An Investigation of Taiwan’s College Students’ Awareness of Information Packaging in Linguistic Structures

Abstract

The present study explores Taiwan`s college students` awareness of information packaging in readings from the perspective of Theme/Rheme structure and Information system. As crucial elements in information packaging (Erteschik-Shir, 1986; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004; Hockett, 1958; Kuno, 1972; Prince, 1986; Rochemont, 1986; Ward, 1988), the two systems are typically realized by such linguistic structures as cleft sentences, passive voice, inversion sentences, and there insertion (Huddleston & Pullum, 2003; Givón, 1993). A test regarding the discourse functions of the structures was taken by 38 college students. In each test item, they had to choose between two grammatical correct sentences with the identical proposition, and only one of them is context appropriate. They were also required to write down the reasons for their choices. Their answers were firstly calculated and their explanations were qualitatively analyzed. The result shows that about one-third of the answers are context-inappropriate due to the subjects` misconceptions and insufficient knowledge about the structures. As for the subjects` reasons, almost 45 percent of the subjects` choices are not relevant to information packaging, no matter these choices are context appropriate or inappropriate. Other factors contributing their choices are discussed. Pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research are also provided.

本研究藉由主述位關係與訊息結構來探討臺灣大學生對於句型 中訊息包裝之功能語法的理解。作為訊息包裝中重要的一環，此兩 結構常以分裂句，被動態，倒裝句，及 there 表示存在的句型出現。 研究者首先針對以上句型的語法功能設計了一份以情境為導向的題 目，請 38 位大一學生填答。在每一題中，他們必須在相同命題且語 法皆正確的兩句話中，選擇一句符合上下文的句子，並提供作答理 由。接著，研究者統計答案，並以質性方式分析填答理由。研究結 果顯示大約三分之一的同學因為對句型的錯誤理解或是對功能語法 的知識不足，而選擇了在上下文中無法展現句型功能的答案。在學 生的填答理由中，將近百分四十五是與句型訊息包裝無關。本研究 也討論了其他影響學生選擇句型的因素並提供對此議題的教學建議。