【推薦序】親子共賞英語世界的樂趣 / 劉德烜（中正大學外文系副教授）
早在本書尚未排版之前，我就讀了三篇作者邀請我為本書提供意見的原稿。在文章的字裏行間，我發現許多作者提到的方法與見解，都符合語言學習的理論、觀念與原則。站在幫助台灣學童有效地學習外語，以及推廣親子共讀的立場，我很樂意推薦彩杏的書。
外語學習以及語言習得理論，各有強調的觀念。有的重視語言輸入，或情感的重要；有些談及有意義的語文情境、語意協商；或從腦神經網絡的學習連結角度來解釋語言學習現象。還有一些心理語言學家，如俄國的維高斯基（Vygotsky）以著名的「近端發展區」（zone of proximal development）理論，來解釋兒童的學習與認知發展關係，對語言教育更是影響深遠。應用「近端發展區」於教育情境中的「鷹架理論」指出學生的內在能力發展，有賴於更具能力的父母，或老師之協助。學生學習時就像是在蓋房子，大人提供的協助像是搭在房子旁邊的鷹架。隨著學生搭建好房子(能力發展完成)，大人也就把鷹架給拆掉。
美國語言學者諾姆•喬姆斯基(Noam Chomsky)認為語言習得能力是天賦的(innateness）。嬰兒出生時的小腦袋瓜子並非如一張白紙，甚麼都不會。拿電腦來當比喻，嬰兒出生時的腦袋比較像是已經架構好語言學習線路的主機板，就看家庭的照顧者以後安裝在這主機板上的，是微軟公司的視窗作業系統，還是蘋果公司的macOS作業系統。換句話說，爸爸媽媽跟嬰兒互動時說的語言，就像是作業系統。安裝的是中文，將來小孩就講中文。安裝的是英文，將來小孩就講英文。然而，作業系統的安裝沒有時限，語言習得卻有個關鍵期(對關鍵期有興趣的讀者可參考TED講壇上的演講Patricia Kuhl：嬰兒的語言天分)。在關鍵期內學習語言，既不費力又迅速。過了關鍵期後才有機會學習母語的話，語言發展會出現障礙。在外語學習上也有類似的語言學習敏感期，對語音、詞彙，和語法上的學習各有不同的影響。這些敏感期就像是一扇扇的「機會之窗」，有些窗戶關得早，有些關得晚。一般而言，在「機會之窗」關上前就接觸外語的話，比較容易學到純正口音與正確語法。
彩杏書中主張的英語學習方法，都可以從上述提到的諸多學理中得到印證。譬如，文中不斷闡述：孩子都是天生的語言專家，父母親只要提供孩子豐富有意義的語言、情境，與接觸，不必費力逐字逐句地解釋與教導，孩子自然能學習到語言。想想看，我們與孩子講話時，只會專注於跟他們對話互動，何嘗對他們解說過母語中的字詞意思與語法呢？彩杏透過自己的雙胞胎，見證了孩子天生的語言本能的實例。
許多彩杏的讀者很重視孩子的英語學習，而且本身也有一定的英語程度。因此，在孩子初學英語階段，可以借助於書繪本與影音故事或歌曲，和孩子一起進行互動，使得孩子獲益於有意義而且情境足夠的豐富語言輸入，至於複雜的語言規則內化工作，就交給那顆效率驚人的小腦袋自行去進行吧。彩杏的孩子做得到的，您的孩子也同樣能做得到，因為每個小孩子在語言學習上都有十分驚人的能力，別忘了他一個個可是語言天才呢。那些願意多陪伴孩子閱讀與互動的父母，將更有機會看到自己小孩令人驚喜的語言成長。
閱讀的最終目的在於瞭解意思。常見到有些人強調他們能教導年齡很小的孩子大聲朗讀出頗具難度的文句，而引以為傲。他們在乎的是，孩子讀得出書上文字嗎？發音準確流暢嗎？似乎是只要孩子能讀出了書本上的句子就代表讀懂了，因此常看到家長努力地教導孩子認單字讀英語。心理語言學者Kenneth Goodman對於閱讀的描述有句名言。他說「閱讀是一種心理語言的猜測遊戲」。簡單講，閱讀不僅僅是由下往上的辨識過程（bottom-up processing），也是由上而下的猜測過程（top-down processing）。閱讀，千萬不能只強調辨識讀音、單字、句型，而剝奪了讓孩子自己推測文意的機會。在閱讀上，彩杏的家庭正是心理語言學「閱讀乃雙向過程」的實踐者。彩杏選擇英文繪本時，非常重視插畫，因為她相信「看圖畫，可以幫助認字不多的孩子瞭解故事的內容」。這正是從有意義的語意情境中去猜測文意的一種由上到下的閱讀過程。
彩杏本身是老師，她毫不諱言指出當今英語教學的缺失。例如，她直指目前課堂教學往往太過強調片段字詞的解釋過程，把時間和精力用錯了地方。老師講解常太過钜細靡遺，於是孩子依賴固定的中文翻譯，相信標準答案，堅持背完單字與文法才肯放心閱讀文章。這完全剝奪了孩子發展「猜測、揣摩、推敲」能力的機會，剝奪了孩子自己去注意、判斷、和解釋的機會。也剝奪了孩子經歷「我瞭解了！」「現在我懂了！」那種茅塞頓開的興奮，以及相信自己是有能力去理解，去領悟的成就感。
因此，彩杏致力於在家中打造一座英語童書寶庫。她相信，如果孩子經常從書本中學得各種不同的詞彙和片語，他就會有很豐富的字彙儲存庫，以及更多的語言組合結構可供選擇。父母若希望自己的孩子擁有豐富的英文語彙，就必須透過優質的英文兒童文學作品，向孩子傳遞字斟句酌的語言典範。這是因為豐富的字彙帶來有效率的「心理促發效果」（psychological priming effect），對閱讀與聽力都有很大助益。而優質的英文兒童文學作品，不但提供了豐富的字彙及語言結構，有助孩子建立自己的文字詞庫，更提供了大量深富趣味、巧思與寓意的文學故事，讓孩子們沉浸在有趣的猜測過程中而欲罷不能。
有了書，彩杏樂於與孩子共同徜徉書海。誠如她所說，當家裏有隨手可得的好書，充滿讀書的溫馨氣氛，孩子跟父母膩在一起讀，讀得欲罷不能，讀得哈哈大笑，讀了之後又能聊得很開心，親子間有無數本共同喜愛的書本與共築的想像世界。在這樣的環境下，孩子根本不覺得自己是為了學英文而閱讀，但有趣的是，英文能力卻在不知不覺中提高，甚至一鳴驚人。
