| Language transfer has been a hot issue in the field of applied linguistics for several decades. According to Odlin, language transfer refers to the impact resulting from similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired. Language transfer can be classified into positive transfer and negative transfer based on the nature of the impact. The former is the influence that facilitates learning and occurs because of the similarities of two languages; the latter is the influence that inhibits learning and occurs when there are differences between the two languages. As for Chinese and English, they have a lot of similarities and differences which make transfer possible.Writing, as an integrated ability, can reflect student's learning status of every aspect. Thus, it can provide a platform to study language transfer. In addition, the author found Chinese transfer in students' compositions in the teaching practice. Based on these two points and the previous research, the author came up with three research questions:1) In what aspects does Chinese positively influence the English writing? 2) What types of errors are often made by Chinese students in their English writings? And what are the reasons? 3) What kinds of errors are caused by Chinese negative transfer? To find the answers, the author learned from the existed methods and conducted the experiment in Zhuhai No.10 Middle School.82 eighth graders made up the subjects; and writing analysis, questionnaires and interview were employed as the instruments. The main purpose of this experiment is to find out Chinese positive transfer, the types of errors and Chinese negative transfer in English writings.The results of the three instruments show that there are many similarities between Chinese and English though they come from different language families. The thesis analyzes Chinese positive transfer from four levels:words, phrases, sentence structure and discourse. Besides, according to James's theory, the errors in subjects' writings are divided into four types, namely, substance errors, lexical errors, grammar errors and discourse errors. Among them, grammar errors and lexical errors occupy the vast majority. In terms of the reasons, the author classifies these errors into negative transfer errors and errors caused by other reasons. It is concluded that Chinese negative transfer accounts for 63.30% of all the errors. And those transfer errors are widely distributed among every level of the language. The author lists all the transfer errors she can find in the samples and explains them through the comparison of Chinese and English; and a lot of examples taken from the compositions are also used to point out the differences of the two languages and prove the Chinese negative transfer.The major findings are summarized in the following three aspects. Firstly, Chinese positive transfer does exist in junior students'writings, promoting the improvement of the writing proficiency. Secondly, students'errors are distributed at the levels of substance, lexicon, grammar and discourse, most of which are grammar and lexical errors; Chinese negative transfer plays a major role in causing these errors. Thirdly, errors caused by Chinese negative transfer can be classified into four levels. At the level of substance, the author identifies misspellings and punctuation errors; transfer errors found at the lexicon level are mainly collocation errors; the grammar-level errors include deviances in the morphology and the syntax; finally, at the discourse level, students make transfer errors in the aspects of coherence, writing style and discourse pattern. In addition, five implications based upon the author's teaching experience and the experimental results are put forward. The author hopes that the suggestions can serve as a modest spur to help both teachers and students to take full advantage of the positive transfer and reduce the negative Chinese interference. |
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