An Extended Topic Chain: A Paragraph Development Model for Chinese Learners of English

Abstract

本文的目的是利用擴充主題串，為中國學生學英文而設計出一套英文段落發展的模式。為 了要分析英文中的段落結構，我們先得修改並且擴充主題串。這主題串在曹逢甫教授( 1981)的論文中稱之為基本言談單位，相當於英文表面結構中的句子。在本文中我們把布拉格學派句子的功能分佈觀併入中文段落發展原理，用來說明主題串中評述子句的前後關係。有了這個模式以後，我們拿臺灣大專聯考英語試題中的四段閱讀測驗文章來加以檢視，結果我們發現英文的段落並不一定直線進行，因此我們可以反駁那種中文段落組織方式和英文段落組織有明顯不相同的說法。我們的結論是對學習英文的中國學生清楚地講解擴充主題串，將有助於對英文閱讀方面的了解。最後，本文提出教中國學生閱讀英文文章時，一些實際可行的建議。This paper proposes an alternative model for teaching paragraph development in English reading classes in Taiwan senior high schools. In order to analyze English paragraph structures, we have to revise and extend the topic chain, which is viewed by Tsao (1981) as a basic discourse unit, equivalent to a surface sentence in English. We incorporate the Prague School Functional Sentence Perspective theory into the principle of paragraph development in Chinese to account for the sequencing of comment clauses in the topic chain. With this model in mind, we then examine four reading passages given in the joint college entrance examinations in Taiwan. After the examination, we have found English paragraphs do not necessarily follow a direct line of development, so we refute the claim that the organizational pattern of Chinese writing differs markedly from that of English. Therefore we conclude that explicitly teaching the extended topic chain to the Chinese students of English can facilitate English reading comprehension. Finally, the paper presents some practical suggestions for teaching English reading to Chinese students.