Analysis Of Written Features In Chinese Learners' Spoken English

This paper is devoted to the analysis of written features in Chinese learners' spoken English. It has first discussed the differences between the spoken and written languages. Speech and writing are two equal systems of communication, each of which has developed to fulfill a particular set of communicative needs. Due to the distinctions in the production channel and the different cognitive constraints on speakers and writers, there are some differences in the potential form of speech and writing: speech is prior to writing; the written language is more unified than the spoken language; the spoken language is characterized by fragmentation and involvement while the written language is characterized by a high degree of integration and detachment. Then the paper has described unnatural written features in the oral output of Chinese learners of English from the phonetic, lexical, syntactic and textual aspects. The thesis has also explored the causes. We can conclude that two major factors which influence the oral output are relevant linguistic knowledge and the ability to transform this knowledge into oral information effectively. Relevant linguistic knowledge can be acquired through the constant exposure to the target language. For foreign language learners, this exposure may be from three channels: teacher talk, teaching material, and their natural exposure outside the classroom. However, Chinese learners cannot obtain the authentic input through these three ways. Besides, as limited-capacity information processors, they cannot spare attention and ability to handle the stylistic features discussed above. This paper has proposed some solutions to the problem. We should first pay more attention to and do more research on speech. Then teachers should point these features out directly and make their students sensitive to them through various kinds of practice. Teaching material writers should also consciously make this knowledge clear to help learners avoid unnatural written features in their oral English.