漢語沒有像英文嚴格的時態標記，因此，多數中國學生開始學英文時會有動詞過去式標記上的困難，在表達英語過去時間概念時，中國學生特別依賴時間狀語。為了了解中國學生表達過去時間概念時，時間狀語所扮演的角色，本文藉由觀察高中學生為期一年的作文，探討中國學生時間狀語的使用位置、時間狀語及動詞過去式標記之間的關係、中國學生過去式動詞標記上的困難。藉由以上三個方向的探索，可以更了解學生使用的時間狀語和過去式動詞的標記。

研究結果顯示，中國學生在英文作文中，時間狀語的使用頻率明顯偏高，且使用頻率有隨時間逐漸增高的趨勢，而時間狀語出現的位置，因英語程度不同有別，程度較高的同學，時間狀語出現在句首及句尾的比例相近，無明顯偏好；但是程度偏低的同學，則普遍偏好將時間狀語置於句首，類似漢語時間狀語出現的位置。

時間狀語同時也影響著學生標記過去式動詞的比率，倘若一個限定動詞在同個句子中有對應的時間狀語，則這個限定動詞較有可能標記為過去時態，這樣的現象又以英語程度較低的同學最為明顯。

在動詞過去式標記上，本文發現有過半的同學曾將was/were當成過去式動詞標記，置於限定動詞之前；此外，語料中也發現，有幾位同學會將用過去進行式及過去被動式誤用在過去簡單式之中，這樣的現象，有可能是因為學生認為有was/were即為過去式的標記所致。

透過本文的研究可看出時間狀語對於中國學生標記英語過去時間概念上的重要性，也可看出語言遷移(language transfer)在語言習得中的影響力，期許本文的發現能在英語習得及教學上有所助益。

Without tense marker in Mandarin Chinese, most Chinese EFL learners have difficulties in past tense marking in the beginning of learning English. Before marking past tense steadily, Chinese EFL learners tend to depend mainly on temporal adverbials in expressing past time. Temporal adverbials seem to play important roles during the process of acquiring tense marking. The present study tries to observe how Chinese learners use temporal adverbials to express past time and what kinds of difficulties learners have in past tense marking. Furthermore, we attempt to investigate the relation between tense marking and temporal adverbials.
By analyzing learners’ composition, we found that Chinese EFL learners have high frequency in using temporal. Most learners are prone to put temporal adverbials in sentence-initial position except for learners with higher proficiency. Besides, learners are more likely to mark past tense co-occurring with temporal adverbials. Morphologically, Chinese EFL learners seem to regard was/were as a past-tense marker and put was/were in front of finite verbs ungrammatically. These findings manifest the importance of temporal adverbials for Chinese EFL learners in expressing past time and provide potential explanations for tense errors.

第一章 緒論…………………………………………………1
第一節 研究動機 …………………………………………………1
第二節 研究方向 …………………………………………………2
第三節 預期目標 …………………………………………………3
第四節 本文結構 …………………………………………………4

第二章 文獻探討 …………………………………………5
第一節 中文和英文表達過去時間觀念之比較…………………5
第二節 與時間概念相關之語言習得研究 ………………………9
第三節 影響過去式動詞標記之因素……………………………13
第四節 本章小結…………………………………………………14

第三章 研究方法 ………………………………………16
第一節 研究問題 ………………………………………………16
第二節 研究對象 ………………………………………………17
第三節 語料蒐集方法 …………………………………………19
第四節 分析方法 ………………………………………………20

第四章 研究發現與討論 ………………………………26
第一節 時間狀語使用頻率分析………………………………26
第二節 動詞適當標記比率與時間狀語使用之關係…………29
第三節 時間狀語對動詞過去式標記之影響 ………………36
第四節 時間狀語所出現的位置 ……………………………41
第五節 時間狀語使用類型分析 ……………………………47
第六節 動詞標記分析 ………………………………………49

第五章 結論與建議 ……………………………………56
第一節 主要發現 ……………………………………………56
第二節 研究限制及檢討 ……………………………………59
第三節 研究建議與運用 ……………………………………59

參考書目 …………………………………………………61

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