| Current research on the syntactic awareness of bilingual learners has demonstrated the close relationship between syntactic awareness and second language reading.English syntactic awareness is significantly correlated to English reading comprehension,which offers a crucial frame of reference and direction for the instruction of second language reading.Furthermore,a few studies have shown that bilingual learners’ native syntactic awareness can influence second language reading comprehension through cross-language transfer.At present,while most of the studies are based on alphabetic languages and their participants are primarily elementary school students,much less attention has been paid to how syntactic awareness impacts on English reading comprehension of Chinese college students.To fill in the gap,the present study,using Chinese college students as subjects,investigates the relationship between English and Chinese syntactic awareness and English reading comprehension,and thus poses the following two questions:1)What is the relationship between English syntactic awareness and English reading comprehension of Chinese college students?2)What is the relationship between Chinese syntactic awareness and English reading comprehension of Chinese college students?The participants of the study were 175 Chinese sophomores majoring in English.They took tests for both English and Chinese syntactic awareness and English reading comprehension.The tests were completed within three weeks.The data obtained were entered into SPSS23.0 for statistical analysis by Correlation Analysis,Multiple Linear Regression Analysis,and One-Way ANOVA.The findings are as follows.1)There is a significant correlation between English syntactic awareness and English reading comprehension among Chinese college students;Among the eight dimensions of English syntax,Voice,Subjunctive Mood,and Non-finite Verbs are significantly correlated with English reading comprehension.2)There is also a significant correlation between Chinese syntactic awareness and reading comprehension among Chinese college students;Among the six dimensions of Chinese syntax,Word Order and Conjunctions are significantly correlated to English reading comprehension.3)There are significant differences in English reading comprehension among students with different levels of English and Chinese syntactic awareness;Students of high and medium levels of syntactic awareness perform significantly better in English reading comprehension than those of low levels.4)Both English and Chinese syntactic awareness of Chinese college students have a predictive effect on English reading comprehension,especially Chinese Word Order has a strong impact on English reading comprehension.These findings prove that English reading comprehension of Chinese sophomores is influenced both by their knowledge of English and Chinese syntax.The present study hopefully contributes to the body of knowledge on syntactic awareness and cross-language transfer.The findings give English reading instruction a crucial theoretical foundation.Teachers are expected to be aware that syntactical knowledge plays a part in reading comprehension and that priority can be given where the English and Chinese syntactic structures sharply differ. |
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