韩礼德(Halliday)提出的系统功能语法框架内的分析理论一直是许多英语教学学者和教育工作者所重视的理论。然而,现有许多研究的关注点是高校教师如何把主位及主位推进理论作为一种有效工具去判定学生论文中语篇连贯的情况,很少有研究关注语培机构工作环境下的教师如何将主位及主位推进理论应用到新托福独立写作的课堂教学当中。同时,托福独立写作其中一个较为常见的教学重点是提升学生文章中的语言特征而非连贯性。本文旨在分析由美国教育考试服务中心(ETS)提供的五篇高分作文范文,并考查这些文章中的主位及主位推进模式。本文将探讨其在实际教学上的相关启示,致力于给语培机构教师未来的托福独立写作教学提供一定的启发。 The significance of theme and thematic progression (T/TP) as a key component of discourse analysis theory within the framework of Systemic Functional Grammar proposed by Halliday has been stressed by many ELT scholars and educators. However, many existing studies concentrate on the usefulness of T/TP as an instrument for college instructors to identify their students’ essay quality in terms of textual coherence, and few of them place emphasis on how teachers in a test-prep institutional environment can apply the theory of T/TP in their classroom teaching of TOEFL iBT Independent Writing. Also, common Independent Writing teaching attaches more importance to linguistic features than to coherence. This paper intends to analyze five high-level writing responses provided by ETS, the TOEFL iBT test developer, and to examine the T/TP patterns in these essays. Pedagogical implications will be discussed, and some insights for test-prep teachers into the application of T/TP to their teaching of TOEFL Independent Writing will be provided.
韩礼德(Halliday)提出的系统功能语法框架内的分析理论一直是许多英语教学学者和教育工作者所重视的理论。然而,现有许多研究的关注点是高校教师如何把主位及主位推进理论作为一种有效工具去判定学生论文中语篇连贯的情况,很少有研究关注语培机构工作环境下的教师如何将主位及主位推进理论应用到新托福独立写作的课堂教学当中。同时,托福独立写作其中一个较为常见的教学重点是提升学生文章中的语言特征而非连贯性。本文旨在分析由美国教育考试服务中心(ETS)提供的五篇高分作文范文,并考查这些文章中的主位及主位推进模式。本文将探讨其在实际教学上的相关启示,致力于给语培机构教师未来的托福独立写作教学提供一定的启发。
主位及主位推进,语篇连贯,新托福独立写作
Weixian Huang
Guangzhou New Oriental School, Guangzhou Guangdong
Received: Nov. 2nd, 2021; accepted: Nov. 23rd, 2021; published: Nov. 30th, 2021
The significance of theme and thematic progression (T/TP) as a key component of discourse analysis theory within the framework of Systemic Functional Grammar proposed by Halliday has been stressed by many ELT scholars and educators. However, many existing studies concentrate on the usefulness of T/TP as an instrument for college instructors to identify their students’ essay quality in terms of textual coherence, and few of them place emphasis on how teachers in a test-prep institutional environment can apply the theory of T/TP in their classroom teaching of TOEFL iBT Independent Writing. Also, common Independent Writing teaching attaches more importance to linguistic features than to coherence. This paper intends to analyze five high-level writing responses provided by ETS, the TOEFL iBT test developer, and to examine the T/TP patterns in these essays. Pedagogical implications will be discussed, and some insights for test-prep teachers into the application of T/TP to their teaching of TOEFL Independent Writing will be provided.
Keywords:Theme/Thematic Progression, Discourse Coherence, TOEFL iBT Independent Writing
Copyright © 2021 by author(s) and Hans Publishers Inc.
