| Abstract: | 兒童透過敘事表達自己，並藉此與外界溝通互動。有關兒童敘事能力發展的研究，可提供我們關於孩童發展歷程中多方面的豐富訊息。敘事時，敘事者除告知聽者有關事件的人、事、時、地等訊息，並透過各種不同的語言機製表達其評論及看法，其中心智語言的使用，在文獻中受到諸多關注與討論。在針對孩童評論能力發展之跨年齡層的研究中，Bamberg 與Damrad-Frye （1991）指出，在各種類型的評論語言中，心智語言的發展尤為突出。他們發現其各年齡層的受試者於心智語言的使用上，質量均有明顯差異。其中，年齡較小的孩子，常以人物面部表情及局部事件情境作為心智語言指涉的依據；隨年齡增長，孩童對局部情節的依賴遞減，而故事整體架構遂成為孩童使用心智語言的指標。此一觀察，將心智語言的研究推向另一境界。而同樣採用跨年齡層的研究方法，Berman 與Slobin (1994)亦觀察到敘事焦點由局部走向整體的發展模式。認知發展學者曾就各個認知場域，探討局部與整體處理能力的特性。舉凡視覺感知、圖形辨識、繪圖實驗乃至自閉症患者於視覺判斷以及音樂感知方面的異常，均與局部以及整體的處理能力有關。文獻指出，不同認知場域彼此間會相互影響。鑑於此，我們假設局部與整體的處理能力，在心智語言的演進過程中，亦扮演不容忽視的角色。上述Bamberg 與Damrad-Frye 及Berman 與Slobin 兩組研究，雖觸及認知能力提昇，對敘事發展乃至心智語言使用可能造成的影響，但均未能與發展心理學中認知發展理論作深入關聯。事實上，心智語言的使用與敘事者角度切換的能力息息相關；而角度切換的功夫，須有足夠的認知能力為後盾。發展心理學的文獻對角度切換能力的發展，以及局部與整體的處理能力之差異，著墨甚多。是以，對認知發展理論的瞭解，有助於對心智語言發展脈絡之掌握。語言發展與認知發展間的關係錯綜複雜。文獻中對此方面的研究多針對以英語為母語的兒童為主，以漢語兒童為對象的相關研究有如鳳毛麟角。鑑於此，筆者擬延續心智語言發展的研究主軸，並依循Bamberg 與Damrad-Frye 以及Berman 與Slobin 的架構，同樣以5 歲、9 歲孩童及成人為採樣對象。我們以Frog, where are you?為題材，收集跨年齡層的敘事表達語料，以探討不同年齡層的敘事者，其心智語言使用上質與量的差異。在量的方面，我們依循前項計畫對心智語彙的分類，檢驗年齡及性別兩變因，對各類別心智語言分佈上之影響。在質的方面，我們檢視心智語言的指涉對像由局部情節走向故事整體主軸的發展論述之適切性。此外，我們擬參考心智理論、Piaget 的認知階段說以及認知心理學上的相關論述，來進一步詮釋心智語言與認知能力間的互動關係，以期一窺孩童敘事中心智語言發展上的豐富樣貌。如此，不僅可為國內兒童在這個研究場域中留下珍貴語料，亦利於將研究結果作跨語文的對應比較。並可藉此修正前人所提之理論，增進理論內涵的完整性，亦可藉本計畫之實證研究強化理論之普遍性。
‘Frames of mind (FOM)’ expressions consist of references to emotional states, mental states or activities, the importance of which has been widely recognized. In Bamberg and Damrad-Frye’s (1991) cross-sectional study, they note that there are quantitative and qualitative differences between older and younger children in terms of the use of references to FOM. According to them, different discourse functions are attached to FOM expressions for children of different ages. It is thus the goal of the present work to explore the changing functions of FOM references in Mandarinspeaking children’s narratives. Twenty Mandarin-speaking five-year-olds, twenty nine-year-olds and twenty adults served as subjects in this study. The narrative data were elicited on the basis of the wordless book, Frog, where are you? Episodes 1, 2, and 7 in this book were particularly chosen as the focus of the analysis. Our quantitative data yield main effects for Age and Episode, but no Gender effect is detected. The Age main effect suggests that the adults use significantly more FOM references than the five-year-olds and the nine-year-olds, which verifies Sah’s earlier work based on a longitudinal paradigm. Qualitatively, we detect a local-global distinction in children’s use of FOM expressions. That is, the five-year-olds’ FOM references rely more strongly on story characters’ facial expressions which are restricted at local, immediate situations. The nine-year-olds’ use of such expressions, however, tends to be motivated by not only the immediate/local events but also the overall/global plotline. Developmental psychologists have endeavored to probe the local and global processing abilities in various cognitive domains. Based on the assumption that there may be interferences among different cognitive domains, we thus consider the possible contribution from local and global processing to different functions of children’s FOM references. Additionally, the use of FOM references closely links to perspective-taking ability. A variety of studies in developmental psychology have tried to explore children’s development of the ability in perspective-taking. Among them, ‘theory of mind’ and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development are the two most influential endeavors. These two theories and other related explanations in cognitive development are thus considered in our discussion. |
