中美大学生情态动词使用比较研究

A comparative study of modal verb use between EFL and ENL essays

近年来国内外都出现了不少基于语料库的情态动词使用的研究，其中国内的研究大多是比较中国英语学习者语料库与英语本族语者语料库中情态动词出现的频数差异并对差异原因作探讨，而国外的相关研究也注重分析影响情态动词使用的因素，如文本主题、文本体裁甚至写作者文化背景。本研究以中美大学生就同一题目写的各19 篇作文为样本，比较分析两国学生在情态动词使用方面的共同点和不同点，这样我们可以排除文本主题对作文的影响；同时，较小的样本便于更好地分析两组学生在情态动词使用方面的差异。结果发现1）中国学生作文中情态动词使用比例高于美国学生的作文，这一差别具有统计上的显著意义；2）这两组不同的作文使用最多的三个情态动词都是will、can 和should，这说明作文主题对情态动词使用有一定影响；3）和美国学生不同，中国学生在使用will、can 和should 这三个情态动词时，往往主要使用他们的一个意思，而且语气往往比较直接、不够委婉。

Recent years have witnessed a growing number of corpus-based studies of the use of modal verbs. Domestic researches usually compare Chinese English learners' corpus with native speakers' corpora and explore reasons behind the differences. Studies abroad also try to discover the patterns of modal verb use across genres， writing topics and even the cultural backgrounds of the writers. The present paper examines use of modal verbs in the 38 essays written by Chinese and American university students. As the essays concern the same topic， we can control the variable of topic difference， and a smaller sample also makes it possible for us to examine the differences in modal verb use in greater detail. It is found that 1) Chinese students' writings feature a significantly higher percentage of modal verbs; 2) The three most frequently used modal verbs are the same for the two groups of students; and 3) Different from the American students， when using will， can and should， Chinese students usually use one of the meanings， and tend to be more blunt and less tentative.