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1、The Role of Chinese Transfer in English Language Acquisition汉语迁移在英语学习中的作用AbstractThe native language plays an inseparable role in second language acquisition and people can not afford to ignore it. In the course of English learning, students knowledge of their mother tongue invariably influences the
2、 acquisition of L2 learning. During the English teaching and learning, when students are communicating with English, they are always influenced by their mother tongue in one way or another, or they may try to express English with the help of the knowledge of Chinese, then the L1 transfer occurs. Pos
3、itive transfer is good for the target language acquisition, whereas the negative transfer is a blocking stone for the acquisition. Key words: L1 transfer; positive transfer; negative transfer 内 容 摘 要母语在二语习得中起着重要的不能忽略的作用。在英语教学活动中，学生在用英语进行交际时，总在某个或某些方面受到母语的影响，或试图借助于母语的知识来表达思想，这时就会产生语言迁移现象。正迁移有利于目标语学习，
4、负迁移阻碍学习。关键词：母语迁移；正迁移；负迁移The Role of Chinese Transfer in EnglishLanguage Acquisition1 IntroductionWhen Chinese students study English, they are inevitably influenced by their mother tongue, and gradually transfer the rules of Chinese language into English, and gradually they would produce Chinglish .
5、 This is known as language transfer. This paper tries to find out the similarities and differences between Chinese and English through contrastive analysis, so as to find out the influences of Chinese into English. These influences are either positive or negative. They are separately known as positi
6、ve transfer and negative transfer. Positive transfer is good for the acquisition of English, it can facilitate the learning of English, whereas negative transfer is a blocking stone for English language acquisition, it may postpone the process of English language acquisition. Based on these concepts
7、, this paper tries to analyze the L1 transfer phenomenon in Chinese students English learning, and probes into the reasons for those transfers. They can take various measures to deal with problems caused by language transfer to bring into full play the effect of positive transfer and try to hold bac
8、k the effect of negative transfer effectively.2 L1 transfer on English learningWhen we hear non-native speakers using English we are frequently able to make a good guess about the native language of those speakers. This may be the effect of a particular foreign accent, or of particular syntactic, mo
9、rphological or lexical features characteristic of the native language in question. Transfer of linguistic properties from a speakers L1 into L2 is a pervasive feature of SLA (Towell, 1994). Transfer seems to affect all linguistic levels: phonetics (phonology; pronunciation), syntax (the construction
10、 of sentences), morphology (the internal structure of words), lexicon (vocabulary), and discourse (the communicative use that sentences are put to). We are almost aware of transfer in SLA where the L1and L2 differs on a particular property, because this leads to patterns in the speech of the non-nat
11、ive speaker not found in the speech of the native speaker. Zobel (1994) has noted that the acquisition of the determiners a/ the in English is faster for L2 learners whose native language also makes a distinction between indefinite and definite determines (such as French and Spanish ) than for those
12、 L2 learners whose native language does not make such a distinction (such as Chinese or Russian ). Lado (1957) pointed out that the student who comes into contact with a foreign language will find some features of it quite easy and others extremely difficult. Those elements that are similar to his n
13、ative language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult.Generally there are two kinds of transfer: the positive transfer and the negative transfer. When there are some similar features between native language and target language, positive transfer may occur. Wh
14、en there are some different features between the native language and the target language, the negative transfer may occur. Dai & Wang (2002) noted that the similarity of vocabulary can promote the reading ability of the target language; the similarity of vowel system could make the discrimination of
15、 sounds easier; the syntactic similarity is good for the acquisition of grammar. Similarly, Yu Liming (2004) pointed out that the semantic similarities between the native language and target language can shorten the time needed for building good comprehensive ability. The positive transfer is good f
16、or the target language acquisition, whereas the negative transfer is a blocking stone for the acquisition. In the course of foreign language learning, the influence of L1 transfer is hard to be completely get rid of. The negative transfer can not be ignored, it constitutes the negative elements for
