基于系统功能语言学的《商务英语综合教程》易读度研究

An SFL-Based Study of the Readability of the Texts in Business English:an Integrated Course

从系统功能语言学语言复杂性理论的视角审视,《商务英语综合教程》课文的易读度与目标学生大致相适应,其词项密度与《爱丽丝漫游奇遇记》原著接近,语法复杂度则相对较低,但略高于针对大中专学生的《爱丽丝漫游奇遇记》英文简写本。同时,《商务英语综合教程》第四册中Text 1的词项密度和语法复杂度均略高于第一册;第四册每个单元的三篇课文中,Text 3词项密度和语法复杂度普遍最高,Text 1最低,教材册间及单元内不同课文之间这种易读度差异有利于满足不同水平学生阅读需要。

An analysis from the perspective of language complexity theory in Systemic Functional Linguistics shows that the readability of the texts in Business English:An Integrated Course largely matches the language proficiency level of the target learners,the lexical density of Business English:An Integrated Course is close to that of Alice s Adventures in Wonderland ,and the grammatical intricacy lower than that of the novel,but slightly higher than that of Alice s Adventures in Wonderland simplified for college students.It has also been found that both the lexical density and grammatical complexity of Text 1s in Book 4 are narrowly higher than those in Book 1,and among the three texts in each unit of Book 4,the lexical density and grammatical complexity of Text 3s are generally the highest while those of Text 1s are the lowest.This study holds that the readability discrepancies between different books and different texts in the same unit help to meet the needs of students of different English levels.