A Study Of Chinglish Expressions In The Written Assignments Of Non-English Majors

There are a lot of Chinglish expressions in writings that EFL (English as Foreign Language) teachers often complain of and EFL students often feel frustrated about. In recent years, Chinese colleges and universities have resorted to CET Band 4 and Band 6 to test students' language proficiency and college's teaching qualities. Writing, as a major part in the test, has attracted wide attention of both teachers and students.This research, under the direction of error analysis, contrastive analysis and the error types that lots of researchers have offered, tries to find out new typical Chinglish expressions in the writings of non-English majors. With the help of a specially designed questionnaire for the first-year non-English majors of Suzhou Institute of Industrial Technology, the author investigates the root causes for the occurrence of Chinglish. Seven aspects are discussed with some relevant examples found in the students' writings, which cover students' English learning behavior, writing strategies, false concepts hypothesized, transitional incompetence, bicultural incompetence, lack of authentic context and English teaching methods in China.Based on discussions on the causes for Chinglish, its countermeasures are also offered in order that such awkward expressions can be eradicated to the minimal degree. The non-English majors lack competence in transforming Chinese into English. During the process of teaching and learning, the difficulties and problems in English writing should be taken into consideration. Suggestions for improvement include contrastive analysis, reading authentic English texts, reciting famous English writings and imitating model essays.It is hoped that this research can also throw light on how learners process language and acquire the necessary knowledge, and what role English teachers should play in language teaching, and thus, contribute to better English teaching and learning in China.