The Negative Transfer of Chinese Grammar On English Learning

李小林

1. Introduction

English plays a greater role in international communication than before. Therefore， people attach importance to English learning， and more Chinese begin to learn English. However， having Chinese thinking in mind， they are unavoidably affected by the negative transfer of Chinese grammar. Based on the research， I propose four suggestions， hoping to decrease such bad influence of negative transfer on English learners.

With the development of globalization， more and more Chinese begin to learn English. However， many English learners find it difficult to learn it. English varies from Chinese on the grammar basis because of the differences in cultural customs and values. Some differences， however， can hardly be overcome in teaching and studying， which frustrate a lot of students and teachers. Hence， chances are that students make many mistakes. Research shows that these mistakes are the product of negative transfer of Chinese.

2. Literature Review

“Transfer” is originally a basic concept in psychology. It refers to “the phenomenon of previous knowledge being extended to the area of new knowledge”

And it is this concept that forms the psychological basis for language transfer. When we make errors in second language learning， it is the result of the interference of our mother tongue because of differences between the two. Interference as such is called negative transfer. Similarities between the first language and second language， on the other hand， are believed to facilitate the learning of the second language. Facilitation as such is called positive transfer. It may help or facilitate language in another later situation， and may occur when both the native language and the target language have the same form.

3. The Classification and Manifestation of the Negative Transfer of Chinese Grammar

Grammar consists of morphology， lexicology， and syntax. Accordingly， the negative transfer of Chinese grammar can be classified into morphological， lexical， and syntactical negative transfer. In our daily study， we apply mechanically consciously or unconsciously the Chinese thinking into English learning. English and Chinese have distinctive difference in cultural customs； beginners tend to find every relevant word corresponding to the Chinese version for lack of knowing the differences in historical background， which makes it impossible to find every Chinese version of English words.

4. Strategies of Overcoming the Negative Transfer of Chinese Grammar

4.1 Creating an English atmosphere

Why do English learners suffer from negative transfer？ One of the origins could be the environment. The language circumstance in English learning is really a annoying problem. “N. Chomsky think men are born with language acquisition device"（Dong Libo，Zhou Jianbo，2009）” The language acquisition theory believes that by contacting with a language， and making some language input in the very environment of the language， men can easily learn this language. In China， however， it is not easy to create an English environment， but we can make some improvements.

4.2 Contextual learning

When we learn English， if we memorize words or phrases separately， we fail to understand the real meaning， thus cannot use it correctly and flexibly. Therefore， to learn words of phrases， we should put they into special context. For instance， "sir" has different meanings in different context. In “sir， may I help you”， it means a man； if a maid said to her male employer “sir， I will clean the floor right now”， it just means “master”.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion， to overcome the negative transfer of Chinese grammar， we can create a pleasant English atmosphere to train our English ways of thought； we can do English-Chinese contrastive learning to have a better understanding of both language； we can also learn English in context to better understand the meaning and usage of words， phrases， or sentences. By these methods， we can decrease the negative transfer of Chinese grammar， and gradually develop an English thinking.

Bibliography

[1] Xu Ping. A Study on the Chinese Negative Transfer in English Grammar Teaching in High School[D]. Liaoning Normal University， 2012.

[2] 李艷. 淺談母語(yǔ)負(fù)遷移現(xiàn)象對(duì)兒童二語(yǔ)習(xí)得的影響[J]. 西昌學(xué)院學(xué)報(bào)（社會(huì)科學(xué)版）， 2007（01）.

（作者單位：湖北省宣恩縣第一中學(xué)）