Language Transfer in English Writing.docx
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Language Transfer in English Writing.docx
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LanguageTransferinEnglishWriting
LanguageTransferinEnglishWriting
Abstract:
Languagetransferisacommonphenomenoninthelanguagelearning.Languagetransferistheinfluenceresultingfromthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetargetlanguageandanyotherlanguagethathasbeenpreviouslyacquired.ThispaperlistsmanifestationsoflanguagetransferandputsemphasisonmakingacontrastivestudyofthedifferentcharactersbetweenChineseandEnglishwhileanalyzingthevariousmistakesinChinesestudents’EnglishwritingcausedbythenegativetransferfromChineseonthelevelsoflexis,syntaxanddiscourse.ThepurposeistominimizethenegativeinfluencefromChineseandimprovestudents’Englishwriting.
Keywords:
negativetransferfromChinese,Englishwriting,influence
1.Introduction
Transferisapsychologicalterm,whichreferstotheinfluenceofpreviouslearningonsubsequentlearning.Transferistheinfluenceresultingfromthesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetargetlanguageandanyotherlanguagethathasbeenpreviously(andperhapsimperfectly)acquired.(Odlin,1989)Languagetransferisacommonphenomenoninthelanguagelearning.Languagetransferistheeffectofonelanguageonthelearningofanother.(LongmanDictionaryofLanguageTeaching&AppliedLinguistics,2000)Intheprocessoftheforeignlanguagelearning,learnerswillunconsciouslybringthepronunciation,lexical,grammaticalstructures,andthoughtsofthemothertongueintothetargetlanguage.Asaresult,themothertonguehassomeinfluenceonthetargetlanguage.Thisphenomenoniscalledlanguagetransfer.Languagetransferincludespositivetransferandnegativetransfer.Positivetransferreferstothetransferinwhichlanguagelearners’knowledgeofthemothertongueimprovestheacquisitionofthenewknowledgeofthetargetlanguage.Negativetransfer,alsocalledinterference,isthephenomenoninwhichlanguagelearnersusethemodelsorrulesoftheirmothertongueinthetargetlanguage,resultingintheoutputoftheinformalorevenwrongexpressingformsofthetargetlanguage.
IntheEnglishlanguagelearning,ChinesestudentstrytoutilizesomemothertonguefeaturesmorethanthatoftheEnglishlanguageincommunication.Englishwritingisoneoftheoutputwaysoflanguage,anditisaprocessfromdeepstructurestosurfacestructures.Fromwhattowritetotheoutputcomposition,itmaytakestudentsquitealotofstepstofinishthewritingtasks,thatis,fromtheirthoughtstowords,sentences,passagesandcontexts.Inthisprocess,studentsmaymakealotofmistakescausedbythenegativetransferfromtheirnativelanguage---Chinese.
2.Thereassessmentofthesignificanceoflanguagetransferandthemanifestations
2.1Thereassessmentofthesignificanceoflanguagetransfer
Inthe1950s,languagetransferwasdeemedthemostimportantfactortoconsiderinthetheoriesofsecondlanguagelearningaswellasinapproachestosecondlanguageteaching.
Inthe1960s,itsimportancewantedaslearners’errorswereseennotasevidenceoflanguagetransferbutratherof“thecreativeconstructionprocess”.Someresearchesvirtuallydenytheexistenceoflanguagetransferintheirenthusiasmforuniversalistexplanations.ContrastiveAnalyseHypothesis(CAH),whichwasonceaninfluentialhypothesisconcerningwiththestudyoflanguagetransfer,wasfiercelychallengedbytheemergingoferroranalyses.Someempiricalevidenceshowedthatlearningdifficultiesdonotalwaysarisefromcross-linguisticdifferencesandthosedifficulties,whichdoarise,arenotalwayspredictedbycontrastiveanalyses.
Inrecentyears,theroleoftransferisacknowledgedandtransferisseentointeractwithahostofotherfactorsinwaysnotyetfullyunderstood.“It’sfortheresearcherstoworktowardsafullertheoreticalunderstandingofhowandwhenlearnersdrawontheirL1.”(Ellis,1994)AnimportanttheorydominatingthestudyofL2learningnowisthecognitivetheory.Itviewstheprocessoflearningalanguageas“skilllearning”engaginginperception,memory,problemsolving,informationprocessing,etc.Intheviewofcognitivetheory,transferisnot“interference”butacognitiveprocess.Thecognitivetheory,whichviewsL1transferasoneofbutnotexclusivefactorsinterferewiththeL2acquisition,hasreplacedCAHaccountingforL2acquisition.Selinkerput“languagetransfer”atthetopofhislistofthefivecognitiveprocessesresponsibleforfossilization,interactingwithotherfactors.Thuslanguagetransferisnowviewedasaresource,whichthelearneractivelydrawsininterlanguagedevelopment.
ButsomebehavioristssuchasLado,Fries,heldtheideathatnativelanguageinfluencecouldgreatlyaffectedsecondlanguageacquisition.AccordingtoLado,elementsintargetlanguagethataresimilartohisnativelanguagewillbesimpleforhim,andthoseelementsthataredifferentwillbedifficult.(Lado,1957seeOdlin,1989)Butinrecentstudies,researchersfindthatsomeerrorsoccurarenotduetonativelanguageinfluencebutfromothersourcesuchastransferoftraining.
