本研究目的是探討背景知識對篇章中閱讀科學詞彙與一般性詞彙辨識的影響。實驗一藉由背景知識高低的研究生閱讀物理文章中的不熟悉物理詞彙和一般性詞彙，發現在閱讀一般性說明文能力相當的條件下，讀者遇到不熟悉的物理詞彙時，兩組讀者第一個凝視點的凝視時間沒有統計上的顯著差異，都接近250毫秒，與文獻上的資料相符，代表在處理「字」的階段上，兩組讀者都能自動化地辨識字義。但無論是背景知識高或低的讀者，閱讀不熟悉的物理詞彙在初始處理階段的第一次連續凝視時間都較物理文章中的一般性詞彙來的長，達到統計上的顯著差異，顯示在「詞」的階段上，不熟悉的物理詞彙是兩組讀者都無法自動化辨識的。然而，背景知識高的讀者較背景知識低的讀者在閱讀不熟悉的物理詞上有較低的重新閱讀總凝視時間和回視率，顯示在「整合語義」的階段上，背景知識高的讀者較能順暢地進行閱讀並統整語義。整體而言，閱讀文章中的陌生詞彙，背景知識的效果主要發揮在晚期整合語義的階段上。此外，實驗一結果顯示，兩組讀者閱讀物理文章中的一般性詞彙在晚期處理階段有統計上的顯著差異，背景知識低者重新閱讀的凝視時間較長，回視率較高。造成這種差異的原因是否是因為在物理文章的環境下，辨識一般性詞彙會受到物理詞彙的影響？因此，實驗二探討在不同文章內容下，一般性詞彙的辨識是否會受到影響。實驗結果顯示，背景知識低的大學生閱讀物理和非物理文章中相同的一般性詞彙，在初始處理階段沒有差異，因為讀者辨識一般性詞彙的能力已達自動化，但是在晚處理階段，一般性詞彙在物理文章中的重新閱讀總凝視時間以及回視率還是較在非物理文章中來的多。實驗二再次支持了實驗一的結果：閱讀一般性詞彙的晚期處理歷程會受到不同文章內容與背景知識的影響。 Two experiments examined the effects of background knowledge on word recognition during silent reading. Readers’ eye movements were monitored as they read physical texts. In Experiment 1, both the high- and low-knowledge graduate readers read physical texts that contained the unfamiliar physical words and the common words. The results suggested that the two groups spent on unfamiliar physical words did not differ in first fixation durations. Both of them were closed to average 250 milliseconds. It showed that at the character recognition stage, both groups could recognize Chinese characters automatically. But both high- and low-knowledge readers spent much first gaze fixation durations on unfamiliar physical words than common words. It showed that at the word stage, both groups could not recognize the unfamiliar physical words automatically. However, the high- knowledge readers could use their background knowledge to integrate the information of the physical texts, so their rereading time was shorter, and the regression rate was smaller. Moreover, when low-knowledge readers read common words, they also spent much rereading time and regression rate than high-knowledge readers. It seemed that the common words would be influenced by the physical contexts. Therefore, In Experiment 2, low-knowledge readers read both physical texts and non-physical texts that contained the same common words. The results suggested that readers spent more rereading time and higher regression rate, when common words were contained in physical texts. Overall, context effects and background knowledge influenced the common words’ reading processes.
