The Influence Of English Transfer On The Lexical Acquisition Of German Beginners

In German lexical acquisition,the influence of language transfer can not be ignored.During this process,the influence of English transfer is inevitable for Chinese German learners.There are already preliminary studies about the influence of English transfer on German lexical acquisition.However,the research about German beginners is rare.The research participants of this thesis are the freshmen of German major in Shanghai International Studies University.Based on students' lexical errors reflected in the vocabulary test and students' statements in the interviews,this thesis researches the influence of English transfer on their German lexical acquisition.This thesis adopts qualitative research method.The main research methods are questionnaire,vocabulary test and interview.The questionnaire investigates the participants' basic information and their viewpoints of the relationship between English and German.The vocabulary test is utilized to collect the data of lexical errors.Meanwhile,this thesis conducts semi-structured interview,according to the responses in students' questionnaires and vocabulary tests.Besides,through interviews,this thesis learns about students' attitudes towards the English transfer influence on their German lexical acquisition.There are four major findings in this research.First,in the language influential sources of the transfer errors in this vocabulary test,English has the biggest influence,then is the influence of Chinese,finally is the influence of German.Besides,in the interviews,students state the examples that they have successfully expressed with the help of English.Therefore,there is not only English positive transfer influence,but also English negative transfer influence on the German beginners' lexical acquisition in this research.Second,according to the classification of Ringbom,this research classifies the lexical errors as: code-switchings,calques,false friends and semantic extensions.The four types of lexical errors are all mainly influenced by English transfer.Code-switchings and calques are mainly influenced by English word form and false friends and semantic extensions are mainly influenced by English word meaning.The errors influenced by English word meaning exceed the errorsinfluenced by English word form.Third,as for the reasons of the specific lexical errors,this thesis provides explanations according to students' statements in the interviews.Fourth,students can realize the English transfer phenomena in German lexical acquisition,but their transfer awareness is insufficient.Finally,this thesis offers teaching suggestions according to the research results of the vocabulary test,the problems found in the interviews and the teaching advice provided by students.