所以，選一本適合孩子聆聽的英文有聲書吧！就以輕鬆自在的態度，讓不受拘束的心靈跟隨孩子去傾聽、捕捉、感知故事的趣味與神秘。就像語言學裏「情感過濾假說」所提出的，心情與態度是影響學習品質的重要因素，就讓故事本身的趣味打破語言學習的高牆，讓父母無盡的愛與包容，悄悄留存在故事書的隻字片語之中。
語言學習有太多理論，無法在此一一以文字詳述。對家長而言，最重要的是在不違背這些大原則下能彈性應用。父母們千萬別在親子共讀時，抱持急功近利的想法，急於想知道一本書讀完之後，孩子學會了那些單字？唸錯了那些音? 讀懂了什麼句子？三不五時的加以拷問一番，給予孩子過高期待或壓力，反而降低了學習動機。不僅徒勞無功，反而得不償失。挑本孩子喜愛的書一起坐下來輕鬆地「悅讀」，可以保證獲得的是親子共處的樂趣。愉快的經驗逐漸建立後，孩子會自然地喜歡窩在你身邊，希望再享親子共讀的快樂。藉由一本又一本書的持續閱讀，當這些小小語言天才沉浸在大量的英語與有趣的故事時，英語學習正面的成果自然可以預期。
我的孩子現在已經上研究所了。我仍記得在他小時候，自己也曾運用這些原則，引領他進入英文園地。彩杏提到的一些童書，如《The Very Hungry Caterpillar》等知名作品，他也曾看過。當時與孩子共讀的樂趣，至今仍歷歷在目。他令我印象深刻的英語能力成長，更印證了我學過的語言學習理論與觀念。想必彩杏也充分享受到親子共讀的喜樂，與孩子英語能力成長的喜悅。
知道我的畢業生中，出了一位這麼努力付出的媽媽與老師，如此用心帶領孩子學習，十分令我感動，我更為畢業系友能運用專業與經驗，用心推動英語教育而感到欣慰。期待彩杏能朝這方向持續邁進，也希望這本書的出版，能讓家長瞭解語言學習不是僅有上補習班一途，而是可以用更自然、溫馨，且符合語言學習理論與閱讀理論的有效方式，親子一起品嘗英語世界的樂趣。
【推薦序】Foreword
Tsai-Hsing Liao’s Listen Up!!! is a book to be cherished not only by English-learner children but, and perhaps particularly so, their parents. Tsai-Hsing, whom I know as Ivy, began forming the foundation for her method over twenty years ago as she took courses and wrote her M.A. thesis in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at National Chung Cheng University. I was fortunate enough to be her instructor in some of the courses and subsequently her advisor for the highly successful thesis she completed on a feng-shui reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” From the beginning I found her exceptionally enthusiastic and dedicated in her studies. Especially during her writing of the thesis I became aware of her love of language acquisition as well as the magic of story itself. She brought Poe’s work to life in ways I’d never experienced before, partly because of her unique interpretation based on Chinese culture but also because of her extended efforts to reach an understanding of what made the narrative so powerful despite its having been written by a writer so far removed from her own personal life experience. Looking back at it now, I believe it was this desire to reach a close personal relationship with the story that inspired the literature-based language-learning method that she would employ with her own children, the twins Sabrina and Keith, born just a few years after she completed her degree.
