【作者】 孙炬；

【导师】 王守元； 张德禄；

【作者基本信息】 山东大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2007， 博士

【摘要】 本篇论文以初中、高中、大学的英语学习者为研究群体，考察他们在中介语书面叙事语篇里时序性的表达运用情况。本研究主要以Kruistum(2006)，Masuda(2002)和Meyerson(1997)的分类及叙事框架为理论依据，将外语学习者叙事文本的时序结构分为微观层次、中间层次和宏观层次，探讨他们在英汉文本中时序表达的横向发展特征，并且采用多学科的，定性与定量相结合的研究方法，着重全面考察英语作为外语学习者时序性语言表达和外语叙事能力的关系，同时也涉及到母语汉语叙事语篇能力对英语叙事写作的直接和间接影响。根据以往研究存在的问题和文献研究的结果，在理论框架上，本研究力求突破时序性原有较为狭窄的时体特征习得及其定义，综合叙事学、心理认知和二语写作多领域的新视角来分析时序性，提出一个多层面的中介语书面叙事语篇的时序结构，从而在深层次上解读中国英语学习者写作过程中所体现的文化、语言及语篇行为。在研究方法上，采用定量研究与定性研究相结合的方法。在文本分析研究中，来自济南三所学校的90名学生于2006年9月，参与了为期三周的，在课堂环境中完成以无字图画为诱导材料的英汉写作任务。不同于前人的是，定量分析还开创性地将较为先进的Coh-Metrix软件应用分析学生英语文本，并且发现意图性、因果性、逻辑性及时序衔接等指标对叙事语篇时序性和叙事性的重要影响。而以问卷调查为主的定性描述旨在获得中国英语学习者叙事写作经历的背景信息，以期更好地解释学习者对与时序内容相关的叙事功能、内容和结构的表征并且能够进一步支持定量研究中的一系列数据结果。研究发现，中国英语学习者在叙事语篇的微观、中间和宏观时间结构方面遇到不同程度的困难。与英语本族语者总的相比，中国外语学习者的英语文本语言表达储备量小，缺乏变化。就微观层次的命题单位而言，大多数外语学习者能够选择适当的表达过去时间命题的时体形式，大致分清主要事件和故事背景，并且偶尔运用时态变化已达到特殊的叙事效果。而初中组学生文本中所出现的大量时体错误正是他们较低的英语水平和不成熟的语言运用的表现，但是这并未影响其叙事内容的丰富性。在修辞单位方面，学习者逐步能够意识到命题之间关系的重要性，通常以序列的方式将其连接起来。但在多数情况下，他们不能有效地表达出命题之间的因果性或同时性，并且往往忽视其间的修辞关系，例如背景关系、详述关系、结果关系等等，尽管这些修辞关系在一定程度上蕴含了时间关系。另外，三组受试学习者还缺乏对于连接词语篇功能的认识，因为他们大多采用增添式连接词“and”来确保叙事的顺畅。另外，三组学习者在汉语文本中使用因果连词的数量略高于在英语文本中的使用。在时间结构的中间层面，英汉文本呈现出较为一致的情节叙事模式，受试学习者一般使用句首时间和地点状语来表示时间转换，而且运用事件句、静态句、评价句和人物引语分别来达到推进故事的时间进程，提供背景信息以及增强叙事效果的目的。同时，通过对外语学习者写作文本的分析说明，他们语篇中确实存在情节不连贯的现象，并且由于没能遵循叙事时间链的规范而导致叙事时间的阻断。而在宏观叙事连贯层面上，本研究采用Coh-Metrix软件综观受试学习者英语叙事文本的因果、空间关系，意图性及时间连接词的使用情况。就叙事文本的因果结构而言，初中组学生文本含有较少的与叙事顺序相关的因果信息，而他们在Coh-Metrix软件中所获得的可读性高分源于其它重要指标，例如：句间概念相似性，意图性表达以及连词的使用。与初中组和高中组学生相比，尽管大学生们的文本较长，但他们并没有提供很多情节间的因果关系，由于认知方面的局限，他们在将各个事件组成一个具有因果关联的网络方面同样面临着困难。结果还表明，初中组学生的总体表现略强于其他两组，这可归因于初中学生大量接触及练习记叙文，而在这一层次上母语的迁移也无疑有助于学习者英语语篇时序特征的表征。与学习者的英语文本相比，汉语中的时间表达资源及其表达方式的不同配置有别于英语。就显性标记而言，学生们通常借助于体形式以及时间副词来建立过去时间参照点。若以隐性的方式来表达，学生们主要依赖语篇语境并且依靠自然叙述顺序采用零标记形式。尽管汉语文本显示出时序表达的丰富性和复杂性，但受试学习者将叙事语篇组织成为以目标为导向的，具有层级性的时间结构的能力还有待发展和完善。另外，研究结果也表明中国外语学习者叙事能力的发展离不开文化—教育环境的影响。本研究归纳认为中国外语学习者中介语书面叙事语篇时序性的多样化组成特征是受以下几个因素的共同作用的，(1)叙事结构，图形-背景区分；(2)情景模型表征；(3)主题焦点和(4)时间结构各层面的侧重。本研究结果既具有较强的理论价值，又具有实践价值。从理论上讲，文中建立的模式能够通过对时序性表达的功能分析更好地了解中介语叙事语篇的结构特征，特别是学习者如何表达时序概念；较为复杂的时间意义如何一步步发展；叙事语篇的时间进展是怎样的；多种时序语言表达手段在外语发展的不同阶段如何协同作用等等。而这种对二语时间语义的习得探究以及它在中介语语篇中的运用有助于了解外语学习者潜在的概念系统。总的来说，本文所包含的重要理论构念是，叙事语篇时序性的形成依靠自下而上的，由微观层次、中间层次构成的时间语义关联和宏观层面自上而下具有层级性的，因果关联所构成的相对独立而又相互影响的机制的作用。从实践意义上讲，外语教师在微观、中间和宏观互动的层次上教授影响时间表达的各种因素，包括内容、表达手段以及语境因素，其视野必将随着对语言形式—意义匹配以及时间语义的关注而得到拓展。外语教师可以将本文提出的以目标为导向、多层面的时间结构概念应用于教学材料的准备和课堂教学，以便使学习者增加表达时序性的手段，增强时间表达的跨文化意识，并提高叙事文体的整体修辞效果。更多还原

【Abstract】 The study examines how Chinese EFL learners at junior middle school, senior middle school, and university level respectively, express temporality in written narrative discourse. Based on the categories and general narrative structure described by Kruistum (2006), Masuda (2002) and Meyerson (1997), this study breaks down learner narrative into the micro level, meso level, and macro level temporal structure, and examines the cross-sectional development of temporal encodings both in English and Chinese narrative versions. The focus of the study is on the integrated and systematic relation between temporal expressions and narrative ability of Chinese EFL learners, which also includes the direct or indirect influences of Chinese narrative discourse ability on learners’ interlanguage narrative writing ability, by employing multidisciplinary, qualitative and quantitative research methods. Based on previous studies and literature research, this dissertation brings together research findings from the disciplines of narratology, psychology and second language writing to form an alternative framework for the analysis of temporality in written narrative discourse and proposes a multi-level temporal structure which breaks through narrow consideration of tense-aspect in temporality discussion, that, potentially, might yield deeper understanding of the cultural, linguistic, and discourse practices that Chinese EFL learners bring to their foreign language writings.The study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. Ninety learners took part in the study. They were given a questionnaire and a writing task. In textual analysis, the