臺灣博碩士論文加值系統

中文摘要
本研究旨在探討台灣高中生在英文敘述文中如何處理副詞子句之定景訊息。我們假設定景觀念是可以經由教導而學會的，對於受試者整體寫作之能力，以及使用副詞子句，特別是不同種類之副詞子句的教學效果加以探討。
本研究是以台中縣長億高中四個高三班級的學生為對象，其中兩個由研究者擔任英文老師的班級組成實驗組，其他由另一位老師教授英文的兩個班級組成控制組，兩組都以回想電影情節並寫成文章成為前測，實驗組並接受為期六週的副詞教學，之後兩組再接受後測，以比較其教學效果。
研究結果顯示，實驗組在整體作文能力和定景副詞子句都有進步；另外，較優之學生學習效果遠超過其他學生。本研究亦發現，適當運用副詞子句有助於文章之連貫性(coherence)。研究報告最後提出有助學生運用副詞子句之定景訊息的一些活動，以供參考。

Abstract
This present study examines how Taiwanese senior high school students manipulate the grounding information of adverbial clauses in their English narrative compositions. With the hypothesis that the notion of grounding can be taught, but is received rare concern in Taiwan, we conducted the current experiment. The effect of treatment instruction on overall writing proficiency, the use of overall adverbial clauses, and the use of adverbial clauses in different categories were examined.
Four third grade classes of Chang-Yi Senior High School (CYSHS) in Taichung, Taiwan, totaling 157 students, participated in the study. Two of the classes with the researcher as the English teacher formed the experimental group. The other two classes with another English teacher constituted the control group. Students in each group were further assigned to three proficiency levels based on their performance on the pretest concerning the overall writing proficiency. Both of the two research groups were asked to recall the plot of a film and put it in the written form as the pretest. The experimental group successively received a six-week treatment instruction right after the pretest. A posttest concerning the recalling of another film was then administrated to determine and compare the effect of the treatment on the improvement of overall writing qualities and grounding in adverbial clauses, particularly in temporal, causal, and concessive categories. The subordinators employed by the subjects were also under exploration.
All the collected data were specifically given a quantitative analysis first, computing the overall frequency of the accurate number of adverbial clauses based on the criteria that preposed adverbial clauses carry given information and postposed adverbial clauses bear new information. Then two of these subjects from each proficiency level in the experimental group were randomly selected to compare their different performances before and after the treatment instruction. A total number of twelve samples were selected for a qualitative analysis. Errors involving the ill-grounded adverbial clauses were signaled out for discussion and possible revisions were suggested.
The results indicate that the experimental group improved in overall writing proficiency and grounding adverbial clauses. An in-depth exploration on the effect of instruction on different categories of adverbial clauses showed that the subjects benefited a lot in temporal, causal and concessive clauses. On the other hand, in terms of the performance of students at different proficiency levels in the experimental group, the HI level significantly outperformed the LOW level in the use of overall adverbial clauses and in temporal and causal clauses as well. The findings also indicate that the success in grounding adverbial clauses contributes to the coherence of the overall writing quality. The study also suggests some activities in helping foster the students the abilities in manipulating the grounding information in adverbial clauses.

