大学生英语口语中零冠词使用正确性的预测因素研究

Factors predicting accurate use of the zero article in oral English:A study of tertiary-level Chinese EFL learners

本研究基于《中国大学生英语口笔语语料库》60个学生的口语语料,从名词词组相关因素和学习者语言能力相关因素两个层面切入,分析了英语口语中七种因素对零冠词1使用正确性的预测力。研究结果显示,学习者语言能力相关因素的预测力大于名词词组相关因素;而在后者中,句法因素的预测力又大于语义因素。七种因素中,对零冠词使用正确性有显著预测力的有五种:语义功能、动词过去式的使用正确率、名词词组的结构、名词词组在小句中的位置和口语流利度。其中前两者具有正向预测力,后三者具有负向预测力。

This paper reports on a study of factors that are capable of predicting accuracy of the zero article use by Chinese EFL learners. The data were taken from the Spoken English Corpus of Chinese Learners. An examination of the predicting power of seven factors shows that, overall, accuracy of the zero article use is better predicted by the language-ability-related factors than by the noun-phrase-related factors. Among the noun-phrase-related factors, the semantic factors possess less significant predicting power than the syntactic factors. Five factors have been identified to significantly correlate with accurate use of the zero article. They are the NP structure, the NP position, the semantic function, learners’ oral fluency and accuracy in using the past tense, among which the semantic function and the past tense accuracy exhibit positive correlation whereas the NP structure, the NP position and oral fluency demonstrate negative correlation.