透過開放性課程習得英文字彙之研究

Abstract

隨著麻省理工學院開放性課程計畫（OpenCourseWare）的歩伐，近年來世界上許多大學亦開始將校內課程分享於網路平台上供大家免費運用。有了這些「開放性課程」，一般人修習一流大學課程的夢想已不再遙不可及。同時有部份外語教師發現，以英文授課的各類開放性課程是用來學習學術或專業英文的可行媒介。然而，開放性課程在一般外語學習的應用價值上，目前仍缺乏相關實證研究的探討。 另一方面，情境中習得英文字彙(vocabulary learning from context)之研究已日漸受到重視，但這些研究往往偏重探討學生透過閱讀習得字彙的成效，鮮少探討聽力資源對於字彙學習的影響。同時，針對學習者透過學術演講（academic lecture）增進字彙學習的可能性亦欠缺相關的研究討論。因此本研究透過「開放性課程」作為真實情境素材（authentic material）之運用，探討英文學習者從中習得英文字彙的可能性，並深入了解影響字彙學習效度的關鍵因素。 本研究從麻省理工學院和耶魯大學的開放性課程裡選了一堂心理學、一堂物理學以及一堂音樂課做為教材，讓自願參與本實驗的六十五名台灣大學生觀看這三段課程，並研究他們從中習得英文字彙的情形。實驗前，先進行前測以了解學生的英語能力及其對於由三段課程中選出之三十三個目標單字(target words)的了解程度。在學生看完開放性課後，再次測驗他們對於課程中出現之目標單字的了解程度，並同時測驗其課程理解程度及填寫調查學習感受之問卷。將蒐集的資料做下列分析: (一) 透過開放性課程習得英文字彙之成效，(二) 學生的英語能力、課程理解程度以及字彙習得之間的關係，(三)單字類型、口語解說程度、非口語解說程度及單字出現次數對於字彙習得的影響，（四）學生使用開放性課程後的學習感受。 主要的研究結果如下: (一) 外語學習者可藉由觀看開放性課程即習得英語字彙，且英語能力越好則字彙習得成效越大。(二) 單字類型為影響此種字彙習得成效優劣的最大因素，學習者透過開放性課程所學到的技術字彙(technical words)遠超過學術字彙(academic words)。(三) 口語解說對於字彙習得成效也有顯著的影響，解說的程度越清楚，學生習得單字的成效越大。(四) 非口語解說對於字彙習得有幫助，影響程度與口語解說雷同。(五) 單字出現次數對於字彙習得有正面的影響，但影響不大。(六) 整理而言，學生對於使用開放性課程的學習經驗感到滿意，並且認為能夠藉由觀看開放性課程學習英語。 本研究對於教學上的啟發包括: 基於研究發現開放性課程能提供有效的英語字彙學習成果以及令人滿意的學習經驗，應將開放性課程推廣並應用於國內各大學，例如，可用來輔佐由母語非英語的老師以英語授課的各種專業課程。此外，有一定程度的語言學習者，可妥善運用開放性課程做為習得技術字彙的資源。最後，外語教師在運用學術課程資源做為學生字彙學習的教材時，比起關注重點字彙在課程中所出現的次數多寡，應更注意授課者對於各重點字彙的口語解說內容是否清楚且易於瞭解。

Influenced by MIT’s OpenCourseWare project, dozens of other universities, worldwide, have begun to share their course lectures on the web for nonprofit use. These “open courses” provide appealing opportunities for everyone to view classes taught in well-established universities. Some EFL educators have noticed that discipline-specific open courses taught in English could be used to learn English for academic or other specific purposes. However, little is known of the value of open courses in second language acquisition (SLA). On the other hand, learning vocabulary from context has garnered much attention in the field of SLA. Yet, most of the research that has studied the acquisition of vocabulary from context has focused on how learners acquire words via reading; few researchers have examined the effect of listening input on L2 vocabulary acquisition. In addition, little research has focused on how learners can develop vocabulary knowledge by listening to academic lectures. This study, therefore, aims to discover whether open course lectures are useful aides for the acquisition of English vocabulary for EFL learners. It further investigates how certain factors could influence the effectiveness of vocabulary acquisition via open course lectures. In this study, three open course lectures, on psychology, physics, and music, from MIT and Yale were chosen as sample materials. Their effects on the acquisition of vocabulary, for 65 Taiwanese college-level EFL learners, were studied. Participants were given pretests, to determine their general English proficiency and their knowledge of 33 target words chosen from the lectures. After viewing each of the three lectures, participants were tested on the target words introduced in the lecture and on lecture comprehension. Thereafter, questionnaires were used, to investigate their perceptions. After data were collected, examinations were made of the effect of watching open course lectures on vocabulary acquisition; the relationship between English proficiency, lecture comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition; the influence of (1) type of vocabulary, (2) verbal elaboration, (3) nonverbal elaboration, (4) frequency of occurrence on vocabulary acquisition; and learners’ perceptions of the open course lectures. The major findings are summarized as follows: Firstly, EFL learners were able to expand L2 vocabulary simply by viewing a lecture one time. The vocabulary knowledge of those with better English proficiency was expanded to a greater extent by watching the lectures. Secondly, vocabulary type was found to be the most influential factor affecting vocabulary acquisition through open course lectures. Learners improved much better on technical words and far less on academic ones. Thirdly, verbal elaboration was also an important factor affecting the learning of vocabulary; the more explicit the elaboration, the greater the expansion of vocabulary. Fourthly, nonverbal elaboration and verbal elaboration have similar effects on the gain of vocabulary; words accompanied by nonverbal elaboration received much more gains than those without. Fifthly, the frequency of occurrence had positive but relatively small effects on learners’ vocabulary gain. Lastly, overall, learners were satisfied with the learning experience provided by open course lectures and agreed that open courses were beneficial to learning English. Pedagogical implications include that, firstly, based on the positive expansion of the participants’ L2 vocabulary and their satisfying learning experiences, this study suggests that open course lectures in English should be promoted and integrated into EFL university courses. For example, open course lectures could be used to facilitate English-medium courses taught by instructors who are not native speakers of English. Secondly, open courses lectures provide a good resource for the learning of technical vocabulary, especially for learners with a higher-level of English proficiency. Thirdly, it is suggested that, when providing lecture materials for vocabulary learning, L2 instructors should be more concerned about the quality of the elaboration of the vocabulary than the frequency of vocabulary repetition, within lectures.