17、the acquisition of phonetics, semantics, syntax, and grammar, and makes it hard for learners to acquire native-like language.L1 transfer includes the transfer of linguistic knowledge and the social cultural transfer. Linguistic knowledge includes the knowledge of phonology, semantics, syntax and dis
18、course structure etc. while the knowledge of social culture is the different behaviors and customs of different culture. 3.1.2 Positive lexical transferSemantic transfer is a phenomenon that frequently occurs and it is also the earliest occurred transfer in second language learning. Especially for t
19、hose learners who have finished their L1 acquisition, when they begin the second language learning, they naturally use a lot of vocabulary of their L1 to facilitate the semantic acquisition of a foreign language, so as to turn the abstract symbol into concrete and meaningful notion. Take the word bo
20、ok for example, when learning the word Chinese students are prone to apply Chinese word 书 to help understand the English equivalent by giving the word the same notion as Chinese 书. Given that the Chinese learners equate the notion of read and 读. when they encounter the phrase read a book, they will
21、naturally translate the phrase into 读书. Those phenomena which frequently occur in the course of L2 learning help students to understand and memorize the second language. Those transfers are known as positive transfer in semantics. 1) As for the formation of words, one of the formations of Chinese co
22、mpound word is to attach a affix to a root. There are two kinds: first, affix + root, for example, 第：第五，第九. Second, root + affix, for example, 子：刀子，胖子. It is similar to English compound words. For instance, suffixes -er, -or, are similar to Chinese suffixes-家，-者 (writer and 作家/作者) ( Tang, 2004 ).2)
23、As for the part of speeches, there are noun, verb, adjective, adverbial, conjunctions, and prepositions in the two languages.3) As for the meaning of words, a lot of words have equivalence in the other language. For instance, Chinese words 爸爸妈妈兄弟姐妹are equivalent to English words father mother brothe
24、rs and sisters, this kind of equivalence make the learners to learn and memorize English words more efficiently. 3.1.3 Positive syntactic transfer First, five English sentence patterns are the same with Chinese sentence patterns:1) s+ vi+ predicate: She is American girl. (她是个美国女孩。)2) s+ vi: She crie
25、s. (她哭了。)3) s+ vt+ o: He sings the song.(他唱歌。)4)s+ Vt+O+o: He will send me a Christmas card.(他会寄给我一张圣诞卡。)5)s+ vt+ o+c: The teacher asks me to answer questions.(老师叫我回答问题。)Secondly, both Chinese and English sentences can be classified into: declarative sentence, negative sentences, interrogative sente
26、nces, imperative sentences, and exclamatory sentences. Chinese students of English can only set up a relationship between the Chinese syntax and English syntax when leaning those syntax. For example,我给了她一本书。 I gave him a book.他不是个好学生。 He isnt a good student.玛丽什么时候走的？ When did Mary go?多美啊！ How beauti
27、ful!去把门关上！ Go to close the door.Thirdly, both Chinese and English sentences have two voices: passive voice and active voice. For example, 他被老师批评了。 He was scolded by his teacher.杰克把杯子打破了。 Jack broke the glass.Fourthly, some patterns of Chinese complex sentences are very similar to that of English. Fo
28、r example, 既然大家都到了，我们开始开会吧。 Since everyone is here, lets begin our meeting.他不聪明但他很用功。 He is not smart, but he works very hard.3.2 Negative transferChinese belongs to Sino-Tibetan family, while English belongs to Indo-European family. So they differ from each other in many ways, and this difference e
29、xerts negative transfer to the English study. Students often complain that English is hard to learn, always they give a lot but gain little. Many reasons should claim responsible to this, Chinese negative transfer is one of them. Some students can not get rid of the negative transfer of Chinese. For
30、 example,You are very beautiful.No, no. /where, where. (This is a common Chinese modest way to response to other peoples compliments, but here we should say Thank you )For another example, Chinese learners of English are get used to morpheme-for-morpheme translation.有些学生上网不是为了学习。Some students go onl
31、ine is not in order to study. ()Some students do not go online for study. ()3.2.2 Negative lexical transfer Beginners always think that every Chinese word has equivalence in English, they do not know that the equivalence of one word in another language may has several different meanings because of t
32、he difference of semantic fields of the two languages. For example, the Chinese word 重 has a equivalence in English heavy, however, heavy has several meanings. We can say heavy rain (大雨) a heavy smoker (烟鬼) heavy traffic (繁忙的交通) etc. Chinese differs a lot from English as far as the semantics is conc
33、erned. Chinese words are stable, while English nouns have plural and singular forms, English verbs change with the different subjects, different numerals, tenses and voices. The way English judge a word as countable or uncountable differs from that of Chinese to some extent. Take example words like
