Effects Of Language Transfer On Chinese Students' Acquisition Of English Reflexives

American linguist, Odlin, has given a"working definition"of transfer: Transfer is the influence resulting from the similarities and the differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired. The study of language transfer plays an important part in theories for second language acquisition and second language teaching. In recent years, the contrastive study between Chinese and English develops fast, but there are just a few studies of language transfer in the process of Chinese students'acquisition of English reflexives.This thesis mainly analyzes how and to what extent the native language of Chinese students could affect the acquisition of their second language (English) reflexives. Do Chinese students of English apply their related knowledge of Chinese during the process of the acquisition of English reflexives? How does language transfer function in different acquisition stages of English reflexives (low-level, medium-level and high-level)? Does the parametric resetting of English reflexives of the learners have positive correlation with their English proficiency? This thesis is supposed to explore the potential answers to the issues mentioned above.This thesis proposes the following three hypotheses:1) There is some difficulty for Chinese learners of English to acquire the local binding feature of English reflexives and they tend to transfer their Chinese language settings into English; 2) In the initial stage of second language acquisition, language transfer is most evident and the effect of language transfer declines gradually with the advancement of their English proficiency; and 3) There is a positive correlation between the parameter resetting of English reflexives and English proficiency or exposure degree to English.The thesis designs a written test to examine the acquisition of English reflexives of Chinese students, the function and effects of language transfer in the process of acquisition. The results of this test are:1) There is some difficulty for Chinese learners of English to acquire the local binding feature of English reflexives and these three groups of subjects clearly show the subject orientation; 2) The negative effect of language transfer declines with the improvement of English proficiency of the learners. However, the stage on which language transfer is most evident is the second stage of second language acquisition, not the first stage as we assumed; and 3)There is a positive correlation between the parameter resetting of English reflexives and English proficiency but the ratio of parameter resetting shows a nonlinear upward trend.In addition, the thesis discusses the enlightenments given by language transfer to English teaching. In brief, in the process of Chinese students'acquisition of English reflexives, language transfer is an important factor for overall study of acquisition of English reflexives. Therefore, it is necessary to make further, comprehensive and systematic study of language transfer of Chinese students'acquisition of English reflexives.