A Comparative Study Of L1(Uyghur) And L2(Chinese) Transfer In Senior High School Minorities’ English Writing

In recent years, the foreign language education has made a great progress in China,especially in more prosperous areas. However, the English language education inethnic minority areas still have not been improved that much. The government hasmade an effort to try to create a better learning environment for the both JuniorMiddle Schools and Senior High School, by launching the program of Nei Gaobanand Nei Chuban. However, students still have encountered many difficulties inEnglish learning.To better understand the existing situation, the present study analyzed the errors inthe writing assignment by91senior high school Uyghur students were analyzed. Thenthe role of L1and L2in their English writing was explored. Accordingly, there arethree major findings in this study:Firstly, both L1and L2have an influence on high school Uyghur students′English learning, and in both positive and negative ways. However, L2influence isthe dominating one.Secondly, the results also suggest that if a learner has comparatively lowproficiency of L2(Chinese), then L2will not work efficiently as a bridge betweenmother tongue and the foreign language. Therefore, Chinese influences Uyghurstudents’ third language learning in a negative way. Thirdly, the thinking pattern as acrucial part of culture becomes a big problem for senior high school Uyghur studentsas well.Hopefully, the results can serve to improve the progress students are making inmastering English.