谈语篇衔接理论在大学生英语写作中的运用

王玉榕

（武夷学院 商学院，福建 武夷山 354300）

谈语篇衔接理论在大学生英语写作中的运用

王玉榕

（武夷学院 商学院，福建 武夷山 354300）

衔接是篇章研究的重要组成部分。然而，目前大学生在英语书面表达中却普遍存在着比较突出的语篇衔接手段方面的问题，比如句子结构松散，主题不突出等等。建议在英语写作教学中,教师应注重培养学生写作中的语篇衔接与连贯意识,以此来提高学生的英语写作能力。

衔接理论；现状；错误分析；提高

一、语篇衔接理论

从语义的角度讲，衔接是一种起组织和连接功能的意义，也就是说，是谋篇意义。它把概念意义和人际意义组织成连贯的语篇。从衔接意义的表现形式上讲，我们可以区分篇内衔接关系和语篇与语境之间的衔接关系两类。[1]

1976年澳大利亚著名教授、学者，世界著名语言学家Halliday&Hasan夫妇合著完成 《英语的衔接》(Cohesion in English)一书，此书的出版标志着语篇衔接理论的开端，立刻引起国内外专家学者的极大关注和重视。书中第一次提出了语篇衔接理论，包括衔接原则、规律和语言现象。他们将衔接分为照应、替代、省略、连接等语法衔接手段和重复、同义、上下义和搭配等词汇衔接手段。我们国内对语篇分析的研究主要始于八十年代后，其中有黄国文教授于1988年出版的《语篇分析概要》，书中，他把衔接划分为语法衔接(grammatical cohesion)和词汇衔接 (lexical cohesion)两大类。[2]之后又有胡壮鳞教授在1994年出版了《语篇的衔接与连贯》，他不仅把衔接分为四类:指称、结构衔接、逻辑连接和词汇衔接，他还在及物性、逻辑连接、结构衔接、词汇、主位、述位等方面以及在语篇宏观结构等方面作了研究，可以说对该领域起到了进一步的推进作用。2001年由朱永生等三人编写并出版了《英汉语篇衔接手段对比研究》，他们通过比较国内国外语言学家关于语法衔接和词汇衔接手段及其相关问题的研究，“确定了自己对范畴的界定和理论阐述的思路，并从纵横两个方面探讨了相关范畴之间的关系，发现它们之间界限模糊，并且有些交叉现象，使我们进一步看到了衔接手段的复杂性。”[4]

二、我国大学生英语写作的现状分析

大学英语作文对学生的基本要求是能清楚表达中心思想、具有严谨的结构特征、语言表达顺畅、语句之间结构紧凑及无重大语法错误等。但很多中国学生的英语作文中却普遍存在着问题，主要体现在：（1）语篇整体逻辑差。（2）句间逻辑关系不明确，甚至不正确。（3）句间没有逻辑连接词，只用逗号连接两个分句。（4）能做到连贯，但不能做到衔接。[5]究其原因，一是由于英汉语的分析构思、谋篇布局的差异，致使学生在语篇的逻辑衔接上普遍存在一些问题及学习者的母语文化思维模式(cultural thought pattern)的负迁移模式所致；另一原因是由于长期来有些教师重词汇、语法教学，轻语篇结构及文章的布局谋篇指导，所以不少大学生写出来的文章并没有围绕一个明确的主题，东拉西扯，通篇是一堆散句。

例文:Recently there’s been a wave of hunting for jobs on Internet.Parents generally believe that it is their responsibility to plan the careers for their children.Many students consider applying for job very important after graduation.A job will affect their course of lives,their circle of friends,and even their choice of spouses in the future.Because of its convenience and high success rate and more opportunities on the Internet,in fact,many people now resort to the new way of hunting for jobs,less depending upon the old traditional way.The following are two suggestions that you should consider when looking for a job.Many parents insist that their children should obey them in choosing careers.Many children suggest that they should be left free to choose their own careers.It is always advisable that you turn to your parents,your teachers,and your friends for help if you cannotmake the decision about your future career.I suppose,with the ever-increasing popularity of internet,this new way of hunting for jobs will win favor amongmore and more job hunters in China.

