Study on the English-Chinese dual language writing task for Singapore junior college H1 Chinese language students = 新加坡初級學院H1華文學生的英、華同題作文研究

Abstract

This is an action research study for English - Chinese Dual Language Writing Task for Singapore Junior College H1 Chinese Language students. The research is based on the output hypothesis framework and pays particular attention to three main areas: Perceiving, Hypothesis Testing, and Resource-Seeking Actions. The research will begin with an overview of the H1 Chinese Language programme in Singapore and the Singapore Junior College system, with the aim of improving Chinese language teaching for Singapore Junior College H1 Chinese language students’ learning and increasing their lexical proficiency. The literature review in Chapter 2 focuses on the Swain Output hypothesis, the William Jessica writing hypothesis and the Hays writing model, with the aim of transforming the output hypothesis into a "Academic Output" model that provides more help and support to second language learners. The study design and implementation are explained in detail in Chapter 3. The results and comments on the finding are discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 summarizes the findings and makes recommendations on how Chinese language teaching should be implemented in the classroom. The students’ work in this study has shown that weak second language learners are unable to "notice" their own errors in Chinese language use, check their hypotheses and modify their performance. These second language learners also lack the ability to seek resources to help them improve their language skills. Thus, second language learners need not only "more knowledgeable other" (MKO) to guide them in learning the second language, but also "more knowledgeable other" (MKO) to point out their mistakes. Since these second language learners have very limited knowledge of the second language. It is more advisable to provide them with reading materials and references to facilitate their learning. Recommendations were made such as building academic language skills that include writing style and background information; providing a conducive learning environment; making students' mistakes visible so that they become aware of their problems and try to improve them; using knowledge of the first language to enhance second language learning, etc. to help second language learners learn more effectively. In conclusion, the study proposed to establish a new output hypothesis that provides more help and support to the second language learner. This new system also provides an "error trigger" and an "error check" function that can hypothetically check the second language learner's speech output. Most importantly, this system provides rich resources for reference and enrichment. 本研究是一篇以輸出假說為基本理論框架的行動研究。旨在探索新加坡初級學院H1華文學生的華文語言輸出問題，並提出建議擴展輸出理論的“注意功能”、“假設檢驗功能”和“搜尋資源活動”這三大板塊 本研究報告分爲五個部分。第一個部分介紹新加坡初級學院制度以及H1華文課程的性質和面對挑戰。同時也闡明本論文的目的在於探索更好的教學方法，以輔助H1華文學生掌握華文語言的運用和詞彙應用能力。第二部分是文獻綜述，通過對斯溫（Swain）的輸出假說、威廉·傑西卡（William Jessica）的寫作假設以及黑爾斯（Hays）寫作模型的認識與重新組合，提議建設“學院‘輸出假說’”教學模型。主要在於提供更多的資助，以幫助華文二語學習者更好地學習華文。第三部分將詳細論述本文的研究設計以及研究計劃如何進行。第四部分則會分析與評論研究結果。第五部分為結論部分，報告這個研究的發現和提出一些對華文教學的建議。 從這個研究裏，研究員發現能力較遜的華文二語學習者並沒有能力“注意∕察覺”自己的用語錯誤，也沒有能力在輸出華文語言時進行“假設檢驗”並對自己的華文語言進行調整和修改。同時，由於對華文語言的知識有限，也無法知道要怎樣去“搜尋資源”以提升和改進自己的華文語言能力。 於是，認爲H1華文第二語言學習者除了很需要“懂得比較多的人”的幫助和指導外，也需要“懂得比較多的人”為他指出個人華文語言輸出上的用語錯誤。同時，由於對華文語言的認識有限， 研究員因而建議建立包含寫作格式和與討論的課題具有相關關係的“學院語文”建設；營構具有各種利好因素的H1 華文語言學習環境的課堂；把H1 華文學習者的語用錯誤變成“可視化”，以便學生能更直觀地知道和察覺自己的語用問題，並盡力嘗試去修正和改正錯誤；主張利用H1 華文語言學習者的第一語言——英語的優勢去改進自己第二語言——華語的學習；這些建議都是研究員認爲可能是有效的H1 華文語言教學建議。 概括而言，本研究所提議的“學院‘輸出假說’”教學模型，基本上都建 立在為H1 華文第二語言學習者提供更多幫助的基礎上去立論。這個教學模型， 既在為H1 華文第二語言學習者提供“注意∕察覺”語用錯誤服務，也幫助H1 華文第二語言學習者發展“假設檢驗”能力。除此之外，這個教學模型也主張提供更多的參考資料和增益資源，以輔助H1 華文第二語言學習者提升華文語言語用能力和知識。 H1 華文的第二語言學習者也無法自 己去搜尋資料以提升和改進自己的華文語言能力。因此，研究員建議華文語言 教師應該對 H1 華文第二語言學生提供閲讀材料和參考資料以輔助 H1 華文第二 語言學生更好地學習。