摘 要

近年来，歧义容忍度在二语习得与二语教学领域逐渐引起研究者的重视。作为一种心理因素，歧义容忍度对于二语学习者的学习表现有着一定影响，表现为对歧义情景不同程度的容忍会影响二语学习者的心态与应对方式，进而影响外语学习能力。在英语学习中，阅读学习作为歧义情景频繁出现的一个方面，与歧义容忍度之间的关系较为密切。本文着重讨论二语学习者的歧义容忍水平与阅读水平之间的关系，调查对象为 96 名英语专业大二和大三学生。调查以试题与问卷的形式收集英语专业四级阅读成绩和歧义容忍度并进行研究分析。结果表明，歧义容忍度与阅读水平呈显著正相关， 且高低分组学生在歧义容忍水平上存在显著差异。另外，大三学生与大二学生的阅读成绩差异显著，歧义容忍度差异不显著。本文强调了歧义容忍度的重要性，以及其在二语习得与二语教学中的实践意义。

关键词：歧义容忍度；阅读成绩；英语学习；英语专业

Abstract

In recent years, ambiguity tolerance has gradually attracted the attention of researchers in the field of second language acquisition and teaching. As a psychological construct, ambiguity tolerance has certain influence on the performance of second language learners, that is, the different degrees of tolerance for ambiguous situations affect the attitude and the coping strategies of second language learners and consequently affect their foreign language learning ability. In the process of foreign language learning, reading comprehension, as one aspect with frequent occurrence of ambiguous situations, is relatively closely relevant to ambiguity tolerance. This paper focuses on the relationship between the level of ambiguity tolerance and the reading proficiency of second language learners. The study was based on a survey conducted among 96 English sophomores and juniors of their scores of reading comprehension and ambiguity tolerance by tests and scales. The findings indicate that ambiguity tolerance and reading achievement in English study are positively correlated with each other. Significant difference in the degrees of ambiguity tolerance is found between low- score students and high-score students. Moreover, the difference of reading proficiency between the two grades is significant while that of ambiguity tolerance is not. The results emphasize the necessity of applying it into English learning and teaching as well as the importance of ambiguity tolerance.

Key Words: ambiguity tolerance; reading achievement; English learning; English majors

Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 3
   1. Ambiguity tolerance 3
   2. Relationship between ambiguity tolerance and English reading achievement 4
3. Research Methodology 7
   1. Research questions 7
   2. Participants 7
   3. Instruments 8
      1. Scale of ambiguity tolerance 8
      2. Reading comprehension test 8
   4. Procedures 9
4. Results 10
   1. Descriptive statistics of ambiguity tolerance and English reading achievements 10
   2. The correlation analysis of ambiguity tolerance and reading achievements 11
   3. Difference in ambiguity tolerance between high-score and low-score students 12
   4. Differences in ambiguity tolerance and reading achievements between sophomores and juniors 13
5. Discussion 15
   1. How tolerant are English major students of ambiguity in reading comprehension? 15
   2. Is there a relationship between ambiguity tolerance and reading achievement? 16
   3. Is there any difference in ambiguity tolerance and reading achievement between English major sophomores and juniors? 17
6. Conclusion 18

References 20

Appendix 22