该篇作文要求写“网上求职的好处”。但我们却没有看到文章所应具有的合理的逻辑性、明显的结构特征、明确的中心思想，而是结构松散没有层次感。所以,它并非是篇完整的文章,充其量是一堆散句。

三、大学生英文习作中常见的衔接错误分析

1)照应误用

照应是一些起信号作用的词项,它本身不能做出语义解释,只能通过照应别的词项来说明信息。因此,照应是一种语义关系,它指的是语篇中一个成分做另一个成分的参照点,也就是说,语篇中一个语言成分与另一个可以与之相互解释的成分之间的关系。[4]照应包括人称照应 (personal reference)、指示照应(demonstrative reference)和比较照应 (comparative reference)。学生作文中常出现代词与先行词不一致或误用代词等情况。如：

1.[原文]：I think a good teachermust be patient and energetic.This is very important because students often enjoy a lesson if their class is relaxing and interesting

[改正]：I think a good teachermust be patient and energetic.This is very important because students often enjoy a lesson if his class is relaxing and interesting

2.[原文]：We went to the concert last night.This was our firstouting formonths.

[改正] ：We went to the concert last night.That was our firstouting formonths.

[分析]：例1是学生在写作时常犯的错误。第一句说的是一个老师(a good teahcer),后面却变成了多个老师(their)了。例 2的 “that”所指对象是 “we went to the concert last night”,构成指示照应，“that”常用来指称表示过去的时间。

2)替代不当

替代（substitution）指的是用替代形式来取代上下文中的某一成分。在语法和修饰上，替代被认为是为了避免重复而采用的一种重要语言手段，同时起着不可忽视的衔接上下文的作用[4]，如：

3.[原文]：“Do you like apples?” “Yes,I like ones.”

[改正]：“Do you like apples?”“Yes,I like them/apples.”

4.[原文] ：He didn’t buy his reference books in the local bookstore butwe bought ours.

[改正] ：He didn’t buy his reference books in the local bookstore butwe did.

[分析]：例 3.“ones”根据语境不能替代前面的“apples”。例 4 用“did”替代前面的“bought ours”,这种替代关系不但加强了语篇的衔接，而且还使句子在结构上更简洁明快。

3)连接

连接(conjunction)是衔接手段中比较复杂、较难以完全统一的一种，它不使读者联想到上文的实体。连接成分既包括句子语法的连词，也包括具有连接意义的由副词或介词短语体现的状语。[6]Halliday把连接分 为 详 述 （elaboration）、延 伸 （extension）、增 强 （enhancement）三大类。学生在作文中出现连接错误的情况较多，主要包括连接词误用，连接词搭配不当及连接词滥用等问题。如，

5.[原文]：Luckily,Steve didn’t break any bones when he fell off his bike and he could still take a trip to Japan with us the next day.

[改 正 ] ：Luckily,Steve didn’t break any bones when he fell off his bike.Therefore he could still take a trip to Japan with us the next day.

[分析]：学生往往误解一些句际关系,造成理解上的错误。例5是错把因果关系表述为增补关系了。

6.[原文] ：With the development of science and technology,more and more people have access to the Internet.Therefore,it is possible tomake friends on the internet.What’smore,I think it iswise tomake friends online.

[分析]：在以上这段话中，第三句话用的连接词What’smore毫无意义，显得很累赘。

7．[原文]：The coathas different colors,for example black,blue,green,red,and pink.

[改正] ：The coat has different colors,such as black,blue,green,red,and pink.

[分析]：“for example”只能引导从句表示解释,而“such as”表示列举只能连接单词或短语。

8.[原文] ：The question if the students answered correctly should be decided by the teacher.

[改正]：The question whether the students answered correctly should be decided by the teacher.

[分析]：在名词之后引导同位语从句时，用whether而不用 if。

9.[原文]：In spite of the police brandished their clubs and pistols，people showed not the slightest fear．

[改正] ：In spite of the fact that the police brandished their clubs and pistols，people showed not the slightest fear．

[分析]：“in spite of”后面是名词或动名词，不能直接跟句子。

四、利用语篇衔接手段帮助学生提高英语写作水平

1.教师以作文范例指导学生拟写段落主题句并扩展成文，通过段与段之间的内部衔接手段来架构英语语篇模式。英语文章的一个总体框架结构一般包括三段：引言段（Introduction）— 主题引入、扩展段（Development）— 拓展支持、和结论段（Conclusion）— 归引结论。它强调段落内部与段落之间的语义连接，结构上具有紧凑性，层次感和整体性。以一篇题为“How to succeed in a job interview?”大学英语范文为例进行分析：

Nowadays,in an ever tighter job market,great importance has been attached to an interview by both the employer and the applicant.The interview,so to speak,has become indispensable for getting a satisfactory job.On the one hand,the interviewer can take advantage of the occasion to learn about the candidates,such as their work experiences,education and their personalities,so as to pick out the right person for the company.On the other hand,the interviewee can make use of the opportunity to get to know the job he is going to take up,the salary,the working conditions and many other things about the job he is interested in.