Table of Contents
Page
Abstract (Chinese)………………………………………………………………….i
Abstract (English)……………………………………………….…………………ii
Acknowledgement………………………………………………………..………..iv
Table of Contents………………………………………………………………..v
List of Tables…………………………………………………………………….viii
List of Diagrams……………………..…………………………………………….x
Chapters
Chapter One Introduction…………………………………………………………1
1.1 Background and Motivation………………………………………..…………..1
1.2 Definitions of terms…………………………………………………………….3
1.2.1 Given/new information……………………………………………………3
1.2.2 Foregrounding/backgrounding……………………………………………3
1.2.3 Preposed/postposed adverbial clauses……………………………………4
1.2.4 Types of adverbial clauses…………………………………………………4
1.3 Organization of the present study………………………………………………5
Chapter Two Literature Review……………………………………………………6
2.1 Narrative discourse……………………………………………………………..6
2.1.1 Characteristics of narrative……………………………………………..7
2.2 Information structure in narrative……………………………………………10
2.2.1 Given and new information……….………………………………….11
2.2.2 Word order and information status…………………………………….17
2.2.3 Full NP vs. pronouns and definite articles vs. indefinite articles…………18
2.3 Grounding in narrative……………………………………………………….20
2.3.1 Properties of foregrounding……………………………………………...21
2.3.2 Properties of backgrounding……………………………………………..21
2.3.3 Main VS subordinate clauses as foregrounding-backgrounding manifestation…………………………………………………………….24
2.3.4 Adverbial clauses as backgrounding………………………………….25
2.3.5 Relative clauses as backgrounding……………………………………27
2.4 Information status of adverbial clauses and relative clauses………..……28
2.4.1 Preposed adverbial clauses carry old information………………..29
2.4.2 Postposed adverbial clauses carry new information…………..…………31
2.4.3 Relative clauses mainly carry new information………………………….32
2.5 Studies of grounding in Taiwan………………………………………………33
2.6 Summary………………………………………………………………………35
Chapter Three Methodology…………………………………………...…………37
3.1 Pilot study…………………………………………………………………….38
3.2 Main Study……………………………………………………………………40
3.3 Participants……………………………………………………………………40
3.3.1 The experimental group………………………………………………….41
3.3.2 The control group………………………………………………………...41
3.3.3 Proficiency levels of the participants…………………………………….42
3.4 Instruments…………………………………………………………………….43
3.4.1 Materials in pretest and posttest on recalling a story……………………44
3.4.1.1 Film selection and contents…………………………………………44
3.4.1.2 Film manipulation…………………………………………………..45
3.4.2 Film scripts and related materials on the plot of the films………………..45
3.4.3 Materials for instruction on grounding in adverbial clauses and relative clauses……………………………………………………………………46
3.4.3.1 Materials manipulation……………………………………………..46
3.5 Treatment…………………………………………………………………….47
3.6 Theoretical framework and criteria of analysis……………………………...51
3.7 Scoring……………………………………………………………………….53
3.7.1 Accurate use of adverbial clauses……………………………………….53
3.7.2 Overall writing quality and grouping of participants……………………53
3.8 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………54
Chapter Four Results and Discussion…………………………………………….55
4.1 The effects of the treatment instruction on the overall writing scores………..55
4.2 The effects of the treatment instruction on information grounding in adverbial
clauses…………………………………………………………………………59
4.2.1 Comparison between the experimental group and the control group in overall adverbial clauses…………………………………………………..59
4.2.2 Comparison between the experimental group and the control group in temporal clauses…………………………………………………………...64
4.2.3 Comparison between the experimental group and the control group in causal clauses……………………………………………………………..69
4.2.4 Comparison between the experimental group and the control group in concessive clauses…………………………………………………………73
4.3 Subordinators used by the participants………………………………………..77
4.3.1 Subordinators employed in the pretest……………………………….….78
4.3.2 Subordinators employed in the posttest……………………………….…80
4.4 Summary of the findings………………………………………………………82
Chapter Five Analyses on Students’ Writing Samples……..…………...……….84
5.1 Comparison on writing samples at the HI level in the experimental group…..84
5.1.1 The samples of Subject One in the pretest and the posttest…………….85
5.1.2 The samples of Subject Two in the pretest and the posttest…………….91
5.1.3 Summarizing findings in the samples at HI level………………………95
5.2 Comparison on writing samples at the MID level in the experimental group..96
5.2.1 The samples of Subject Three in the pretest and the posttest………….96
5.2.2 The samples of Subject Four in the pretest and the posttest…………..100
5.2.3 Summarizing findings in the samples at MID level……………………104
5.3 Comparison on writing samples at the LOW level in the experimental group104
5.3.1 The samples of Subject Five in the pretest and the posttest…………….104
5.3.2 The samples of Subject Six in the pretest and the posttest………………107
5.3.3 Summarizing findings in the samples at LOW level…………………….110
5.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………..110
Chapter Six Conclusion…………………………………………………………112
6.1 Summary of the major findings……………………………………………..113
6.2 Pedagogical implications………………………………………………..…..115
6.3 Limitation of the study………………………………………………………116
6.3.1 Subjects……………………………………………………………….116
6.3.2. Period of treatment………………………………..……………………117
6.3.3 Contents of the compositions…………………………………………..117
6.3.4 The analytical methods in statistics means……………………….……118
6.4 Suggestions for further research………………..…………………………….118
References………………………………………………………………………120
Appendix A……………………………………………………………………..127
Appendix B……………………………………………………………………..131
Appendix C……………………………………………………………………...133
Appendix D………………………………………………………………………135
Appendix E………………………………………………………………….……137
Appendix F…….……..…………………………………………………………..138

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