鑒於英文tough 結構造成臺灣學生學習英文的困難以及於課堂中針對此特定結構教學的必要性，本研究首先透過分析學習者語料庫中大量的英語語料，辨識出臺灣學生使用不同tough 形容詞的中介語句型(中介語tough 結構)。並根據學習者語料分析的結果，針對學生的錯誤，設計適當有效的教學活動，包括中英對比教學、變形語法教學法、及字彙句法變化教學法，並透過教學實驗以確定教學活動的成效。研究對象為中國文化大學四班約160 名學生，其中兩班為英語系學生，兩班為非英語系學生。實驗組及控制組各有一班英語系及非英語系學生。實驗組的學生將接受針對英語tough 結構的教學實驗。控制組的學生則不會接受此類的教學。研究工具包括(1)「英文程度測驗」以檢視學生的英文程度和英文tough 結構的學習與實驗教學的關聯；(2) 「文法判別測驗」作為前測和後測，以了解受試者對英文tough 結構的認知及教學實驗前後的差異；(3) 「教學教材」並呈正確與錯誤的英文tough 結構；(4)「翻譯測驗」，以檢視教學實驗的長期效果。本實驗教學的結果將可確定英文tough 結構的學習是否可以透過有效的教學法提升學習的效果。
Given that the “pseudo-tough-movement” construction (CIL Pseudo TM) poses a persistent learning problem for Chinese learners of English and that a vigorous approach in instruction is necessary to help students overcome such a high frequency L2 error, more effective pedagogical approaches to treating these errors are indispensible. The purpose of the present study is to facilitate the learning of the target tough-construction by presenting sufficient negative evidence with systematic explicit instruction. Specifically, the study attempts to validate the effectiveness of the three suggested methods for teaching Taiwanese college learners English tough-constructions: the cross-linguistic approach, the transformational approach, and the morphosyntactic approach. It is hypothesized that the students that are treated with the systematic form-focused classroom instructions on tough constructions outperform significantly the groups that are not given such explicit instructions. The subjects are 4 classes of students (about 160 students) at Chinese Culture University. Among them 2 classes are English majors; two classes are non-English majors. One of the English major classes and one of the non-English major classes are assigned as the experimental group, and the other two classes are the control group. The experimental group will receive systematic explicit instructions on both English tough-construction and CIL Pseudo TM before the tests, while the control group will receive no such form-focused instruction until the tests are over. The instruments include (1) a proficiency test, (2) the grammaticality judgment test containing 20 English tough constructions, CIL Pseudo TM, as well as the passive sentences that are used as distracters, (3) the classroom material, and (4) a translation test used as a delayed posttest for determining the long-term effect of the instruction. The validation of the effectiveness of such form-focused instruction demonstrates the necessity to adopt a more explicit and systematic approach to dealing with the problem of CIL Pseudo TM.
