An Empirical Study On Chinglish In Light Of The Compensation Hypothesis

The present study aims to examine language transfer and Chinglish from the contextual perspective in light of the Compensation Hypothesis (Wang, 2003b). According to the Compensation Hypothesis, lack of authentic L2 context compatible with L2 incurs a mismatch of L2 forms with L1 contextual knowledge, thus giving rise to L1 transfer. That is, L1 contextual knowledge mediates transfer from L1 to L2. In this view, Chinglish, which largely stems from L1 transfer, can be attributed to the function of L1 Chinese contextual knowledge. This conceptualization differs from the traditional notion of language transfer in that L1 transfer is due more to contextual knowledge than to ignorance of L2 forms. However, few attempts have thus far been made to investigate the process of language transfer from this contextual perspective.To verify this point of view with the purpose of finding out how Chinglish comes about and whether a mismatch obtains between Chinglish forms and the requisite contextual knowledge that go with them as the Compensation Hypothesis predicts, a qualitative study with nine participants was conducted at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. These participants were Chinese third-year English majors, and they were required to write a story based on a set of cartoon pictures by relating the pictures to their own life experience. Then, a native speaker of English was invited to underline the errors in their compositions, after which, the compositions were returned to the participants for identification of Chinglish. This process of error identification co-occurred with think-aloud and interviews ensued. The think-aloud protocols and interview recordings constituted the data for analysis.The results based on this qualitative study show that L1 contextual knowledge actually plays an influential role in inducing L1 transfer for Chinese EFL learners, and the transfer can be due to the compensation of contextual knowledge of various types. When the requisite English form has not been learnt, learners tend to use the literal translation of the Chinese form that goes with the current context. When the form has been learnt but only weakly linked to the context or linked to an inappropriate context, Chinese contextual knowledge matching the current context will go in and activate the Chinese form thus inducing language transfer. When an inappropriate L2 form is strongly linked to the current context and the requisite L2 form cannot be retrieved even if it has been learnt, the inappropriate L2 form is used and this is often ascribed to its close link to Chinese contextual knowledge that welds the current context.Overall, this study has provided empirical evidence for the Compensation Hypothesis. It verifies that the influence of L1 contextual knowledge is likely to be a factor of inducing language transfer, and it also delineates how learners' internal contextual knowledge mediates and activates language transfer. The findings deserve special consideration in English teaching and learning. EFL learners should be provided with rich and contextually appropriate L2 input in foreign language learning.