A Study Of L1 Negative Transfer In English Writings Of Vo-tech College Students

In the foreign language learning research, the learner's mother tongue (MT) or the first language (L1) plays an important role in the second or foreign language learning. The influence of L1 is called language transfer, which is a normal psychological process occurs when people are acquiring knowledge. Language transfer can be divided into positive transfer and negative transfer in terms of its function. Positive transfer has a positive effect on the second language learning, while negative transfer has a negative effect on it. L1 Negative transfer has been a thorny problem for Chinese students to improve their English writings. In this thesis, the author analyzes the L1 negative transfer errors from four different linguistic levels, namely the morphological, lexical, syntactic and discousal level, in detail and finds that errors at the lexical level and syntactic level are more likely to be influenced by L1. That is to say, L1 negative transfer errors at the lexical level and syntactic level are of high frequency among all errors. To be more specific, Chinese students tend to make errors in articles, conjunctions, tense, mood, agreement and word order.Based on the theories of language transfer and error analysis (EA), this study aims to investigate the negative transfer of Chinese on Higher Vocational College students'English writings. The research questions are as follow: 1) what are the main types of errors in Chinese Vo-tech college students'English writings? 2) In what aspects do the L1 negative transfer errors manifest in Chinese Vo-tech college students'English writings? 3) Which aspect do the L1 negative transfer errors take the highest position in Chinese Vo-tech college students'English writings? 4) And what pedagogical implications can we get from this study? Based on these four research questions, the author analyzes the L1 negative transfer errors in students'sample writings from four different linguistic levels, and proposes some pedagogical suggestions in hopes of improving students'English writings.This study employs methodologies of the quantitative approach and the qualitative approach. The participants in the study include 189 sophomores from 4 intact classes in Wuhan Institution of Technology and Changjiang Professional College. Sample writings, interviews and Excel software are employed as the data collection instruments in the research. In order to ensure the validity of the research, the sample writing is assigned in the form of mid-term examination. Due to the limited time, the author only analyzes 30 compositions in detail, which were randomly selected from the whole population. The results show that Chinese does have a negative transfer on Higher Vocational College students'English writings. Errors caused by L1 negative transfer account for 45.2% and are mainly manifested at the morphological, lexical, syntactic and discoursal levels in which errors at the lexical level and at the syntactic level are most obvious. Therefore, errors at the lexical level and syntactic level have been analyzed specifically. Based on the findings of the research, some suggestions are made on vocabulary teaching and writing teaching in order to reduce the L1 negative transfer.