Language Transfer Manifested in English Idiom Acquisition by Chinese EFL Learners

Idiom acquisition plays an important role in the process of second language learning and acquisition.Proper understanding of linguistic transfer in terms of English idiom acquisition is helpful for EFL learners to improve the efficiency of learning English and also facilitates the process of English teaching.This study examines the Chinese learner’s language transfer features manifested in their understanding of English idioms which are classified into five different types according to their linguistic forms and conceptual bases.The results suggest that equivalent linguistic forms and equivalent conceptual bases of idioms are helpful to cause positive transfer while different conceptual bases of idioms may result in negative cross-linguistic transfer.This article may contribute to the development of language transfer theory and provide pedagogical implications of how English idioms should be learned by students and taught by English teachers.

Corpora research of language transfer

The paper firstly reviews the developments of language transfer research. Utilizing the results supplied by CEM and AntConc, the present writer conducts analyses of the lexicai errors committed by the students in TEM-8 test and reveals the contributions to SLA and EFL language teaching that language transfer may make.

Study of Negative Effects of the Native Language Transfer on Second Language Acquisition

Language transfer has long been one of significant parts of the studies on the second language acquisition(SLA). The native language transfer will inevitably generate definite influences on SLA, negative or positive; it is less important to study the positive effects of the native language transfer. This paper is aimed to give a brief analysis on negative effects of the native language transfer in SLA with those English learners whose mother tongue is Chinese as examples. Meanwhile, in English teaching and learning, realization of negative transfers of the native language and utmost avoidance of them can improve the English learners' learning quality.

Language Transfer in Chinese EFL Writing

Language transfer has been a key issue in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and language teaching for at least a century. Within the last few decades, however, its importance has been reassessed several times. The paper focuses on the phenomena of language transfer in Chinese EFL writing, expecting to provide implications for Chinese English learners and teachers.

Second Language Transfer in Third Language Acquisition: An Empirical Study of Chinese English Majors Learning German as Third Language

Guided by the theory of language transfer,this paper examines the transfer of English(second language)in the early stages of the acquisition of German(third language)by Chinese English majors.The results reveal that English has both positive and negative effects on German acquisition,especially on German pronunciation,vocabulary and sentence learning.On the basis of these findings,some suggestions are also put forward in order to improve the efficiency of third language(German)teaching,namely,English-as-a-vehicular-language teaching,contrastive teaching and corpus-based teaching.

Language Transfer Evidence in the Acquisition of Double Object Construction by Chinese EFL Learners

Based on the theory of language transfer in second language acquisition, this study explored the dynamic acquisition of English double object construction by Chinese EFL learners through comparative analysis. Altogether 120 subjects participated in this experiment and were required to take the proofreading exercise in limited time. The experimental results showed that Chinese EFL learners at different levels of proficiency acquired the core subclass of double object construction better than peripheral ones;meanwhile, learners at higher levels of proficiency outperformed those at lower levels, especially in the peripheral types. Relevant theoretical interpretations were given thereafter to the above research findings, with the hope to shed some light on the learning of double object construction by Chinese EFL learners.

The Influence of First Language Transfer on Second Language Acquisition

Language transfer plays a great role in second language acquisition process.As for the Chinese English learners,it is im⁃portant for them to know the positive and negative transfer of Chinese to English.Understanding the concepts of transfer and lan⁃guage transfer and the differences and similarities of mother language and target language may promote the acquisition of second language.According to the analysis of positive transfer and negative transfer,some learning strategies and pedagogical implications were made for second language learners.

Language Transfer and the Acquisition of English Light Verb + Noun Collocations by Chinese Learners

Transfer has been a controversial issue in the study of second language acquisition. This study concerns language transfer at the lexical level and focuses on the transfer phenomena existing in Chinese college students’ acquisition of English light verb ＋ noun collocations. The paper introduces the light verb systems in Mandarin Chinese and English respectively, analyzes the different situations of light verb use in collocations between Chinese and English, and classifies these different situations into seven types. Then it uses three collocation tests as the experimental materials to examine the L1 influence on the students’ acquisition of English light verb ＋ noun collocations in relation to these seven types of situations. At last, the paper stresses the importance of transfer in SLA and presents some pedagogical implications for language teaching and learning and some suggestions for further study.

