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Listening has proved to be a difficult skill to teach in the language classroom. Research has shown that pre-listening activities, or those activities done with students prior to listening, can have an effect on listening comprehension outcomes. This research addressed the effectiveness of two types of pre-listening activities: top-down and bottom-up. Volunteers from intermediate level courses taught at Brigham Young University were divided into two treatment groups and a control group. The treatment groups followed a mixed models design by each going through a top-down and bottom-up pre-listening activity, followed by listening to a passage in Mandarin Chinese and taking a multiple-choice test. The bottom-up activity chosen for this research was a vocabulary preview activity, with an advance organizer being chosen for the top-down activity. Results showed both treatment groups significantly outperformed the control group for both the top-down and bottom-up activities (p=0.0123 and p=0.0181 respectively). No significant difference existed in scores between top-down and bottom-up activities (p=0.9456). It was determined that both the vocabulary activity and the advance organizer helped to increase the listening comprehension of intermediate level students of Mandarin Chinese.

成語的使用有助高層次的語文認知學習和應用，無論在閱讀與寫作各方面都是重要的基礎訓練，然而目前台灣大部份的成語教學、學習平台或軟體多數提供靜態的資料查詢或教學資源，缺少以學生練習為主的環境。 　　本研究之目的為發展一個以本體論為基礎的中文成語練習系統。首先從文獻中分析成語多元訊息內容以建構成語知識本體、歸納學生運用成語造句時常見的病句偏誤原因並設計電腦可行之診斷機制，再以系統發展法建構一個以本體論為基礎的中文成語練習系統，系統可提供線上成語教材、可以自動產製是非、選擇、配合題型之測驗題目，並可以用情境式造句–在既定情境下實際利用成、詞語組合成一完整句子–的方式來練習成語，而系統可以判斷答題結果或造句是否合理，再針對成語使用盲點給予即時回饋，突破現有成語線上練習僅能從預先設定好的題庫中出題的限制，並提供情境式運用成語造句的環境。 　　系統效能及滿意度評估方面，本研究以準實驗設計進行，結果發現利用本研究之系統輔助教學的學生學習成效顯著高於使用傳統教學的學生，尤其對中、低能力程度學生具有顯著學習成效。在實際成語造句方面，以本研究之系統輔助教學之學生成語語法、語義使用正確性也較傳統教學學生顯著為高。學生也覺得本研究之系統是易用及有用的，並感到滿意。另外，在系統的可行性方面，受訪教師皆認為本研究之系統可以應用於學生自學成語。 / Using idioms would benefit a higher level of language perception, learning and application. It is also a kind of important but basic training in both reading and writing. However, presently, most platforms or software of Chinese idiom teaching and learning only offer static data inquiry or teaching resources, lack the environment of relying mainly on the fact that students practice. The purpose of this research is to develop the “ontology-based Chinese idiom practice system”. At first, we probed into the meta-data of Chinese idioms from any kind of studies and references to building and forming the ontology of the Chinese idiom, and summed up the wrong sentence with Chinese idioms to analyze the reasons of missing to design the feasible diagnosis mechanism of the computer. And then, we used above-mentioned ideas to develop the ontology-based Chinese idiom practice system. The system can offer the on-line teaching material of Chinese idioms, can automatically produce true-false, multiple-choice, and matching questions to examine, can offer a platform that users can actually practice sentence-making with Chinese idioms under a provided situation utilizing situational words and idioms. The system can also judge question sheet result or diagnose user-making sentences to be reasonable and can give feedback aiming at the blind spot immediately. This research can break through the restriction that the questions of existing on-line testing of Chinese idioms are always selected from the setting up question bank and can offer the situational environment that uses idioms to make sentences. Using quasi-experimental design, one class was assigned to experimental group using the system of this research assisted learning and the other class, the control group, using traditional teaching method. Related results demonstrated the performance of the experimental group was higher than the control group, especially it made better effect to the students of middle and low abilities in the experimental group. In making actual sentences with Chinese idiom, the number of correctness of Chinese idiom grammar and meaning using of the experimental group was higher than the control group. The students of the experimental group thought the system of this research is apt to use and useful, and feel satisfied. In addition, the teachers using the system actually thought the system of this research is practicable when the students study Chinese idiom by themselves.