34、news glass paper chalk, English treat them as uncountable, whereas Chinese consider them to be countable, so it is common for Chinese students of English to make such Chinglish as a news/glass/paper/chalk. Chinese has no articles, while English has no measure words, For example, she has a book她有一本书。
35、Because of those differences, negative lexical transfer has many types. The following are the most common occurred ones (Bo, 2006):1) Misuse of singular and plural forms of words: two boy.2) Mistakes in using articles, conjunctions, and prepositions. For example, Chinese learners are prone to neglec
36、t the articles when using English, I am student (我是学生); because I got up late, so I went to school late (因为我起床晚了，所以我上学迟到了).3) Mistakes in using the different forms of verbs. For instance, Tom sings a song yesterday. 4) Mistakes in using different kinds of pronouns. For example, Crystal is a hardwork
37、ing girl, his parents are very satisfied with her. 5) Misuse of adjectives and adverbials. For example, Mary dances very beautiful. 6) Mistakes caused by misunderstanding of the word meaning. Please look at the following dialogue between a Chinese and an English speaker.1) English speaker: Your book
38、 is not new, is it?Chinese learner: Yes, it is not new.2) English speaker: Do you and your mother know any thing about the fact?Chinese learner: No, both of us know nothing about it.English speaker: Cant you go and get a book yourself?Chinese learner: Yes, I cant.This kind of errors can be traced ba
39、ck to the interference of mother tongue. It is easy for a teacher to spot out wrong English sentences which students make with Chinese sentence patterns. What follows is a brief comparison of tag question, word order and negation between Chinese and English.（Liao, 1996）1) Negation The main English n
40、egative patterns are as follows:a. Auxiliary verb/modal verb +not + verbsI can not swim.John will not talk to Judy.b. Be +notJohn is not a teacher.c. Do +notI do not believe this.While Chinese negative words like 不别没（有）are always put after the subject and before the verb: Sub +not +verb a. 他不念书。Comp
41、are: He does not study.b. 他不愿意去。Compare: He is not willing to go there.Similarly, in Chinese pre-verb negative is a very common phenomenon, whereas English negation belongs to the post-auxiliary negation.2) Answers to tag questionWhen answering the tag questions, we Chinese people are get used to su
42、ch expressions as 是的，我不是。 or 不，我是。. But when answering such questions, English people must use Yes, I am No, Im not. different from Chinese the answers must be concord. Because of the interference from mother tongue, Chinese learners of English often make mistakes.3) Word orderEnglish and Chinese al
43、so differ from each other in the word order. Generally speaking, in English important words are placed in the front part of a sentence, or the less important component always give precedence to the important component. For example, less important component like time adverbial is usually at the end o
44、f a sentence; attributive clause is after the antecedent; English interrogative sentence apply inverted word order, however, in Chinese we simply put 吗 吧 at the end of the sentence; when expressing time and place, we Chinese are used to put year at the very front, then month, and then day, it is opp
45、osite to English expression. 4.2 Implications on English teaching and learningChinese not only make influence upon English learning but also promote English learning. In the course of English teaching, teachers should encourage students to consciously carry out contrastive analysis between Chinese a
46、nd English in order to maximize the function of positive transfer, meanwhile minimize the effect of negative transfer of their mother tongue. Specifically, the following measures should be taken.1) For teachersa) Bringing into full play the effect of positive transferA lot of researches have reveale
47、d that it is not wise to learn a foreign language regardless of the role played by the mother tongue. And researches have found that mother tongue can promote the learning of target language to a large extent. We should use L1 properly during the English teaching and learning so as to bring the posi
48、tive effect of Chinese into full play and to quicken the process of learning. Teachers should try to help to bring about the positive transfer.b) Trying to hold back the effect of negative transfer effectivelyIt is the task of teachers to do some pre-work when there will be negative transfer occur. Teachers should create suitable circumstances to make students to create rich imagination. With the help of modern teaching aids, teachers use their vivid description to help students to minimize the effect of negative transfer. What the teachers say reflect how they feel