As the children grew, along with the development of Ivy’s method, I was able to spend time with them enough to marvel at their obvious love of English learning, something I had not often seen among my university students, most of whom had apparently come to think of their English studies as an obligation and in some cases almost as a punishment. This past academic year (2015-2016), after not seeing them for a number of years, I spent time with the twins again but in this case as the instructor of two university courses I agreed with Ivy to let them audit as an experiment in how they would perform in a more demanding academic environment than they had yet experienced. My first reaction was sincere astonishment at the English conversational facility they had achieved by the age of 15 years. Both spoke to me privately and in class in an English that was not merely correct but also characterized by near-native fluency and ease. My greatest surprise was that they had attained an English speaking ability beyond that of any of my university undergraduates and even most of the graduates. Sabrina’s written English was more natural and sophisticated than that of any other student in any of my courses on any level. I was shocked, to tell the truth! Now of course we know that both twins obviously possess exceptional innate language-acquisition aptitude--that goes without saying. What must be said, however, is that their mother’s teaching had clearly advantaged that aptitude most effectively and in such a way that both teenagers experienced and expressed genuine delight in reading and discussing literary works. The courses were more fun and games than work for them, fun and games in the most positive, life-enriching sense.
With Ivy’s book in hand, parents with children pursuing English as a second language can achieve comparable results by turning language acquisition into recreation rather than a difficult, oppressive duty. They can give their children the opportunity to develop a genuine love of literature and its attendant arts through experiencing the magic of story. At the same time, their young English learners can attain a mastery of English speaking and writing that will impress all who spend time communicating with them in that tongue. Perhaps even more importantly, Ivy’s method can serve as a foundation for a life of reflection on and understanding of other cultures and other peoples as well as one’s own.
J. B. Rollins
Professor of English
National Chung Cheng University
(註：J. B. Rollins為作者的論文指導教授)
2024專利防護中