data, consisting of 180 narratives (90 English texts and 90 Chinese texts) collected at three schools in Jinan, during an interval of three-weeks, in September 2006, was picture-elicited task in classroom environment: A statistical package Coh-Metrix 2.0 was used to estimate the narrativity of learner texts, and those selected measures in Coh-Metrix tool specify that causality, intentionality, logic and temporal cohesion significantly influence readability of learners’ temporally coherent narrative discourse. Qualitative descriptions were conducted to examine background information of Chinese EFL learners’ narrative writing experience. Thus, the EFL learners’ written discourse could be interpreted in light of not only language in which they directly expressed but also cultural-educational context where their developing system could be observed. For this reason, the quantitative data from questionnaire results were aimed for a discussion of narrative function, content and structure, relevant to temporal expression both in Chinese and English cultures, in order to illustrate and supplement the findings of the textual analysis of the study.The findings show that Chinese EFL learners are confronted with varying difficulties at the micro, meso, and macro levels of narrative. In general comparison with native English writers, Chinese EFL learners’ repertoire of temporal encodings was smaller and less varied in English versions. With respect to proposition units at the micro level, it was observed that most learners could choose appropriate tense and aspect to locate events in past time storytelling, to distinguish events and background information, and to employ tense alteration to achieve "narrative effect". The fact that JG learners committed a large number of tense-aspect errors was a sign of their immature and less proficient use of the English language, though this did not exert great influence on their rich and varied narrative content. In terms of rhetorical units, learners were gradually aware of the importance of connectivity between propositions, and could link them sequentially, but in most cases, they failed to connect them causally or simultaneously, to pay attention to the rhetorical relations among these propositions, which, to some extent, specify the temporal relation. They had limited knowledge of discourse functioning role of various types of conjunctions, and additive conjunctions were maintained across three groups of learners under study. Besides, the number of causal conjunctions in Chinese versions was slightly higher than those in English texts.At the meso level, Chinese EFL learners displayed a consistent variation among episodes, both in English and Chinese versions. They employed clause-initial adverbials of time and place to signal temporal shift, organized chronological events into hierarchically-related complete episode, employed eventive, stative, evaluative clauses, and reported speech to the extent that stative and evaluative clauses provided background information, eventive clauses moved timeline forward, and reported speech helped to enhance dramatic color. Meanwhile, analyses of writing sample texts or text extracts have shown that episodic disconnectedness indeed exist in learner narrative discourse and their failure to meet the criteria for narrative timeline results in temporal break. At the macro level, narrativity units were investigated by using Coh-Metrix tool, which is a broader approach to encompass casual, spatial, intentional content and temporal connective perspectives. Regarding the causal organization of the narrative, JG (Junior Middle School Group) learners’ texts presented less causal information relevant to the story sequence than any of SG (Senior Middle School Group) and UG (University English Major Group) learners. The highest readability scores obtained from JG might result from other significant measures, such as conceptual similarity across sentences (LSApssa), intentional content and connective use in Coh-Metrix. Compared with learners in JG and SG, learners in UG wrote longer texts but produced similar fewer causal relations between