英语论文样板

晋 中 学 院

本科毕业论文（设计）

题 目 语言学能和英语口语流利度的关系 院 系__外国语学院____________________ 专 业__英语专业____________________ 姓 名______________________

学 号__1203111107____________________ 学习年限 2012 年 9 月至 2016 年 6 月 指导教师 刘彦霞 申请学位 文学学士学位

2014年 5 月 1 日

晋中学院本科生毕业论文（设计）

Acknowledgements

This dissertation is completed under the direction of my supervisor and teachers, who provide me meticulous guidance and help. Meanwhile, I also show my great gratitude to my classmates and my family.

In the first place, I would like to owe my success to my supervisor Dong. He left a deep impression on me not so much as a knowledge guider, but as a prudent scholar and selfless helper. But for his patient guidance and academic attainments, I would not have got through this research. He is more a loving father than a teacher.

In the second place, I would show my deep respect and thanks to all my teachers. They gave me the basic knowledge and skills to complete my research. I have benefited a lot from the courses of professor Gu, professor Li and professor Bao.

Last but not least, I would give my deep gratitude to my beloved classmates and family. The mutual help in the classroom provided me endless motive power to stick to my goal. Besides, it is my family that always backs me along my road. Therefore, I would thank all of them. Without their help and guidance, I would not have finished my paper.

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晋中学院本科生毕业论文（设计）

The Relationship between language Aptitude and Fluency of L2

Speech Production

--A Case Study of Jinzhong College Author’s Name: Tutor: Liu Yanxia

Abstract: Although the conclusion has been reached on the importance of language

aptitude on second language acquisition in the academic, yet at home, scholars in foreign education do not pay enough attention to the study on it. In China, since 1988, in the College Entrance Examination, language aptitude test was cancelled for the enrollment of English major. The phenomenon of “dumb English” in public English is attributed to the absence of training. There is little research on the influencing mechanism of language aptitude on various productive language skills. Especially, less research is conducted to explore whether oral English fluency, as one of the most important marks of language production is affected by language aptitude. Therefore, the present study aims to study oral English fluency from the perspective of language aptitude. Research questions are as following:

1. What are the differences in overall language aptitude and its components among the

learners?

2. What is the relationship between language aptitude components and indices of oral English fluency?

There also exists individual difference in the components of language aptitude

under the same aptitude level, which has an effect on oral fluency. Students with strong phonemic encoding abilities have good oral fluency even if their grammatical and inductive abilities are low. The reason is that phonetic encoding ability features prominently in input process and directly affects oral fluency. It is also found that grammatical and inductive learning abilities do not play a direct role in oral production.

Keywords: language aptitude, language aptitude components, cognitive ability,

oral English fluency

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晋中学院本科生毕业论文（设计）

英语语言学能和英语口语流利度的关系

——以晋中学院为例

学生姓名：□□指导教师：刘彦霞

摘 要：尽管在学术界语言学能对二语习得的重要作用已成为定论，但是，国内外

语教育界对语言学能的研究仍然未给予足够的重视。在我国，自 1988年后，外语专业高考招生取消了对语言学能测试的要求。公共外语教学中的哑巴英语现象也均归结为训练缺位所致。语言学能对各产出性语言技能的影响机制研究甚少。尤其是作为语言产出重要标志之一的口语流利度，是否受到语言学能的影响更加鲜有研究。鉴于此，本文从语言学能角度研究口语流利度，并提出以下问题： 1. 学习者的总体语言学能及构成要素存在什么样的差异？ 2. 学习者语言学能构成要素与英语口语流利度存在着何种关系？

根据研究问题，本文对安徽大学江淮学院的 50 名英语专业大一新生进行了研究。通过问卷筛选出符合条件 41 名学生。整个实验包括问卷，语言学能测试和口语表达测试。最后经 Adobe Audition1.5 和 SPSS3.0 收集数据、分析得出结论。结果发现学习者在总体语言学能上存在优劣之分。总体语言学能与口语流利度有很大的相关性。高语言学能者在口语流利度时间指标上表现为：单位时间产出的音节更多，语段更长，停顿时间更短；在口语流利度的语言和表达指标上表现为：发音更准确，修改的频率也较低。口语产出是一个信息加工过程，在此过程中，语音编码能力与输入处理有关，推理能力与语法敏感度在理解输入中起重要作用，记忆能力能使学习者在产出时易于提取存储信息，这就解释了为什么总体语言学能与口语流利度显著相关。语言学能的分项能力中，在同等学能水平下，语言学能构成要素也存在个体差异，对口语流利度产生不同的影响。语音编码强的学习者，即使语法敏感度与推理能力较低，其口语流利度水平也较高。这是因为语音编码在输入阶段发挥着重要的作用，直接影响着语言流利度。但是语法敏感度与推理能力与对口语流利度并不产生直接影响。

