内容:
Analysis of Several Main Mistake-Causing Factors for Chinese Students of English Writing
Abstract: When the learners learn a new language, they transfer those rules of their mother tongue into the second language unconsciously, and then transfers appear. However, there are similarities and differences between any two languages in their usages, rules and so on. For that reason, two kinds of transfers form. They are positive transfer and negative transfer. First, this essay illustrates the importance of English writing, the definition of transfer and the influences of the mother language in second language acquisition. Then it discusses the main mistake-causing factors for Chinese students’ English writing that are caused by negative transfer. Finally, this essay gives some practical suggestions on the correct treatment of Chinese language transfer in English teaching. This study was designed to investigate the influences of Chinese language interference on students’ English writing of Yiliang Vocational School.
Key Words: English writing; mother language interference; negative transfer; positive transfer; English teaching
1. Introduction
1.1. The background of the study
Current research (Xu Guozhang, Liu Runqing & Wang Jialing, 1996: 329) shows that writing is an extremely complex intellectual-linguistic process. This process involves the recursive application of a wide range of thinking skills and language abilities.
Writing is an important part of English learning, in which learners' comprehensive language proficiency can be reflected. (Li Jinrong, 2006: 15) English Curriculum Criterion of the Full-time Compulsory Education (2002) points out emphatically the importance of developing middle school students’ writing ability. However, there are a lot of problems in students' writings. Middle school students tend to write in Chinglish, which is also known as transfer error.
1.2. The purpose of the study and research questions
From the above mentioned information, it is very significant to analyze the impact of Chinese interference in English writing on students’English learning. To find the main mistake-causing factors for Chinese students of English writing is important. It is crucial to put forward some strategies to avoid making common mistakes, to improve the writing levels of Chinese learners and to help them achieve favorable results in the English writing courses. This study will discuss the following aspects:
(1) Influences of English writing in modern times;
(2) Typical errors in students’ compositions;
(3) The main mistake-causing factors for Chinese students of English writing.
2. Related theory and research
According to behaviorist learning theory (Ellis, R., 1999: 299), old habits get in the way of learning new habits. Thus, in second language acquisition, the patterns of the learner’s mother tongue get in the way of learning the patterns of the second language. This is referred to as ‘interference’. Transfer (Ellis, R., 1999: 305) is the process of using knowledge of the first language in learning a second language. Transfer can be positive, when a first-language pattern identical with a target-language pattern is transferred, or it can be negative, when a first-language pattern different from the target-language pattern is transferred. In the latter case, first-language-induced errors occur.
The theory of the Second Language Acquisition (Zheng Jing, 2004: 45) figures that language transfer can be divided into positive transfer and negative transfer because of the similarities and differences between the learners’ mother tongue and the target language.
(Liu Shaozhong & Liao Fengrong, 2002: 34) If what is transferred from a previous situation is the same or favorable or adequate to the present situation, this is called a positive transfer; if, however, what is transferred from a previous situation is different or damaging or inadequate to the present situation, then this is called a negative transfer.
3. Research methodology
3.1. The population and subjects
The survey population was all the seniors of Yiliang Vocational School , enrolled in the first semester of the 2010, 2011, 2012 academic year respectively. They were from 25 classes, totaling about 1800 students. The subjects were 30 students, who had been chosen randomly from the 1800students. To be specific, 15 boys and 15 girls from age 16 to 19. The researcher hoped that the participants who came from different classes would more accurately reflect the general situation and provide more reliable data.
3.2. The research instruments
Three kinds of instruments have been used in this study. They are a checklist, interview questions and students’ compositions. The checklist was used to discover “influences of native language in the process of English writing”. The interview questions were used to find “the importance of English writing in modern times, opinions about different aspects between English and Chinese and typical errors in English writing.” Students’ compositions were used to find and justify “typical errors in students’ English writing and the main mistake-causing factors for Chinese students of English writing.”
3.3. Data analysis and findings
3.3.1. Data analysis and findings of the checklist
The table for checklist:
In the process of English writing, |
Always
|
Often
|
Sometimes
|
Rarely
|
Never
|
1. Before writing an English sentence, I think it in Chinese. |
44% |
30% |
11% |
15%
|
0%
|
2. I want to express my opinion in the most coherent words. |
11% |
33% |
30% |
22% |
4% |
3. I try to think of the most appropriate English expressions. |
18% |
15% |
26% |
41% |
0% |
4. I avoid translating Chinese into English directly as much as possible. |
19% |
11% |
33% |
37% |
0% |
5. I try to use English expressions that I have studied. |
15% |
19% |
33% |
22% |
11% |
6. I try to apply English expressions that correspond to my native language. |
4% |
40% |
33% |
19% |
4% |
From this table, we can see that the highest percentage of students replies respectively appear in “Always, Often, Rarely, Rarely, Sometimes, Often”. Such a situation shows that in the process of writing, the students usually think it in Chinese before writing an English sentence. Although they often want to express their opinions in the most coherent words, they rarely try to think the most appropriate English expressions; they rarely avoid translating Chinese into English directly;they simply try to use English expressions that they have studied; and they often try to apply English expressions that correspond to their native language. That is to say, the mother tongue has a great effect on students’ English writing.
3.3.2. Data analysis and findings of the interview questions
In the first interview question, 60% of students thought that English writing was very important. Only 40% of students didn’t think that English writing was very important or made sense. In the second interview question, 80% of students thought that Chinese has interfered with their English writing. However, 20% of students didn’t admit the differences between Chinese and English, or they had no idea about them.
In the last interview question, the participants accounted their typical errors in English writing. They are word choice mistakes, Chinglish mistakes, lexical category mistakes, function word mistakes, unclear referent mistakes, and morphology mistakes, including singular and plural mistakes, tense mistakes.
