A Study Of Negative Transfer In English Grammar Learning In High School

Transfer in language learning is a traditional subject studied by educational psychology. Many psychologists have conducted lots of research into it. Language transfer really exists in language learning. While learning English, Chinese students usually translate English sentences by borrowing the rules of their native language. When transfer is proper, it contributes positively. Otherwise, it's negative. Nowadays, when learners in high school are learning English, especially grammar, they mechanically apply the rules of their mother tongue to English sentences, thus causing mistakes or Chinglish, which makes students puzzled and has a great influence on students' interest and enthusiasm in learning English. Besides, in high school, grammar is ignored, which results in students' poor knowledge of grammar, influences the development of students' learning skill and language proficiency and prevents students' self-learning. Grammar is the core of language. Without grammar, language can't come into being and communication can never be made, let alone listening, speaking, reading, writing and integrating skills.Negative transfer from one's native language in English learning usually occurs partially, but it can cause mistakes in meaning, if serious, which makes communication unsuccessful. In English learning, the influence of one's native language features in many ways in negative transfer in grammar. This thesis first discusses language transfer in language learning in terms of psychology and reviews the current research done by some experts at home and abroad, and from this point this thesis mainly carries out the analysis of negative transfer to illustrate the Chinese interference in English grammar learning by example out of the exercises from the 120 students in senior Grade 2. By sorting the mistakes, I've found out students always make such mistakes as articles, the number and case of noun and pronoun, verb and its tense, word order, conjunction and interrogative sentences. Of course, these mistakes are only part of grammar. And the mistakes are chosen as a result of the high rate of failure. Based on the theories of transfer, this thesis analyses the differences between English and Chinese to find out the causes of failure. I hope that the analysis will improve students' grammar and function well for teachers. Some counter measures against negative transfer in teaching are explored at the end.The progress in studying language transfer has not only promoted the development of psychology, especially educational psychology, but some achievements have provided some psychological basis for language teaching and learning. Teaching for transfer is one of the most resounding slogans in modem education. During the process of English learning, Chinese, our mother tongue, influences students learning English in the form of its peculiar system. The Chinese interference with English learning is unavoidable. We should accept it, analyse and understand the differences between English and Chinese. We also should fully realize the negative influence and guide students learning English.