关键词：总体语言学能，学能构成要素，认知能力，口语流利度

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Contents

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. ii Abstract in English ................................................................................................................. iii Abstract in Chinese ................................................................................................................ iv

Ⅰ Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Ⅱ Literature Review .............................................................................................................. 1

2.1 L2 Oral Fluency .......................................................................................................... 1

2.1.1 The definition of L2 oral fluency ...................................................................... 2 2.1.2The overview of L2 oral fluency research ......................................................... 2 2.2The Definition of Language Aptitude and Development of Language Aptitude Test .2 ⅢMethodology ....................................................................................................................... 3

3.1Research Questions and Hypotheses . ....................................................................... 3

3.1.1Research questions ............................................................................................ 3 3.1.2Research hypotheses .......................................................................................... 3 3.2Research Methodology and Variables ......................................................................... 4

3.2.1Research methodology ....................................................................................... 4 3.2.2Variables ............................................................................................................ 4

3.3Research Design…………………………………………………………………………………...4 3.3.1Subjects…………………………………………………………………………………….4 3.3.2 The setting…………………………………………………………………………………4 3.3.3Instruments…………………………………………………………………………………4 3.3.4 Procedure………………………………………………………………………………….5 3.4 Pilot Study………………………………………………………………………………………...6

Ⅳ Result .................................................................................................................................. 6

4.1 Data Collection Procedures ........................................................................................ 6 4.2 Data Analysis on Questionnaire ................................................................................. 6 4.3 Data Analysis on Oral English Fluency ..................................................................... 6 Ⅴ Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 7

5.1 Summary of Major Findings…………………………………………………………………… ..7

5.1.1 Summary of learners’ language aptitude…………………………………………………..7 5.1.2 Effects of learners’ language aptitude on oral English fluency……………………...……7 5.2 Pedagogical Implications for English Teaching…………………………………………………..7 5.3 Limitations of the Present Study …………………………………………………………………8 5.4 Suggestions for Future Study……………………………………………………………………..8

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 9 Appendix ................................................................................................................................ 9

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Ⅰ Introduction

Language communication is closely related to human life. Especially today, for the Sake of national development and international cooperation, English communication plays a more and more important role in the society. The cultivation of listening and speaking abilities are stressed to be placed in priority. Good oral English master, is on high demand. At the same time, education field has witnessed a booming enrollment in Chinese university. Though English professional has become a yellow card in joy hunting, many high institutes still increase enrollment of English major. The study of language aptitude in second language acquisition has quite a lot. Since the invention of Modern Language Aptitude Test, this field has caught a lot attention at home and abroad. Five parts consists of the paper. Chapter One is the introduction of the whole paper. It makes clear the background information, rationale and significance of the paper. In Chapter Two, the researcher reviews definitions of language aptitude and fluency, oral fluency research, the development of language aptitude test and the theoretical framework. Chapter Three presents the methodology. Chapter Four relates the results and discussions. Chapter Five is the conclusion. In this part, the paper also points out the limitations, and suggestions for the future study.

Ⅱ Literature Review

Pragmatic failure is caused by expressing in inappropriate time, ways or manners. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the study of pragmatic failure, which has attained rich achievements. In this chapter, the author will introduce the definitions of pragmatic failure and pragmatic competence, and some related studies both at home and abroad of pragmatic failure.

2.1 L2 Oral Fluency

There are many views about oral English fluency of L2 learners. “Accuracy or fluency” has become a heated topic in the past few years. Fluency is usually described as a label of communicative ability. With the development of science and technology, oral English ability began to catch people’s attention. To satisfy the increasing need of talents, colleges and universities began to enroll large students majored in English. Meantime many

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晋中学院本科生毕业论文（设计）

researchers began to explore how to achieve fluent English quickly. Traditional teaching methods were questioned by many scholars as “dumb English” became a common phenomenon. The form-focused teaching method was also criticized badly. And some scholars thought grammar translation method was not proper for language learning. Besides, first language learning theories have been applied to second language acquisition. Though oral English research has made a lot of achievements and people know more and more about the mechanics and nature of oral production, yet the study on oral English learning is far from an easy job for there are many variables affecting it, if we want to communicate with native speakers effectively, we should not only depend on linguistic competence but also equip with pragmatic competence to pragmatic failure? The following will discuss the definitions of these two concepts. 2.1.1 The definition of L2 oral fluency

Different researchers defined fluency from different angles, which added new materials to fluency research. Faerch did not give a specific explanation on fluency. Fillmore concluded four aspects of native-speaker fluency: fluency, flexibility correctness, and creativity. However, not everyone is endowed with this ability; otherwise he will find it difficult to bring this ability into full play. 2.1.2 The overview of L2 oral fluency research

A lot of researches have been conducted to explore factors affecting oral English fluency, including internal factors and external factors.

