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A Study On Negative Transfer In Chinese College EFL Classrooms And Its Countermeasures

Posted on:2009-11-14Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y SunFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360272487593Subject:Subject teaching
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
In the field of language teaching, there is a wide spread acceptance of the idea that native language could greatly affect second language acquisition both positively and negatively. Negative transfer from learners'first language to the second language has been considered inevitable and substantially evidenced in interlingua pragmatics literature.This thesis seeks to clarify the effects of negative transfer from Chinese to Chinese EFL (English as a foreign language) learners, especially to undergraduates, and tries to find some strategies to overcome them.It proposes that because of the differences, the transfer of mother tongue into the target language tends to appear in the negative form. The negative transfer of Chinese into English is the major cause of the so-called Chinglish.Chinese teachers and undergraduates of non-English major were the subjects in this study. The author makes a literature review of language transfer, especially negative transfer and expresses the methodology of this research. Characteristics of Chinese culture and college English learning in China are explained in this paper. Meanwhile, the author describes several typical kinds of negative transfer Chinese EFL learners own and analyzes the causes of them. Some countermeasures against negative Chinese transfer are raised and taken into practice. The conclusion of the research is that native language transfer is an unavoidable factor to consider if it is intended to improve English by Chinese learners. In fact, the college EFL learners will benefit substantially with a better understanding of its working principles and the approaches to remove negative transfer in the process of their EFL learning.Based on the investigation and the discussion, pedagogical implication is proposed which includes 1)enhancing the awareness of negative transfer in teaching English; 2)developing students'English competence by removing the effects of negative transfer; 3)improving teachers'professional standards to avoid negative transfer.
Keywords/Search Tags:language transfer, negative transfer, mother tongue, college English
PDF Full Text Request
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