NEGATIVE LANGUAGE TRANSFER IN COLLEGE ENGLISH WRITING BY CHINESE STUDENTS:PROBLEMS AND STRATEGIES

Negative language transfer is a common phenomenon in Chinese students' English writing. This paper mainly focuses on the negative language transfer in college English writing. Through analyzing the manifestations of negative language transfer at the morphemic, lexical, syntactical and discourse level, the paper makes a further study on the causes that lead to the negative language transfer, which are cultural differences and different modes of thinking. Based on all the analysis, the paper suggests some strategies of how to teach English writing more efficiently from three aspects: reinforce the input of language knowledge, reinforce the input of culture knowledge and teach writing as a process.

Second Call for Papers 2009 International Symposium on Language Transfer in Second Language Acquisition

March 21-22,2009 Keynote Speakers Terence Odlin Ohio State University David Singleton The University of Dublin Scott Jarvis Ohio University Submissions which present research on any topic in the field of language transfer in second language acquisition will be fully considered, including: syntactic transfer; semantic transfer; conceptual transfer; phonological transfer; lexical transfer; pragmatic transfer; cultural transfer; constraints on transfer; other topics related to language transfer.Presentations will be 20 minutes long followed by a 10 minute question period.

A Study on the Influence of Positive Transfer of Mother Tongue on Tibetan College Students’Foreign Language Learning

Nowadays,the studies on the language transfer are more concerning the impact of Chinese language on English learning.Very few of them are on the phenomenon of negative transfer of Tibetan language to the Tibetan students’English learning under the trilingual(TIbetan,Chinese and English)environment.The author had a detailed analysis to the Tibetan students’writing composition on the basis of language tranfer theories such as markedness,interlanguage hyposthesis,and etc.And figure out the main grammatical errors in their compositions through the method of Error Analysis.Contrastive Analysis is also used to have comparison among the Tibetan,Chinsed and English,and individual interview as well,the reasons for the grammatical errors are figured out.The major findings of this research are as follows:The grammatical errors emerged in the Tibetan English major students’composition writing is in many fields,which includes omission,collocation,single and plural form of noun,subject-predicate concord,negative,possessive,relative clause and inverted sentence;Here is the reason for these grammatical errors:various thinking modes,in short of comparisons among the three languages and inadequate input.The methods can be applied to resolve are:language instructors should intsruct language learners propers through having comparison between the three languages and more importantly,strengthenging the students’comprehensible and adequate input the learner langauge.

The Role of the Native Language in Second Language Acquisition

The role that a learner＇s native language plays in his or her second language acquisition （SLA） has been the focus of many researchers in the past few decades. The article provides a brief review of the literature on the importance and the factors of native language influence in SLA.

A Discussion on Dealing With Chinese Transfer in English Teaching

Native language transfer is a common phenomenon in foreign language learning and is all the time influencing the learners＇ language. As to us English teachers in China, how to use or avoid the Chinese transfer in students＇ English learning is an issue we need to further explore. The paper, based on the theory of SLA （second language acquisition） and language transfer, discusses this phenomenon, analyzes the factors that cause the transfer, and puts forward some suggestions to deal with the influence of transfer in teaching English as a foreign language Contrastive analysis, with examples, is employed to find the similarities and difficulties in students＇ learning Some of the difficulties can be predicted and positive transfer indeed plays a positive role in language acquisition.

Interlanguage Phonological System of L1 Cantonese Learners of English

This paper aims to study the unique interlanguage phonological system of the L1 Cantonese learners of English in GuangdongProvince, including the roles of the differences between native language and target language, language transfer and other constraints dur-ing the interlanguage formation process. An experiment has been designed to test the pronunciation of targeted consonants of the voca-tional college students, who are English majors with Cantonese as native language but are also exposed to Mandarin for a long time. Re-sults show that the sounds that do not exist in native language are easily pronounced incorrectly. The phonological system the subjectsdevelop to substitute the targeted consonants is quite different from that of the L1 Cantonese learners from Hong Kong and is also variedfrom that of the L1 Mandarin learners from other province of China's Mainland. It confirms that the L1 Cantonese learners of English inGuangdong Province do have a unique phonological system in their interlanguage and that special attention should be paid by teachersduring the teaching of English pronunciation.