2.2Themanifestationsoflanguagetransfer
Researchersfindthattheresultoflanguagetransferisnotonlymanifestedbyerrors(negativetransfer)andfacilitation(positivetransfer),butalsobyavoidanceandover-use(over-indulgence),etc.
2.2.1Errors(negativetransfer)
“Negativetransferoccurswhenthepreviousperformancedisruptstheperformanceonasecondtask.Itcanalsobereferredtoasinterference.”(Brown,1994)Errorscanbedividedintothreetypes:
interlingualerrors,intralingualerrors,andothertypesoferrors.Interlingualerrorsrefertotheinfluenceofthenativelanguageandcultureonthetargetlanguage,usuallycalledlanguagetransfer.Intralingualerrorsarethoseerrorscausedbylearners’misunderstandingoftherulesofthetargetlanguage.Othertypesoferrorsincludeerrorsoccurduetononstructuralfactors.
2.2.2Facilitation(positivetransfer)
L1canalsofacilitateL2learninginaspectsthatthetwolanguagesaresimilarwitheachother.Facilitationofnativelanguagedoesnotmeanthatlearnersdonotmakemistakeswherethenativelanguageandthetargetlanguageareidentical.“Facilitationisevidentnotsomuchinthetotalabsenceofcertainerror----aswouldbeexpectedonthebasisofbehavioristnotionsofpositivetransfer----butratherinareducednumberoferrors,also,intherateoflearning.”(Ellis,1994)
“Positivetransferoccurswhenthepriorknowledgebenefitsthelearningtask----thatis,whenapreviousitemiscorrectlyappliedtopresentsubjectmatter.”(Brown,1994)
IntheEnglishclassroom,theteachershouldtakefulladvantagesofthesimilaritiesbetweenEnglishandChineseandfosterstudentsawarenessofpositivefactorstofacilitatetheirunderstandingandlearningoftheEnglishlanguage.
2.2.3Avoidance
Avoidancereferstolearners’“avoidanceofusinglinguisticstructureswhichtheyfinddifficultbecauseofdifferencesbetweentheirnativelanguageandthetargetlanguage.”(Ellis,1994)Forexample,ChineseEnglishlearnersalwaysavoidtheuseofcomplexsentencesinbothoralandwrittensituations,fortheyfeelithardtoapplyforitorliabletomakemistakesinusingit.ButintheEnglishteachingandlearning,sometimeswefinditishardforstudentsandteacherstolocatetheproblemandsolveit.Weshouldpayenoughattentiontoavoidance.
2.2.4Over-use(over-indulgence)
Learnersprefertouselinguisticanddiscoursefeaturesthatseemsimpletothem,whichiscalled“over-use”intransfer.Itmaybeasaconsequenceoftheavoidanceofsomedifficultstructuresoraresultofintralingualprocessessuchasover-generalization.
Itcanalsoresultfromtransfer----oftenasaconsequenceoftheavoidanceorunderproductionofsome“difficult”structure.
3.InfluenceonEnglishwritingfromthenegativetransferofChinese
Researchesshowthatlanguagetransferoccursinallaspectsoflanguageofphonology,lexis,syntax,andpragmaticsetc.“ChineseEnglishlearnersmayhavealotofmistakesintheirEnglishlanguagelearning,51%ofwhicharecausedbythenegativetransferfromChinese.”(SuDingfang,1996)DuringmyEnglishteachingintheseniormiddleschool,I’vecollectedlargequantitiesofmistakesinthestudents’Englishwriting.AndI’vefoundthatthemoredifferencesexistbetweenChineseandEnglish,themoremistakesstudentsmaymake.ItislikelytomakeuseofthefindingsinL2teachingtofacilitateL2learningandtominimizethenegativeeffects.Inthispaper,I’dliketomakeacontrastivestudyofthedifferentcharactersbetweenChineseandEnglishwhileanalyzingthevariousmistakesinChinesestudents’EnglishwritingcausedbythenegativetransferfromChineseonthelevelsoflexis,syntaxanddiscourse.
3.1Lexislevel
Eachlanguagehasitsownspecialrulesofwordcombinationandsentencemaking.ChineseandEnglishbelongtotwodifferentlanguagesystems.Ofcourse,theyhavedifferentlanguagerules.Chineseisanalyticlanguageinwhichwordformsdonotchangeandwordorderandtheuseoffunctionwordsshowgrammaticalfunctions.Englishissyntheticlanguage,thatisalanguageinwhichaffixesmaybeaddedtothestemsofawordtoadditsmeaningortoshowitsgrammaticalfunctions.Duetosuchdifferences,ChineseEnglishlearnersoftenmakemistakesinoralorwrittenworks.Generallyspeaking,negativetransferfromChineseontheleveloflexiscanbeshownasthefollowingaspects:
theuseofarticles,singleorpluralformsofnouns,verbsandtenses,theuseofwords,etc.Forexample,“bianzhi”canbetranslatedas“togobad”.Asanegativela
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