A Case Study Of Positive Transferability In English Lexicon Acquisition By Chinese Learners

Now linguists have perceived that no theory of second language acquisition that ignores the learner's prior linguistic knowledge can be considered complete, though the significance of language transfer has once been a controversial topic. In traditional accounts of language transfer, one obvious shortcoming lies in the emphasis on the negative aspects of transfer and the corresponding neglect of native language as variable facilitating second language learning. Current discussions of transfer emphasize the necessity of considering a balance between interlingual similarities and differences.In the thesis, the author presents the concepts of language transfer and positive transfer, states the different classifications of transfer and various constraints on transfer. At the same time, a historical review of transfer studies can be found in the thesis, which reveals the several ebbs and flows of transfer theory development. The author also explores the role of positive transfer in lexicon-semantics through a case study, and examines the way positive transfer interacts with lexicon acquisition in second language as well as its implications in language teaching. In the process, the author surveys a large body of literature and examines data from many different learners.In the thesis, we can find some novel ideas and practice. When it comes to transfer study, most linguists attach importance to error analysis (or negative transfer), while few people paid much attention to positive transfer, let alone positive transfer in lexicon (with the exception of Kellerman and a few linguists). In the thesis, the study of positive transfer in lexicon-semantic is different from other linguists'in several aspects. The material used in the experiment here concerns adjectives while others'experiments only consist of concrete nouns and mixed concrete and abstract senses of a verb. In the second, many studies have shown that the existence of cognates in the target language greatly facilitates learning. Although English and Chinese are not cognate, the author dedicates herself to the study of positive transferability in English lexicon acquisition by Chinese learners.