results
• 4.1 Results in three dimensions of lexical diversity
• 4.1.1 Results of lexical variation
• 4.1.2 Results of lexical sophistication
• 4.1.3 Results of lexical error
• 4.1.4 Summary
• 4.2 Results of the writing quality
• 4.3 Intercorrelations
• 4.3.1 The relationship between lexical variation and lexical sophistication
• 4.3.2 The relationship between lexical variation and lexical error
• 4.3.3 The relationship between lexical sophistication and lexical error
• 4.3.4 Summary
• 4.4 Lexical diversity and writing quality
• 4.4.1 The relationship between lexical variation and writing quality
• 4.4.2 The relationship between lexical sophistication and writing quality
• 4.4.3 The relationship between lexical error and writing quality
• 4.4.4 Summary
• Chapter 5 Discussion
• 5.1 Discussion of the results of lexical diversity in TEM writings
• 5.1.1 Discussion of the results of lexical variation
• 5.1.2 Discussion of the results of lexical sophistication
• 5.1.3 Discussion of the results of lexical error
• 5.1.4 Summary
• 5.2 Discussion of the relationship between lexical diversity and writing quality
• 5.3 Summary
• Chapter 6 Conclusion
• 6.1 Major findings
• 6.2 Implications
• 6.3 Limitations and suggestions
• 6.3.1 Limitations of the present study
• 6.3.2 Suggestions for future research
• Bibliography
• Appendix I Some Examples of the Error Marking Scheme
• Appendix II The Tagging Scheme for the Learner Corpus
• Appendix Ⅲ Requirements of TEM4–03 and TEM8–05 Compositions
• Appendix Ⅳ Marking Scheme for TEM4 and TEM8 composition
• Appendix ⅤExample Essays
• Appendix VI Wordlists