The Influence Negative Transfer Of Chinese Has On English Writing Of Vocational Institute Students

Native language or L1 influence on foreign language learning is a heated topic in the field of Second Language Acquisition. It is generally thought that Chinese students'English learning is greatly affected by their native language, or by the Chinese language transfer. English writing is not only a crucial aspect to show the ability of English, but also a key problem to be solved of English teaching & learning in China. Consequently, according to related theories of language transfer, the present research attempts to analyze and explore negative transfer of Chinese in vocational institute students'English writing, striving to investigate the following issues:(1) Are there any differences in the extent of negative transfer of Chinese in English writing of vocational institute students at different English proficiency levels? (2) Are there any differences in the extent of negative transfer of Chinese respectively in lexis, syntax and discourse between the three groups of subjects?The present study involves 136 non-English freshmen in Hunan Vocational Institute of Safety Technology, all of whom take an exam. According to their marks,60 subjects are picked out, made up of 20 best ones standing for those with advanced English proficiency level,20 average ones standing for those with intermediate English proficiency level and 20 worst ones standing for those with basic English proficiency level. According to Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis, Interlanguage Theory and achievements of previous research, the author carries out her study on negative transfer of Chinese in English writings from the subjects through the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods in analyzing the data gathered from English writing task, questionnaire and interview. Based on the experimental study, the answers to the two issues are:(1) There isn't difference in the extent of negative transfer of Chinese in English writing of the students between the advanced English proficiency level and the intermediate English proficiency level. But there is difference in the extent of negative transfer of Chinese in English writing of the students between the intermediate English proficiency level and the basic English proficiency level:the more proficient in English students are, the less interfered by Chinese they are in English writing, and it is the case of the students between the advanced English proficiency level and the basic English proficiency level; (2) Concerning negative transfer of Chinese in English writing in lexis, there is no difference in the extent of negative transfer of Chinese between the three groups of subjects; concerning negative transfer of Chinese in English writing in syntax, there isn't difference in the extent of negative transfer of Chinese between the advanced and intermediate groups, but there is difference both between the intermediate and basic groups and between the advanced and basic groups that the more proficient in English students are, the less interfered by Chinese they are; concerning negative transfer of Chinese in English writing in discourse, there is difference neither between the advanced and intermediate groups nor between the advanced and basic groups, but there is difference between the intermediate and basic levels that the more proficient in English students are, the less interfered by Chinese they are. The answers indicate:(1) Vocational institute students with basic English proficiency are much more interfered by Chinese in English writing than those with the intermediate and advanced English proficiency; (2) In English learning, negative transfer of Chinese is hard to be eradicated by Chinese students even by those who are quite proficient in English, but as English proficiency enhances, negative transfer of Chinese will reduce to some extent.The thesis illustrates the relationship between negative transfer of Chinese and English writing, of which the data and findings have certain theoretical and practical significance for linguistic researchers and English learners. Valid and reliable data provided by the experiment offer us a better understanding of the relationship between negative transfer of Chinese and students'English writing, helping to improve English writing ability of Chinese vocational institute students.