At abroad, Sajavarra concludes that the main factor influencing oral fluency is the lack of necessary linguistic knowledge that can be extracted automatically (Cited in Qu, 2004). Similarly, Gatbonton & Segalowitz agree that the automatic extraction of information is a prerequisite for achieving oral fluency (Gatbonton & Segalowitz, 1988).

At home, Lang Xuhui exclusively examines the reasons of defluency in classroom situation (Lang, 2010). Specifically, Wu Wensheng examines foreign language speaking anxiety self-schema for undergraduate students (Wu, 2009).

2.2 The Definition of Language Aptitude and Development of Language Aptitude

This paper is talking fluency from different angles. Meredyth Daneman assesses fluency in terms of total number of words in one minute, richness and reading time and error. Maicle

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Borges Mota defines fluency completely in temporary indices. This paper holds that a fluent speaker should have the ability to speak the second language smoothly, express the content coherently and logically, which should be also well accepted by the listeners(Zhang, 1992).

Ⅲ Methodology

The previous chapters review relevant studies on language aptitude and oral English proficiency. In this part, the study employs a survey design to find if there is any correlation between language aptitude and oral fluency. Three parts are included in this part: research questions and hypotheses, research methodology and variables and a pilot study.

3.1 Research Questions and Hypotheses

3.1.1 Research questions

1. What are the differences in overall language aptitude and its components among the learners?

2. What is the relationship between language aptitude components and indices of oral English fluency? 3.1.2 Research hypotheses

Hypothesis1:

Students may differ greatly in language aptitude. There also exist differences in the constituent parts of language aptitude. Some students may be memory type (exemplar-based learning), that is, they have a relatively higher score on items of number learning and paired associates; some may be analytic type, that is, they have a relatively higher score on items of number learning and word in sentences; others may be a balance between the above two types.

Hypothesis2:

Subjects with higher foreign language aptitude tend to speak more quickly, pronounce more accurately and produce more in a speaking run.

Hypothesis3:

There are correlations between language aptitude components and oral fluency. Rote learning ability and phonemic encoding ability correlate positively with, PTR, AR, and

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晋中学院本科生毕业论文（设计）

MLR of temporary indexes, while negatively with ALP. Language inductivity ability and grammar ability may not have a strong correlation with oral English fluency.

3.2 Research Methodology and Variables

3.2.1 Research methodology

An empirical research is conducted in this paper. The procedure and variables are carefully controlled. The current research is performed for the sake of finding whether there is any relationship between oral English fluency and language aptitude, so a quantitative method is adopted to measure and explain transcription. 3.2.2 Variables

The variables in this paper are an independent variable, that is, foreign language aptitude and a dependent variable, that is, oral English fluency.

3.3 Research Design

3.3.1 Subjects

In this study 41 subjects are selected from two classes of 50 freshmen majored in

English in Jinzhong University, and the selected 41 students have no knowledge of French. The selected 41 students have learned English from grade 3 and their proficiency is at the same level according to their college entrance examination scores. All subjects have something in common: firstly, they have been learning English for ten years. They all attend traditional English classes and the main source to practice their oral English is in the oral class taken twice a week. Secondly, their entrance grade on English implies that their written English is very good. And test of normality and independent sample test are also carried out. The former shows that subjects’ English scores are in normal distribution and the latter shows that their English proficiency is at the same level. 3.3.2 The setting

The pilot study was carried out on Nov.13. The real test began on Nov16 and 17. In order to create a relaxed atmosphere, the students were told that the researcher was an English teacher and wanted to do a research about oral English, and the scores would not be counted into final exam score. Before the pilot study, the researcher had a chat with subjects and told them the procedure. 3.3.3 Instruments

In this study, the instruments are a background questionnaire, a Modern Language

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Aptitude Test and an oral English speaking task. 3.3.3.1 Background questionnaire

The distribution of the background questionnaire is finished two days before the pilot study. The design of the questionnaire is close-ended, so it is easy for calculation. The aim of the questionnaire is to locate the proper subjects and guarantee that all subjects are placed at the same level, and the testing result is not caused by different language input modes, different learning time and etc.