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
托福考试是目前世界范围内主流的语言考试之一,全面检测考生的听说读写能力。该考试写作部分的任务之一(独立写作)要求考生完成一篇不少于300词的议论文。该任务的满分评分标准有一处明确写着学生的文章需要体现出连贯性(coherence),即文本语篇(语义)连贯。大多数一线教师把其含义仅仅理解成语法衔接 (grammatical cohesion),着重教授学生使用表示不同逻辑关系的连接词,在一定程度上忽略了语义连贯的教学。目前学界普遍认为研究语篇语义连贯的一个重要维度是文章中的主位推进模式。
Halliday (1994) [
从单个句子的角度分析,可以找到的主位和述位信息是唯一的,这两部分的信息是固定的,然而在语篇分析背景下,即大多数文章特别是议论文的句子数量都是大于等于两句的,就需要研究整体展开的形式了。Daneš (1974) [
根据McCabe (1999) [
图1. 三种基本的主位推进模式
在主位延续模式中,每句主位和上一句的主位相同,述位不同,即T1 = T2,R1 ≠ T2,R1 ≠ R2。如下图2所示:
图2. 主位延续推进模式
具体例子如下:
在简单线性模式中,前一句的述位或者述位的一部分是后句的主位,这个新的主位后面跟着一个新的述位,该述位继续充当下一句的主位,如此类推,即R1 = T2,R2 = T3,如下图3所示:
图3. 简单线性推进模式
具体例子如下:
而在派生模式中,前一句的主位或述位派生或分裂成后几句的主位,后面句子的主位都是围绕着前/第一个句子的主位或述位信息展开,即 T2 = part of T1,T3 = part of T1,如下图4所示:
图4. 派生推进模式
具体例子如下:
需要明确的是本研究采用McCabe提出的三种模式,具体研究过程中只会关注范文中是否出现这三类形式。事实上,主位推进模式的分类还可以分为交叉延续型(alternative progression)、并列型(coordinating progression)、述位延续型(the-same-rheme progression)以及无模式型(no-pattern progression) [
为了给一线托福写作教师提供有关的教学启示,本文提出以下两个研究问题:
· 官方提供的5篇高分作文范文(见附录)中包含了哪些主位推进模式?
· 在这5篇高分作文范文中,每种基本主位推进模式出现的频率是否有差异?
本次研究主要采用了偏向定量研究的方法论,一共选取了5篇真题范文,其中4篇来自《托福考试官方指南第五版》(The Official Guide to the TOEFL Test Fifth Edition) [
1) Some young adults want independence from their parents as soon as possible. Other young adults prefer to live with their families for a longer time. Which of these situations do you think is better?
2) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Young people enjoy life more than older people do. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Be sure to use your own words.
3) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is more important to keep your old friends than it is to make new friends. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Be sure to use your own words.
4) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Students are more influenced by their teachers than by their friends. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Be sure to use your own words.
5) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? A teacher’s ability to relate well with students is more important than excellent knowledge of the subject being taught. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. Be sure to use your own words.
图5. 主位推进分析模版
研究中所使用的文本分析工具是Leong [
整体的研究过程主要是对5篇范文中的每个句子按照以上工具模版进行主位推进模式的分析,然后总结是否有出现上文提及的三种基本模式,即主位延续模式、简单线性模式以及派生模式。
从本次研究中可得知主位延续型以及简单线性模式都有出现在这5篇官方提供的范文当中,并且这两种主位推进模式是最主要的,在每一篇范文中出现的频率都很高,具体的数据如下表1所示:
官方范文 | C-TP模式 | SL-TP模式 | D-TP模式 | 出现次数 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 9 |
3 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 13 |
4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
表1. 三种主位推进模式在范文中的出现频率
从以上三种主位推进模式在官方提供的高分范文中各自出现的频率可看出延续型以及简单线性主位推进模式值得各位一线托福写作教师在未来的教学中重点关注。
本次的研究由于相关技术的融入有限,在文本分析上的精确度可能存在一定的偏差。首先,人工切割句子过程中会出现一些划分的考量(研究中的划分单位是一个句子或从句)。此外,研究的文本样本数量不够大,体现的主要是官方在其正式出版物或免费备考资料上的范文,同时范文仅是高分范文,不是满分。在未来可针对本次研究的不足做出改进,加入更大规模的文本样本,同时加入特定的文本分析工具和技术,以求进一步提升研究结果的效度。
黄伟娴. 浅谈托福写作官方范文中的主位及主位推进模式Analyzing Theme and Thematic Progression in TOEFL Writing Sample Responses[J]. 国外英语考试教学与研究, 2021, 03(04): 194-204. https://doi.org/10.12677/OETPR.2021.34020