A Study Of Native Language Positive Transfers In Secondary School English Class Learning

Plenty of domestic and foreign researches indicate that in the process of secondlanguage acquisition, native language transfer does exit and can not be ignored.Concerning its impact, native language transfer can be divided into "positive transfer"and "negative transfer". Relevant researches at home and abroad on second languageacquisition traditionally mainly focused on the negative transfer of native language.However, in recent years with the development of theories of linguistics andpsychology, there has been updated knowledge of native language transfer inacademia and the positive transfer in the process of second language acquisition hasgradually been recognized. Compared with foreign countries, China’s researches onlanguage transfer have a late start. Although there are various findings elaborated inliterature, most focus on analysis of the phenomenon and causes of negative nativelanguage transfer, leaving alone positive native language transfer. In recent years,researchers find that native language is employed to various extents in practicalEnglish teaching for the purpose of helping students to understand and grasp theessentials of English language knowledge. The auxiliary function of positive nativelanguage transfer exists at different levels of English language teaching and indifferent aspects of English acquisition. How to reasonably, appropriately, andscientifically employ native language transfer to perform its positive effects so thatstudents can overcome their difficulties in target language learning has become thedirection and subject of many teachers and researchers.Taking Chomsky’s universal grammar and Krashen’s input hypothesis as thetheoretical framework and referring to relevant research ideas and methods, this studyfocuses on the native language positive transfer in English class learning of secondaryschool students. This study first described the state of native language application inEnglish class teaching of secondary schools by exploring the aspects of classroomteaching in which teachers use native language and then investigated the attitudes teachers and students hold towards the use of native language in class teaching and inwhat aspects that native language positive transfer appears. This study therebyclarifies the positive role of native language in secondary school English learning inclassroom and puts forward that in secondary school English teaching appropriate andmoderate use of native language is needed in order to offer more comprehensibleinput for students to have a deeper and clearer understanding of English languageknowledge, thus to improve students’ learning efficiency and learning effectiveness.21teachers of different ages teaching senior grade one in3secondary schools ofa northeast city in China and454students from the same schools were chosen as thesubjects of study. Classroom observations, teacher interviews and questionnairesurveys, were adopted to understand the situation of native language use, and theattitudes and perceptions teachers and students have towards and of the use of nativelanguage in English classes. On the basis of data collected from students’ performanceevaluation and data obtained from teacher questionnaires and interviews, this studyfurther explored the specific effects of native language positive transfer in secondaryschool English class learning.Based on the analysis of data collected, the study found that native language iswidely used in secondary school English classes. Attitudes of both teachers andstudents towards the assistant role of native language in English teaching and learningare obviously positive. Although the teachers know the existence of negative transferand some try hard to create a good English environment for students, in their realteaching practice proper use of the native language is acceptable. Native language isusually employed in explaining grammar points, teaching vocabulary, explainingexercises and maintaining class discipline in secondary school English classes.Students’ lack of professional terms of English grammar is a big hamper for them tounderstand English grammar. To help students understand English grammar better andfaster, teachers choose to take advantage of students’ native language as theinstruction medium in certain aspects of class teaching. To understand the relevantknowledge of English language through students’ original language cognitivestructures and norms can effectively help students understand and acquire English grammar. Comparison of similarities and differences between Chinese and Englishand proper application of translation method in reading instruction can improvestudents’ understanding thus enhance students’ learning effectiveness to certain extent.In addition, the results of questionnaires and interviews of teachers also indicate thatanother reason for teachers to use native language is the big number of students ofeach class in secondary schools. In order to finish the required teaching tasks withinlimited class time while ensuring students’ effective understanding of teachingcontents, teachers usually choose to employ native language in explaining somedifficulties in teaching in order to enhance teaching efficiency and ensure students’solid grasp of knowledge at the same time. In addition, data collected shows thatstudents’ higher expectation on the amount of Chinese used in classroom teaching andlearning is not only out of better understanding of the target language knowledge butalso to reduce their anxiety in learning. However, only few teachers realized this needof students. Meanwhile, teachers’ oral English proficiency also determines the amountof native language used in the classroom.Based on the summary of the research results, this paper puts forward somesuggestions for secondary school English classroom teaching practice. First of all,teachers should be fully aware of the positive role of native language instead ofcompletely denying the role of native language in helping students acquire someaspects of the target language knowledge such as grammar and vocabulary learning,etc. Secondly, teachers should fully understand the similarities and differencesbetween Chinese and English, making appropriate and scientific use of the positivetransfer in the process of teaching. While preventing the negative transfer teachers canalso improve students’ understanding and acceptance of the target language by takingadvantage of students’ original language cognitive ability. Thirdly, appropriateapplication of translation method may promote teaching effectiveness in secondaryschool English classes to certain extent and reduce learning anxiety of students withlow target language proficiency. Teachers should flexibly use native languageaccording to students’ English level and teaching tasks, instead of complete avoidance.In addition, stratified teaching method can be adopted in class organization by placing students into different classes according to their different English understandingability and adopting different teaching methods in classroom teaching accordingly. Inthis way, students of different language levels could be provided with comprehensibleand informative input to enhance the overall teaching effect. Finally, in-servicetraining of English teachers of secondary schools should be emphasized. Teachers’constant learning and development in career may benefit students greatly in the end.