3.3.3.2 A modified Modern Language Aptitude Test

The test in this study is based on Carroll’s work on aptitude--- the Modern Language Aptitude Test. The test is comprised of five subtests, involving four basic abilities.

Part1: number learning. This part consists of ten items for ten scores, mainly testing auditory and memory abilities associated with sound-meaning relationships. In this part, subjects will first learn a modeled instruction in Chinese so to make them learn the skills to complete this part. The instruction lasts 2 minutes.

Part2: phonetic script. This part consists of 30 items for 6 parts, each of 5 sets, measuring phonetic coding ability. Every set consists of four words. After reading the Chinese instruction in the test paper, students will first hear a modeled stimulus in Chinese. Then the real test begins.

3.3.3.3 An oral description task to measure verbal production fluency

Subjects are presented with a sequence of six coherently structured pictures and asked to retell aloud the story expressed by the picture. Their renderings are recorded and later transcribed.

Thus, in this paper, we adopt picture story narrative. The story is selected from Life Comic of Bid for this book has a close relationship with daily life, which can make students have a lot of things to say. 3.3.4 Procedure

The background questionnaire was conducted two days before the pilot test began. The pilot study was taken on November 13. The real study was taken on November 16 and 17.

Before the test, students were informed that it was a scientific research, and because of the time requirements, it was guaranteed that all students were willing to cooperate. The study is carried out in two steps:

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At the first step, on November11, all 50 subjects were asked to complete the questionnaire and after that 41 students were chosen to conduct the later tests.

At the second step, on November13, the pilot study was performed on five students in law department of JinZhong University. The modified MLAT is first used to measure their language aptitude. Before the subjects began to fill the form, it is confirmed that all feel free to give their answers by informing them of the purpose of the research. 3.4 Pilot Study

In order to make sure the validity and reliability of Modern Language Aptitude Test, to check if there exists some relationship among foreign language aptitude components, its combination and oral English fluency and to examine the suitability of the selected oral tasks in terms of difficulty, the pilot study was conducted on Nov13.

Ⅳ Results and Discussions

4.1 Data Collection Procedures

In this research, according to research questions, there are two groups of variables. Independent variable is foreign language aptitude while the dependent variable is oral English fluency. Foreign language aptitude is considered as a basic variable, composed of phonological encoding ability, grammar sensitivity ability, language inductivity ability and rote learning ability.

4.2 Data Analysis on Questionnaire

After the questionnaire results were analyzed, it was found that 4 students did not finish the test, so their data were deleted as the test required higher cooperation. There were 2 students who had learned French before, and 3 students who usually practiced their oral English. In order to keep the external variables to a minimum, they were excluded in later research. The selected 41 students have learned English for average ten years, and the mode of English input is similar to all of them. Their main source of practicing oral English is through oral English class. In their spare time, they basically learn English about one to two hours. Their age ranges from 18 to 20 with a mean of 19.

4.3 Data Analysis on Oral English Fluency

The oral production in this research was recorded and transcribed by hand. After

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transcription, Abode Audition1.5 was used to spot and calculate the pauses. As mentioned in chapter2,

In a word, eight indicators have been utilized to assess the oral speaking fluency, covering three dimensions of time, language and performance.

Ⅴ Conclusion

In this paper, the author aims to explore the relationships among modern language aptitude, its components and oral English fluency hoping to make some suggestions for English teaching.

5.1 Summary of Major Findings

5.1.1 Summary of learners’ language aptitude

The modified Modern Language Aptitude Test is reliable in this paper. The results calculated by SPSS reflect that the MLAT has a high internal consistency within its constituents. This again confirms the high reliability and predictive power of foreign language aptitude. The statistics show that students differ greatly in their foreign language aptitude. Although their English proficiency is at the same level, and they spend almost equal time on English, their aptitude differs a lot. This conforms to Carroll’s opinion that language aptitude is innate which is different from language proficiency. 5.1.2 Effects of learners’ language aptitude on oral English fluency

Firstly, Phonological encoding ability correlates significantly with time indices of oral fluency. Previous studies said that phonemic coding ability was mainly related to spoken language.

Secondly, there is little significance relationship between PE and language analytic ability. Skehan holds that inductive and grammar language learning ability play a role in the whole processing stages.

