臺灣博碩士論文加值系統

研究者一直在努力從不同的理論角度探索與預測英語關係子句的難度等級，其中常涉及的假設包括名詞短語可及性層級（NPAH），感知困難假設（PDH），主詞受詞層級假設（SOHH）和平行功能假設（PFH），但研究結果常出現與這些假設相比不一致的可及性順序。此外，十二年國民基本教育課程綱要中，關係子句被視為國中的英語文基本語法結構之一。然而，以前的研究主要集中在教學效果和錯誤分析上。因此，為了全面了解初學者遇到的困難，本研究旨在通過三種測試：半自由圖片寫作、句子合併以及句子釋義，來調查台灣國中學生的英語關係子句習得。透過SPSS進行二因子重複試驗變異數分析與卡方檢定，本研究處理並分析156位就讀嘉義縣某私立中學九年級學生的測驗資料。研究發現：首先，較自然或自發產出的關係子句類型的頻率分佈，確實受到名詞短語可及性層級的影響。其次，產出能力比理解能力更容易受到名詞短語可及性層級和感知困難假設的影響。再者，這些假設未能預測理解能力，因而導致了較隨機的可及性順序。最後，研究發現不正確的關係代名詞、代詞保留、先行詞與關係子句不鄰接以及介係詞闕漏是常犯的錯誤。錯誤產生原因則包括母語轉移和能力不足等。

Researchers have been striving to explore and predict the difficulty hierarchy of English relative clauses from different theoretical perspectives, among which the noun phrase accessibility hierarchy (NPAH), the perceptual difficulty hierarchy (PDH), the subject-object hierarchy hypothesis (SOHH) and the parallel function hypothesis (PFH) are constantly referred to, yet inconsistent accessibility orders arise in comparison with the hypotheses. Moreover, a relative clause is officially regarded as one of the fundamental syntactic structures in junior high school according to MOE guidelines (2018); however, previous studies mainly focused on pedagogical effects and error analysis. Hence, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the difficulty that novice learners encounter, the present study intended to investigate Taiwanese junior high school students’ relative clause acquisition through three tests, a semi-free picture writing test, a sentence combination test, and a sentence interpretation test. The data from 156 Taiwanese ninth-graders in a private middle school in Chiayi County were processed and analyzed by two-way repeated-measures ANOVA and the chi-square test via SPSS. The findings confirmed the effects of the NPAH on the frequency distribution of relative clause types of rather natural-occurring or spontaneous production. Next, the productive ability was more susceptible to the influences of the NPAH and the PDH than the receptive ability. Then, the hypotheses failed to exert their effects on the receptive knowledge and resulted in a more random accessibility order. Last, incorrect relative pronoun, pronoun retention, non-adjacency and preposition drop were found to be frequently-committed errors, which were prone to occur due to first language transfer and incompetence, among others.

Table of Contents
List of Tables ……………………………………………………....................................... vii
List of Figures …………………………………………………………………................. x
List of Abbreviations …………………………………………………………………….. xi
Chapter One Introduction ……………………………………......................................... 1
1.1 Background and Motivation of the Study ……………………………………….. 1
1.2 Purpose of the Study …………………………………………………………….. 2
1.3 Significance of the Study ………………………………………………………... 3
1.4 Definitions of Terms …………………………………………………………….. 4
1.5 Outline of the Study ……………………………………………………………… 8
Chapter Two Literature Review ……………………………………............................... 9
2.1 General Description of English Relative Clauses ……………………………….. 9
2.1.1 Definition ……………………………………………….............................. 9
2.1.2 English Relative Clause Types ………………………………….................. 12
2.1.3 Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Relative Clauses …………………………... 13
2.2 Hypotheses for English Relativization Difficulty Hierarchy ………….................. 15
2.2.1 Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH) ………................................. 15
2.2.2 Perceptual Difficulty Hypothesis (PDH) ………………………………….. 18
2.2.3 Subject-Object Hierarchy Hypothesis (SOHH) …………………………… 18
2.2.4 Parallel Function Hypothesis (PFH) ……………………………................. 20
2.2.5 Summary of the Four Hypotheses on the Order of Difficulty of Relative Clauses …………………………………………………………………….. 20
2.3 Previous Empirical Studies in Examining the Difficulty Order of English Relative Clauses ……………………………………………………................................... 21
2.3.1 Recent Studies of the Order of Difficulty of English RC Acquisition ……. 21
2.3.2 Recent Studies of the Order of Difficulty of English RC Acquisition in Taiwan EFL Context ……………………………………………………………….. 33
2.3.3 Summary …………………………………………………………………... 39
Chapter Three Methodology ………………………………………................................. 44
3.1 Participants ……………………………………………………………................. 44
3.2 Theoretical Background of the Measuring Instruments ………………................. 45
3.3 Test Design and Theoretical Constructs ………………………………................. 46
3.4 Measuring Instruments ……………………………………………....................... 49
3.4.1 Semi-free Picture Writing Test …………………………………................. 49
3.4.2 Sentence Combination Test ……………………………………………….. 50
3.4.3 Sentence Interpretation Test ………………………………………………. 51
3.5 Procedures ……………………………………………………………………….. 51
3.5.1 Data Collection …………………………………………………................. 51
3.5.2 Scoring …………………………………………………………………….. 52
3.5.3 Pilot Study …………………………………………………………………. 54
3.6 Data Analyses ……………………………………………………………………. 58
Chapter Four Results and Discussion ………………………………………………….. 60
4.1 Results …………………………………………………………………………… 60
4.1.1 Semi-free Picture Writing Test …………………………………................. 60
4.1.2 Sentence Combination Test ……………………………………………….. 63
4.1.3 Sentence Interpretation Test ………………………………………………. 69
4.1.4 Frequently-committed Errors in the Sentence Combination Test ................. 77
4.1.5 Summary …………………………………………………………………... 80
4.2 Discussion ……………………………………………………………………….. 84
4.2.1 Relative Clause Adoption in the Semi-free Picture Writing Test ................. 84
4.2.1.1 Effects of the NPAH (2007) on the Frequency Distribution of RC Types ……………………………………………………………… 84
4.2.1.2 Infrequent Types of RCs ………………………………………….. 85
4.2.1.3 Effects of the SOHH and the PFH on the Frequency Distribution of RC Types ………………………………………………………….. 85
4.2.2 Performance in the Controlled Tests ……………………………………… 86
4.2.2.1 Effects of the NPAH (2007) / PDH / SOHH / PFH on the Accuracy Order in the Sentence Combination Test …………………………. 86
4.2.2.2 Effects of the NPAH (2007) / PDH / SOHH / PFH on the Accuracy Order in the Sentence Interpretation Test ........................................ 88
4.2.2.3 Difficult Types of RCs in the Controlled Tests …………………... 90
4.2.2.4 Frequently-committed Errors in the Sentence Combination Test … 91
4.2.3 Summary …………………………………………………………………... 93
Chapter Five Conclusion ………………………………………………………………... 96
5.1 Summary of the Present Study …………………………………………………... 96
5.2 Pedagogical Implications …………………………………………........................ 98
5.3 Limitations of the Present Study and Recommendations for Future Research ……………………………………………………………….................. 100
References ………………………………………………………………………………… 103
Appendix A English Relative Clause Acquisition Test (pilot study version) ………… 109
Appendix B English Relative Clause Acquisition Test (revised version) …………….. 114
Appendix C Symmetric Measures ……………………………………………................. 119

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