3.3.3. Data analysis and findings of the students’ compositions
Among the 30 participants’ compositions, I found that 78% of errors are the same as the last interview question, and I analyzed the main mistake-causing factors. The following are several main mistake-causing factors for Chinese students of English writing:
- The understanding angle
In the process of learning English writing, there is often a lack of knowledge about the differences of Chinese and English language culture, and the different thinking modes caused by different cultural backgrounds. Therefore, students often think in the Chinese way. An asterisk at the beginning of them indicates that it as an incorrect expression in the participants’ composition, and the expression without an asterisk is correct expression.
1) In Chinese, we say “红茶”
A. * red tea
B. black tea
2) In Chinese, we say “吸烟过多有害健康”
A. * Excessive smoking will injure your body.
B. Excessive smoking will injure your health.
For their Chinese culture and Chinese thinking modes, in the first example, the students translated “红茶” into English, corresponding to Chinese. As a matter of fact, Chinese and people from English-speaking countries have different concepts about color words. In the second example, the students made an overgeneralization mistake. They mistook “health”for “body”.
(2) The way something is expressed creates its own set of potential mistakes
1) Morphology mistakes
All Chinese terms have no singular or plural, or countable and uncountable feature. In Chinese, there is no third person singular problem between subjects and predicates. Therefore, between the predicate part and the subject part, we needn’t do any adjustment. As a result of the impact of Chinese habits, students wrote such sentences as: “The street are full of garbages.” “He speak fast.” In the first sentence, “garbage” can be used as a noun; in fact it is an uncountable noun. In the second sentence, we should write the third person singular “speaks”.
In addition, the Chinese verb tense is without distinction. We use an adverb or auxiliary to express, but the English tenses are relatively much more complex. This results in the use of tense confusion. When students should use the present tense verbs, they used the past tenses, especially in compound sentences, and their statements often appear inconsistency. Say, they wrote a sentence like this: “If he works hard, he could pass the exam.” To keep the consistency of tense, here, “could” should be changed into “can”.
2) Lexical category mistakes
In the study, the students only paid attention to the meaning of the selected word, but they ignored the lexical category. For example, they wrote sentences like this: “My roommate doesn’t afraid of dogs.” In the second example, they misused the adjective form to the verb form. So the original sentence should be changed like this: “My roommate isn’t afraid of dogs.”
3) Function word mistakes
Function words are articles, prepositions and conjunctions. Due to the impact of the usage of Chinese function words, students often make mistakes. Here are examples in the students’ composition: “Although I like my school, but I miss my home.” “He arrived Tokyo yesterday.” “I bought the dictionary in 1980s.” In the first example, due to the Chinese usage “虽然……但是……”, they made structural errors. In English, “Although…but…” can only be used individually, not in conjunction. So the original sentence should be changed by “Although I like my school, I miss my home.” In the second example, the preposition “at/in” must be used after the intransitive verb. So the original sentence should be changed by “He arrived in Tokyo yesterday.” In the third example, because in English the definite article must be used before particular age, so the original sentence should be changed by “I bought the dictionary in the 1980s.”
4) The misunderstood word meaning causes mistakes
English writing requires a deep language foundation of basic vocabulary and grammar.When students chose words whose meanings or usage they haven’t mastered completely to make sentences, they make word choice mistakes. Let’s look at this sentence in the students’composition. “The young man always puts on a white jacket.’’
In this example, “put on” just means the verb action, not the situation. The meaning of the sentence lies in the situation rather than the action, so “put on” should be changed by“wears”.
5) Not paying attention to the linguistic environment causes mistakes
Context largely constrains terms. Within any given context, the word choice is different. If we do not pay attention to the context, we will write inconsistent, illogical sentences because of inappropriate word choice. For instance, “Would you mind opening the gate The air in the room is too close.” In this example, “gate” does not mean the door in the room. From the context, the speaker refers to a door rather than a gate.
6) Unclear referent
In English writing, the meaning of the pronouns must correspond to the original word. Otherwise, the consistency of the sentence will be destroyed, and the meaning of the sentence will be ambiguous or even misleading. For instance, “She told my sister she was wrong.” “She” can refer to the subject, but it can also refer to my sister. The actual meaning is uncertain. So the original sentence should be replaced by “You are wrong, she said to my sister.” or “I'm wrong, she said to my sister.”
4. Conclusion
The findings showed that most students had realized the importance of English writing in modern times and differences between English and Chinese, and that Chinese interference (negative transfer) has a great influence on English writing.
From the above data, typical errors in students’ English writing have been listed, and the main mistake-causing factors caused by Chinese interference have been analyzed. The purpose is to better correct mistakes. Anyone will inevitably make mistakes, and everything has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, we should see the similarities between Chinese and English. On the other hand, we should see the differences between them, and we should treat Chinese interference with correct attitudes. As long as we continue to discover and correct mistakes, we will be able to reduce and eliminate interference to overcome the aimlessness of teaching.
The key point of making mistakes in writing is due to students’ weak English foundation. Therefore, to enable students to lay a good foundation for a language, teachers must grasp the basis of grammar; strengthen practice of sentence structure; strengthen vocabulary teaching, including paying attention to the meaning, usage conditions of use and the matching relationship of each English word. At the same time, students should pay attention to single or plural nouns, the distinction of synonyms, and make full use of the dictionary. Teachers should evaluate students’ writing in time to accurately predict easily committed mistakes, identify differences between the mother tongue and the target language by contrastive analysis and error analysis, and raise their accuracy of English expression by classifying, analyzing, interpreting students’ mistakes and practicing repeatedly. As long as teachers insist on the above approaches, students will gradually reduce their errors, and they can raise the level of students’ writing and improve the writing teaching effect.
References
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