Chinese Students'Negative L1 Transfer in English Writing

Numerous researchers have studied the influence of L1 on the L2 composing process and consistently revealed that L2 writers may revert to their L1 when composing in L2(Cumming, 1989; Ellis, 2006;).The employment of L1 in L2 writing generally results in either facilitation(positive transfer) or impediment(negative transfer). The aim of this study is to investigate the specific errors and problems resulting from L1 interference within Chinese L2 writing and find possible solutions to minimize the negative effects of L1. In this respect, the focus of this paper is mainly on negative L1 transfer. Previous researches in this field have concentrated on how Chinese interfered L2 composing across different L2 proficiency levels or among different writing tasks. However, few studies have been carried out to analyze the details of how Chinese interfered with the students' English writing. This paper will conduct detailed analysis on the major negative transfer of L1 in terms of linguistic competence(from lexical, grammatical and syntactical level) and composing strategies(indirectness and organization style). The study will address and attempt to provide pedagogical suggestions for English writing instructors who particularly deal with Chinese L2 writers. The findings of the study has general applicability and will provide guidance for the teaching of L2 writing in other EFL/ESL settings.

An Analysis of Negative Transfer of Mother Tongue to Oral English and the Countermeasures

In the Chinese language market,English occupies a great position.The general public has gradually realized the impor⁃tance of mastering another language.However,due to the lack of language environment for learning English,mother tongue can eas⁃ily affect English learning production,which has two sides.Through the comparison between English and Chinese pronunciation,the negative transfer of native language in the acquisition process of English learners is analyzed,especially in oral English.Ac⁃cording to the existing problems,teaching suggestions are put forward for teachers’phonetic teaching and students’phonetic learn⁃ing to help learners reduce the negative effects of their mother tongue in the process of English acquisition.

Analysis on Students＇ Performance in SAMBET Course

In order to probe into the problems that English learners meet in the second language acquisition （SLA）, this thesis intends to evaluate students＇ performance in the process of studying SAMBET course in Beijing Information Science and Technology University （BISTU）, through identifying and analyzing the errors and improper uses of English, and exploring the reasons that account for them by means of SLA analysis devices. The author has talked about the errors and improper uses that are made by test attendants of SAMBET course. The analysis and exploration on these errors and improper uses illustrate that they occur owing to various implied reasons, e.g., the influence of Ll, ignorance of grammatical rules, carelessness, outside pressure, and attitude, aptitude, and confidence of individual learner, etc

Analysis into Chinese Students＇ Misuse of English Verbs -- From the aspect of Chinese interference

In the course of college English teaching, English teachers may find some errors made by the non-English majors. Errors made when they are using English verbs are analyzed from the aspect of the similarities and differences between English verbs and Chinese verbs in this thesis. We can conclude that the most obvious cause of the misuse seems to be the interference of the first language （L1）, that is, interlingual errors affect the English output of Chinese students. At last, the author calls for more input of the difference between L1 and L2 in L2 teaching and acquisition so that the same mistakes can be avoided.

The Role of L1 in L2 Vocabulary Teaching and Learning for Chinese Learners of English

This paper examines the function of mother tongue in second or foreign language teaching and learning, focusing on the case of Chinese learners of English. The use of L1 in L2 vocabulary teaching is studied by summarizing relevant theories and by analyzing an example of how Chinese teachers introduce new words to students. The influence of L1 in L2 vocabulary learning is explored through studying three major negative transfers of Chinese learners of English with abundant common and typical examples.Seven implications for L2 teachers are listed as the result of my study.

The Study of the Chinglish Phenomena in College English Writing

Due to the interference of the learner's mother tongue and their ignorance in English culture, custom, and grammar,Chinglish is a common problem in college students' composition which manifests in various ways. In This essay, I will analysis these phenomena in three depths : words、syntax、and passage.What's more,I also want to try to find some effective methods to solve this problem under the direction of language transfer and Meta-cognition theories. In the process of teaching, teachers can help students to improve positive transfer and reduce negative transfer, and cultivate students' meta- cognitive ability so that they can monitor their writing automatically.