Therefore,the job interview is very important to a job-hunter.But how can one succeed in it?Firstly of all,the intervieweemust pay attention to his or her appearance.The first impression is always where we start.Get dressed properly and neatly.Secondly,good manners are equally important.Don’t be too proud,and neither too timid.Just be courteous.Thirdly,the interviewee must demonstrate his aptitude and skills for the job and his knowledge about the job-related areas.Be confident.Last but not the least,the interviewee ought to be honest about his or her personal as well as academic background,for honesty is the best policy.

To sum up,the job interview is indeed important,but there is no need to be nervous.As long as the interviewee has the ability for the job,with careful preparation and a fairly confident and honest performance,his or her success can be ensured.

[分析]：这篇文章第一段的 “great importance has been attached to an interview by both the employer and the applicant.”引出段落主题句 （paragraph topic sentences），紧接着列举具体面试的重要性来围绕主题句展开；其中该段落用了“On the one hand”和“On the other hand”表示转折连接关系的词给语篇增添了紧凑感。同样第二段的第一句由主题句 “Therefore,the job interview is very important to a job-hunter.But how one can succeed in it?”引出，后面作者特别用了“Firstly of all… ”、“Secondly… ”、 “Thirdly… ”、“Lastbutnot the least…”几句分别就主题句进行深入的阐述，使上下文衔接紧密，句子流畅同时很有层次感。最后一段，文章运用“To sum up”这一标志性的词来显示结束全文。

2.引导学生学会使用关联词这种衔接手段。大多数中国学生缺乏使用逻辑关联词的意识，这跟我们母语的思维表达习惯有关。中国英语学习者是在母语环境下学习英文写作的，所以会不知觉地把母语的思维模式和语言表达习惯带进目的语的学习中，产生母语迁移(transfer)现象。由于英语属形和（hypotactic）语言，而汉语属意合（paratactic）语言，这对轻“形和”的中国学生来说写出来的大都是“流水句法”就不足为奇了。

例文:Parents have to save a large amount ofmoney for their children to study abroad.They have to pay for the international flight.They have to pay for their food,shelter,entertainment,long-distance telephone calls,and clothing.The children should have some money ready to cover unexpected expenses.

[分析]：以上这段文字在语法上并没有错误，但读起来显得结构不够紧凑，层次不够分明；但如果我们在原文基础上加上几个关联词稍作改动，效果会大不一样。

Parents have to save a large amount of money for their children to study abroad.Apart from the international flight,they have to pay for their daily expenses,such as food,shelter,entertainment,long-distance telephone calls,and clothing.In addition,the children should have somemoney ready to cover unexpected expenses.

五、结束语

关于衔接连贯理论在写作中的应用,国内外学者从没有停止对它的研究。国内一些高校的同行们也对大学生英语作文的成绩做过调查统计，普遍认为中国大学生“好”“差”英语作文的衔接手段的运用有显著差异。“好”作文的衔接手段比“差”作文中的多。[9]笔者认为要使学生写出结构清晰、文通理顺的好文章,在写作教学中,教师应注重培养学生写作中的语篇衔接与连贯意识,以此来提高学生的英语写作能力。

[1] 张德禄，刘汝山.语篇连贯与衔接理论的发展及应用[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社2003.

[2] 黄国文.语篇分析概要[M].长沙:湖南教育出版社,1988.

[3] Halliday.M.A.K&Hasan,R·.Cohesion in English [M].London:Longman,1976.

[4] 朱永生，郑立信，苗兴伟.英汉语篇衔接手段对比研究[M].上海：上海外语教育出版社，200.1.

[5] 罗伟.大学英语写作训练技巧[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社,2003.

[6] 李长忠.谈英语作文语篇的衔接与连贯[J].徐州师范大学学报（哲学社会科学版）2000（4）.

[7] 黄若妤.新思维大学英语写作教程[M].广州：华南理工大学出版社，2006.

[8] 胡壮麟.语篇的衔接与连贯[M].上海:上海外语教育出版社,1994.

[9] 徐伟成.英语作文中的衔接、连贯与质量[J]广州大学学报2000（5）.

App lication on Text Cohesion Theory in College Students’English W riting

WANG Yurong

（School of Business，Wuyi University，Wuyishan，Fujian 354300）

Coherence is one of themain features of the discourse.However,a lot of coherence and cohesion weakness exists in the college English writings-looseness of sentence structure and lack of outstanding theme,etc.Therefore,the author suggests that college teachers of English writing should focusmuch on the students’ability development.

cohesion theory;present situation;error analysis;improvement

H315

A

1674－2109(2011)01－0077－04

2010－12－16

王玉榕（1962-），女，汉族，讲师，主要研究方向：语言语用学。