Thirdly, rote memory ability features prominently in production. It plays a role in traditional classroom as well as nontraditional.

5.2 Pedagogical Implications for English Teaching

Until now, what is clearly stated is that both external and internal factors may influence learning English, such as anxiety, motivation, learning input, and etc, but aptitude for learning counts more. This paper shows that there indeed exists some strong

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relationship between language aptitude and oral English fluency, so it is language aptitude that matters a lot in making a successful and professional English master.

5.3 Limitations of the Present Study

In this study, there also exist some limitations in this study.

First of all, the problem is the size of subjects. Because of the limitation of time and other factors, the sample is still very small.

Secondly, it is difficult to study the relationship between foreign language aptitude and oral English fluency through only one oral test. Although some measures have been taken to test the appropriateness and reliability of the material, and restricted other variables such as anxiety, classroom environment interference and etc.

Thirdly, it is known that the overall language aptitude play an important role in oral English fluency.

5.4 Suggestions for Future Study.

After analyzing these limits, we suggest:

Firstly, the sized subject is too small; therefore similar studies should be carried out on a large scale to get more reliable evidence about the relationship between foreign language aptitude and oral English fluency. Meanwhile, the study should be replicated with more students in more colleges and universities.

Secondly, both external and internal factors play an important role in oral English fluency, therefore further studies, if possible, should take all these variables into considerations, such as, learning styles, motivation, and etc.

Thirdly, different types of oral tests are recommended to obtain more reliable and evident findings in future study.

In the end, the researcher stresses that this research only focuses on English-majored students and aims to explore the factors that influence oral English fluency.

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Bibliography

Li, F. 2008. Cognitive Linguistics Theory[M] (In Chinese). Beijing University(李福印，2008，《认知语言学概论》[M]， 北京大学出版社。)

Luo, S. 2005, Study of English Idioms[M] (In Chinese).Shanghai Foreign Language Educational Press.（骆世平，2005，《英语习语研究》[M]，上海外语教育出版社。） Wang, R. 2000，Foreign Language and Foreign Language Teaching [J] (In Chinese).Beijing University（汪榕培，2000，《外语与外语教学》[J] (11)， 北京大学出版社。） Hu,A. 2004.Cognitive Process of Translation [D] (In Chinese). Hunan University(胡爱华，2004，翻译的认知过程研究[D]，湖南大学。)

Li,F 1979，English Idioms[M] (In Chinese). Beijing University Press(李赋宁，1979，《英语语言习语》[M]，北京: 北京大学出版社。)

Gibbs R. W. 1994. The poetics of mind [M] New York: Cambridge University Press. Halliday, M.A.K.&R. Hason. 1985. Cohesion in English [M]. London: Longman Hockett, C.F. 1958. A Course in Modern Linguistics[M]. New York: Macm Nida, E.A. 1981.William D. Reyburn. Meaning Across Cultures. New York: Books Wu Jianrong & Chen Zhen qiu 2000. New Age Chinese-English Dictionary[C]. Beijing: TheCommercial Press,

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Appendix

Background Questionnaire

以下是一份关于英语学习的调查问卷，本项调查旨在了解学生的英语学习情况，测量表中所反映的英语学习情况无高低优劣之分，本问卷仅供学术研究之用，所有个人信息我们将为您保密，多谢合作。

姓名： 班级： 学号： 1.性别： 2.出生年月： 3.您的母语：

4.您学过除英语外的其他语言吗？ 5.您学英语多久了？

A小于九年 B九到十年 C十到十一年 D十一年以上 6．您一周平均浏览多长时间的英语网站？

A我不上英语网站 B小于两小时 C两到五小时 D五到七小时 E七小时以上 7.您一周平均收听多长时间英语新闻，英语电影，英语音乐?

A我不收听英语节目 B小于两小时 C两到五小时 D五到七小时 E七小时以上 8.您一周平均参加多长时间英语交流的社团？

A我不去英语社团 B小于两小时 C两到五小时 D 五到七小时 E七小时以上 9.您学习英语的主要途径是什么？

A英语课 B平时自学 C英语辅导班 D其他 10.您课下平均一天学习多长时间英语？

A小于两小时 B两到五小时 C五到七小时 D七小时以上 11.您每天练习英语口语多长时间？

A小于两小时 B两到五小时 C五到七小时 D七小时以上 12.您练习口语的主要途径是？

A口语课 B口语辅导班 C日常与同学交流 D其他 谢谢合作！

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