A Comparative Study Of Children Chinese Speech And College Students' English Speech

We have all observed children learning their first language easily and well, yet the learning of a second language, particularly in and educational setting, often meets with great difficulty and sometimes failure. In China, after more than 6 years English studying, most of the college students'oral English proficiency is so unsatisfactory that they cannot make proper daily conversations on familiar topics. This phenomenon has been frustrating not only college students but also their English teachers and educators engaging in second language teaching and research. So it is believed that we should therefore be able to get some valuable implications from comparing and contrasting first and second language learning. The comparison of first and second language learning can be divided into three types: 1. First and second language learning in children. (Holding age constant) 2. Second language learning in adult and children. (Holding language constant) 3. First language learning in child and second language learning in adults. It is obviously that child first language learning and adult second language learning are the most common and important categories to be compared. Considering this, the present study is in the line of the studies of type3. Based on the comparing and analyzing of the differences between child speech and Chinese college students'English speech, the present study aimed at finding some enlightened implications for the college students'English learning and assisted the educators to find effective way to improve Chinese college students'oral English. In order to record CCS, the method of non-participant observation was taken. The author as a limited observer observed 20 child participants in the classroom of DinXi ZhengTai kindergarten during a ten weeks time span. Interviews and a post-task questionnaire were conducted to 40 non-English major college students to collect CSES. These students are seldom selected from North West Normal University. And a series of independent samples t-tests were performed on three pairs of comparisons: CCS vs. CSES; CSCG2 vs. ESCG1; CSEI vs. CCS.The results of present study indicated that because the young children get to know the world by learning to speak the language so their cognitive level are relatively balanced with their language competence, that is to say, in most occasions they can express their ideas in their first language freely . But as to the adult second language learner, they learn the language after learning about the world, so there is a large disequilibrium between their cognitive level and second language competence. That is to say, what the adult second language learners want to speak is always much more complex than what they can speak. This disequilibrium between their cognition and language competence is just like a wide and deep gap, is hardly to cross in a short time. So this disequilibrium not only damaged their motivation for English learning but also caused the phenomenon of"dumb English". How to bridge this disequilibrium by some useful strategies is one of the most urgent problems need to be solved by second language learners and teachers.