episodes, and they seemed to have difficulty in organizing events in a causal network due to possible cognitive constraints. Generally speaking, learners’ performance in JG was better than the other groups (learners in JG got the highest mean score 90.182 in Flesch Reading Ease, compared with 84.575 in SG and 86.991 in UG), possibly because their high frequency of input and more practice in narrative compositions. It was also suggested that L1 transfer on macro level played a positive role in EFL learners’ representation of some temporal properties in English.In comparison with learners’ English versions, temporal resources of the Chinese language and relative weights imposed on these devices were different from those in English. When establishing past reference with overt markers, Chinese EFL learners resorted mainly to aspect markers and had access to temporal adverbials. When expressing temporality implicitly, learners relied heavily on discourse context. In addition, a number of zero-marked forms in Chinese narrative production demonstrated the peculiarity of the Chinese language. Though the Chinese versions of narrative showed greater temporal diversity and complexity, they demonstrated rudimentary capability in organizing narrative discourse into goal-directed, hierarchically temporal structure, as well as English versions. It also showed that the effects of cultural context on every foreign language learner’s narrative development are undeniable. In other words, how narrative is told and interpreted—the linguistic devices and discourse strategies that convey temporal meanings and attitudes—are always culturally embedded. In sum, based on the analysis of 90 English written narratives and 90 Chinese ones, the findings show that temporality in learner texts vary more than that previously studied. This variation is based on an interaction of several factors, including, (a) narrative structure, i.e., figure-ground distinction; (b) representation of event knowledge or situation model; (c) thematic emphasis, and (d) the level (macro, meso, or micro) emphasized.The findings of the study have both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the study provides a new theoretical framework which can enable us to get a better understanding of the discourse-structural properties and regularities of learner language through the functional analyses of "temporality". We analyze how Chinese EFL learners express temporal categories in their interlanguage discourse, how more complex temporal meanings develop, how temporal progression is evident in their texts, and how the various linguistic means interact at different stages of foreign language development. This study on the semantics of time in a second language and its functioning in interlanguage written discourse will shed some light on the structure of underlying concepts as well. The important theoretical assumption is that the creation of temporality in narrative depends on both bottom-up and top-down mechanisms, i.e., the temporal-semantic relatedness at the micro level and meso level, together with hierarchical, causally relatedness at the macro level have both independent and interacting influencing on narrative production. Practically, EFL teachers need to consider those factors interacting in the expression of time on micro, meso and macro levels. These include, among others, the type of content which the learner might want to express in a particular task environment; the type of expression (grammatical, morphological, discursive, or by an interaction of them), and the role of contextual factors (explicit or implicit means). The EFL teacher’s viewpoint broadens, as he/she is concerned with the association of form / meaning with the development of interlanguage temporal semantics. Teachers can apply the concept of goal-directed multi-level temporal structure to material preparation and classroom teaching in EFL, which enables learners to enlarge the repertoire of devices expressing temporality, to be alert on the native language influence in the development of temporal expression, and to enhance rhetorical effectiveness in narrative genre.更多还原