时间：2022-08-31 02:15:28
【Abstract】The study investigated the intake by Chinese EFL listeners to establish whether function words or content words are processed more accurately and reported more frequently.The results show that the recognition rate of function words is considerably lower than that of content words in both groups of subjects.Besides，the disparity between the two types of words was relatively consistent across the two groups of subjects.These findings were explored in details and the implications for the teaching of English listening are also suggested.
【Key Words】content words； function words； listening
1.Significance of the Study
Neurological evidence obtained from brain imaging reveals that content words and function words are stored and processed differently.Because what is extracted from the input by EFL listeners is generally less than complete，it is of importance for the teacher to know which parts of the signal they are likely to recognize，and which parts are likely to be lost to them.On the one hand，EFL listeners might heavily rely on function words because high frequency makes them familiar.On the other hand，they might have difficulty identifying function words confidently within a piece of connected speech because function words in English are usually brief and of low perceptual prominence.In order to find out which part of the input EFL listeners rely on，the present study aimed to investigate how content words and function words are processed in listening by non-English majors.
2.Methodology
2.1 Research questions
2.11.Which category of words is processed more accurately and reported more frequently by non-English majors，content words or function words？
2.12.What are the effects of proficiency level on the processing of two categories of words by non-English majors？
2.2 Research Design
2.2.1 Method： Paused Transcription
A paused transcription method was adopted in the present study.That is，participants are asked to listen to an authentic piece of connected speech.Pauses are inserted into the recording at irregular intervals； and，whenever a pause occurs，participants are asked to transcribe the last few words.The rationale is that，for most of the recording，participants are listening as they would in real life，for larger-scale meaning.When the pause occurs，the most recently heard words remain available for report： There is psycholinguistic evidencethat we briefly retain a record of the words exactly as we hear until the beginning of the following clause.
2.2.2 Listening material
The recording used was from a set of L2 listening comprehension materials.The text was judged to be culturally neutral and within the world experience of all the participants.Most or all of the words in it were judged to be within their vocabulary range.The sections of the text chosen for transcription combined content and function words.A minimum of 10 seconds of recording separated each section to ensure that higher-level processing took place.
2.2.3 Participants
The participants were two groups of first year undergraduate non-English majors.They were mainly in their late teens.Group One（IG）was randomly chosen from classes graded as intermediate.They represent EFL learners with intermediate proficiency level of English.Group Two（HG）was randomly chosen from classes graded as advanced，representing EFL learners with high proficiency level of English.Each group consisted of 20 students.
2.3 Data Collection
Participants were told that they would hear a recording of a man’s voice.Whenever there was a pause in the recording，they were to write the last four or five words they had heard.
The recording（with inserted pauses）was played on high quality audio equipment designed for language learning.At each pause，the experimenter called out a number and participants wrote their transcription in the appropriate place on an answer sheet.The length of the pauses was designed to ensure that subjects，writing at average speed，could only record a maximum of about six words.The aim was to prevent them from attempting to recall large sections of the text and，in the process，reducing the accuracy of their responses.This method also ensured that subjects did not have time to review their answers once they had written them down.
3.Results and Discussion
3.1 Results
The percentage of words accurately transcribed was calculated for each participant by word type（content vs.functor）.From these figures，means were calculated for both groups.The results are shown in Table 1 below.
There are two main findings.Firstly，despite the greater frequency of function words，their recognition rate is considerably lower than that for content words in both groups.Secondly，the disparity between the two types of word was relatively consistent across the two groups（16.28 for IG group and 19.64 for HG group）.
T tests were used to measure the significance of the difference between function and content word recognition.The results are shown in Table 2.The difference was significant in the cases of both groups.
3.2 Discussion
The results of the present study indicate that English function words are identified significantly less accurately by non-English majors than content words.Difficulty in recognizing function words also appeared to be independent of level of English.
The challenge facing EFL listeners was characterized in terms of a conflict between，on one hand，the high frequency and limited numbers of function words and，on the other hand，their low perceptual prominence： including their being brief and usually unstressed.The findings of the present study indicate that what weighs most with EFL listeners，regardless of proficiency level，are perceptual considerations.
One possibility may lie in learners’ unfamiliarity with English phonology： in particular，their difficulty in distinguishing syllables in terms of stress.A second explanation might be found in the L1’s rhythmic characteristics.Previous studiesproved that learners face an important obstacle in distinguishing content words and function words when their L1 does not resemble English rhythmically.English is stressed-based language while Chinese is tone-based.
Listening for a foreign language，even at higher level of proficiency，is cognitively demanding activity.Faced with this heavy task demands，EFL listeners have to choose where best to direct their attention.According to the findings of the present study，EFL listeners choose to direct their attention to more salient stressed syllables，not simply because content words contribute more to the construction of meaning but also because stressed syllables are more dependable.These results confirm evidence reported elsewhereof a strategic approach to L2 decoding that appears to be driven by lexical search.These results also accord closely with Van Patten’s proposalthat the process of making sense of an L2 is principally driven in the early stages of learning by meaning rather than by form.
4.Pedagogical Implications
The results of the present study have implications for the way we instruct listeners in listening strategies.In early stages of listening development，learners should be asked to build a general and sometimes approximate meaning representation on the basis of the more prominent content words in the text.So the practice of listening out for key words would seem to be justified.But as listening competence improves，instructors might move on from meaning to forms： asking learners to attempt to infer the precise words that they had failed to decode.A further line of development would be to encourage learners to shift their attention from single，isolated content words to the large chunks of language within which they regularly occur.
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