主題推進與凝結功能詞在英語閱讀上的探討

Abstract

本篇論文藉由探討主題推進類型 (thematic progression patterns)與凝結關係 (cohesive ties) 在高中英文教科書課文的呈現以及在英文大學入學考試試題 (綜合測驗，文意選填，篇章結構) 上的應用，來提倡篇章結構的閱讀方法；希望在英文閱讀方面能有啟發的功效。首先，高中英文教科書中敘述文和說明文類型的文章被挑選出來作分析。為了解釋文章的主題發展，功能語法觀點 (Functional Sentence Perspective) 的語言學家Daneš提出四個主題推進類型，分別為Type 1: Simple Linear TP，Type 2: TP with a continuous (constant) theme，Type 3: TP with derived T’s，Type 4: Exposition of a Split Rheme。Cloran另外建議兩個主題推進類型Type 5: Theme > Rheme 和Type 6: Rheme > Rheme。這六種主題推進類型再加上由Halliday and Hasan所提出的五種凝結關係 (cohesive ties, i.e. reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion) 被用來分析上述的文章並且應用在英文大學入學考試試題的解題。研究發現除了上述六種預設的主題推進類型之外，第七種類型被歸為Referential Type，涉及指稱詞 this和that 的使用。其他的發現敘述如下：在高中英文教科書文章分析方面，Type 1和Type 2出現的頻率最多，第二多是Type 5 and Type 6；Referential Type排名出現頻率的第三名，而Type 4少見，Type 3最罕見.。另外，在英文大學入學考試試題的應用方面，結果亦大致符合上述。至於凝結關係 (cohesive ties) 的頻率，指稱詞 (reference)，尤其是人稱代名詞出現最多次，字彙 (lexicon) 次之，然而大部份都是相同字 (same word or repetition) 的一再重複出現；其他字彙的呈現，如同義詞 (synonym)、反義詞 (antonym)、搭配詞 (collocation)、統領詞 (superordinate) 等稍嫌不足。

Because little attention has been paid to the explicit teaching of text structure\r\nin local senior high schools, this present study analyzes the reading texts to explore how students are exposed to expositive and narrative text types and how the text is structured. Reading texts are selected from textbooks for senior high school students and then theme categories, thematic progression types and cohesive devices are analyzed. Combined Daneš’s theory with Cloran’s suggestion, the following six types of thematic progression (TP) are identified: Type 1, Rheme>Theme pattern (> means ‘followed by’); Type 2, Theme>Theme pattern; Type 3, Split Theme; Type 4, Split Rheme; Type 5, Theme>Rheme pattern; and Type 6, Rheme>Rheme pattern. Besides, five cohesive ties (i.e. reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion) proposed by Halliday and Hasan are identified as clue to trace the progression. Next, evidence is found to decode gapped passages in Integrative Test (綜合測驗, i.e. Cloze Test), Semantic Choice (文意選填), and Discourse Structure (篇章結構).\r\nBesides the presupposed six progression patterns mentioned above, one more type is found and categorized as Referential Type. The progression of Referential Type involves the use of cohesive device this or that. The findings are presented as follows: In the analysis of reading texts in EFL textbooks, thematic progression of Type 1 R>T and Type 2 T>T predominates the frequency of occurrence, while thematic progression of Type 5 T>R and Type 6 R>R follows behind, and Referential Type ranks third in terms of frequency, followed by Type 4 Split R outnumbering Type 3 Split T. Furthermore, while applying to the analysis of test passages, the outcome of progression types is roughly correspondent with what is mentioned above. As for cohesive ties, reference predominates the frequency of occurrence, followed by lexicon. Of all the cohesive devices, items of personal reference are found to appear most frequently, and then the second most are items of the same word. \r\nThrough the exploration and analysis of thematic progression and cohesive devices, it is hoped that students’ awareness of textual organization will be enhanced and thus help activate efficient reading.