Cross-linguistic Influences In Qiang Students' English Learning

Third language acquisition is a relatively new area of study, which has both sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic foundations. It presents specific characteristics derived from the fact that third language learners are experienced learners and that bilinguals and multilinguals present a different type of linguistic competence as compared to that of monolinguals.The Qiang nationality has a comparatively small population among all the minority nationalities in China, and the majority of the Qiang people live in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province. Due to the underdeveloped social economy, language environment, and cultural background, the Qiang students' English learning demonstrates certain regional characteristics, such as more difficulties and errors in English learning, and strong L1 accents in their spoken language. But for years, English teaching has been neglected and the teaching quality is rather poor. This is, on the one hand, due to the average teacher's lack of professional training or uncertainty over the acceptability of his own English knowledge as a model for imitation. The other and probably more important reason is inadequate research on cross-linguistic influence therein and ineffective methodology for multilingual teaching. So far, few efforts have been made, either at home or abroad, to conduct thorough and systematic studies on the Qaing language or on Qiang students' English learning, let alone any in-depth empirical study on cross-linguistic influences in Qiang students' English learning. That is why the author does this study.This thesis employs third language acquisition theories to examine language transfer which can best reveal the differences among the Qiang language, Chinese and English, and to probe into the forms and causes of L1 interference in Qiang students' English learning based on two questionnaires. It aims to explain and predict the problems and errors and then propose some countermeasures. The author also discusses how to maintain the endangered Qiang language in the context of globalization and multilingualism.The dissertation comprises five chapters, which are organized as follows:Chapter One serves as an introduction, which sketches out the background and objectives of the present study and the plan of this dissertation.Chapter Two first gives an overview of the Qiang nationality and its language, and presents a brief review of the literature on language transfer. Then it analyzes the interaction between L1 L2 and L3, and factors affecting the language mode of bilinguals and trilinguals, such as previous language-learning experience and language distance (or typology).Chapter Three analyzes cross-linguistic influences among the Qiang language (L1), Chinese (L2) and English (L3) in Qiang students' English learning from the perspective of cross-linguistic influence. The analysis is based on two questionnaires.Chapter Four puts forward some suggestions on how to enhance the teaching of English for Qiang students and how to maintain the endangered Qiang language in the context of globalization and multilingualism.Chapter Five is the conclusion, which summarizes the major findings of this thesis, followed by an acknowledgement of the limitations of the study and some prospects for future study in this field.