中国英语学习者学术语言发展研究

Chinese English Learners Academic Language Development

本研究以系统功能语言学的概念语法隐喻理论为基础,以中国本科、硕士和博士学位论文摘要为语料,通过分析体现因果关系的句隐喻的数量突显程度及其聚合复杂性的发展程度,探讨中国英语学习者学术语言发展状况。分析结果表明,学术语言发展与句隐喻的数量突显程度显著关联,但句隐喻的数量并非随着学习阶段的增长而一直增长。其中,硕士到博士阶段,句隐喻的数量出现小幅减少,但是这一下降趋势并没有改变博士生文本中因果关系体现形式以句隐喻为主的特征。另外,学术语言发展与句隐喻的聚合复杂性的发展程度显著关联,句隐喻的聚合复杂性的发展程度随着学习阶段的增长而增强。上述特征表明,中国英语学习者学术语言呈现发展趋势。

Based on the theory of Ideational Grammatical Metaphor in Systemic Functional Linguistics, this study aims to investigate Chinese English learners＇ academic language development through the analysis of the number and the paradigmatic complexity of clausal metaphor as the realization of causal relation in academic discourse. Findings of the study show that academic language development significantly correlates with the number of clausal metaphors. The number of clauses increases from BA to MA, whereas decreases slightly from MA to PhD. However, the slight decrease does not change the clauses as the salient feature in Phi） texts. Besides, academic language development shows significant correlation with paradigmatic complexity of the clauses. The paradigmatic complexity gradually increases from BA to PhD. These features show the tendency of Chinese English learners＇ academic language development.