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【Abstract】 in the second language acquisition, the influence of learners’ first language on the target language can be regarded as positive and negative transfers. In order to improve language teaching quality, it is necessary to analyze these transfers and figure out measures to deal with negative transfers.
【KeyWords】first language；second language； transfer；measures
【中图分类号】 F121【文献标识码】 A 【文章编号】 1671-1270（2009)2-0001-02
1 Introduction
In the process of second language acquisition (SLA), the influence of learners’ mother-tongue could be transferred to the first language (L2) because they adopt the first language’s linguistic rules and way of thinking. Trying to be involved in a second language (L2) environment, which seems to be efficient, is an ideal method to acquire foreign languages to some extent. Transfer is inevitable. “Transfer is the influence resulting from similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has previously (and perhaps imperfectly) been acquired” (Odlin, 1989). And “In language acquisition the learners would transfer to L2 the L1 elements that were similar” (Braidi, 1999: 40). Therefore it is quiet important for learners to realize L1 potential influence on the second language acquisition, and pay attention to their linguistic differences in order to avoid making error or mistakes. Through contractive analysis between English and Chinese, this essay will introduce kinds of positive and negative transfers of L1 on pronunciation, words and phrases, syntactic logic of SLA, and put forward some measures and teaching approaches in L2 classroom.
2 Positive transfer
2.1 Similar pronunciation
Although might belonging to different language families, L2 sometimes adopts the similar way of making phonetics with L1.Phonetic symbol of Chinese is roman pinyin, which has the same 26 alphabets and interlinks to English. Thus Chinese students can pronounce some English words correctly according to the rules of pinyin.
2.2 Borrowing words
There are lots of borrowing words from English in Chinese, and vice versa. For example, shafa, xiangbo, ku, shala and kelong in Chinese are borrowing words of sofa, shampoo, cool, salad and clone respectively in English. Similarly, kung fu, tai chi, and mandarin in English come from Chinese. So these kinds of words could be understood and remembered by learner easily.
2.3 Same word order
Learners are easy to make L2 sentences when L1 and L2 have the same word orders. English and Chinese have the same orders of subject, verb, and object in declarative sentences. Therefore, while communicating with foreigners or reading English articles, beginners could figure out the main sentence structures and understand the meaning of the context quickly and correctly.
3 Negative transfer
3.1 Wrong pronunciation
Every language family has a unique spelling system in pronunciation. Syllable in Chinese is made up of pinyin which is divided into initials and finals; while the one in English is made up of phoneme which contains vowels and consonants. These two systems sometimes are confused by learners. Native speakers pronounce [t], [k], [h], [p] in English with explodents or aspirates. While Chinese students always misread them to [te], [ke], [he], [po] due to long-time habits of local pronunciation. People in the south of china can not make a distinction between [n], [r] and [l], and northerners confuse pronunciation of J, G, because of their habits of broad retroflex in dialect. As a result, L2 learners could not make them understood by others when they pronounce unfamiliar phonemes and then refuse to practice more gradually. This phenomenon is a typical influence of L1 in daily communication.
3.2 Incorrect words and phrases
Because of the transfer, errors and mistakes in words and phrases could be made in aspects of misapplied morphological change, improper-match and literal translation.
There are some unique morphological forms in L2 which L1 do not have. For example, English words diverse in singulars and plurals while Chinese express plural meaning by numeral-plus-classifier expressions. Personal pronouns, such as he、she、it, in English are always misapplied by Chinese students because which in Chinese pronounce the same. Direct translation from proper-matched phrases in L1 into L2 which are of different culture background and does not belong to the same language family might lead to error. Learn knowledge, see newspapers, talk telephone are correct matches in Chinese but not in English. Further, L2 learners prefer to rehearsal phrases in their L1’s way of thinking and then translate them into L2 directly. Original and improper words and phrases might be created during this process.
3.3 Confused syntactic logic
This is a relatively subconscious process of L2 influence on SLA. L1 and L2 sometimes have different syntactic logics and usages. “English, for example, uses intonation, inversion, and inversion questions; Chinese, on the other hand, utilizes intonation, pronominal, and particle questions.” (Braidi, 1999:28) When learners intend to organize a sentence structures, they are not likely to adopt English way of thinking because they are used to their native language. So sentences they made might not be standard. A typical instance is the sentence I don’t think he can speak English. Lots of Chinese students have made such an error as I think he can not speak English. Cause and effect sentence is another typical problem. In Chinese, because and so could be used in one cause-effect relationship simultaneously. In contrast, it is not correct in English. This kind of logical match in L1 influences SLA a lot. Further more, the answer of tag question is totally opposite in some different languages. And improper use causes misunderstandings in the communication.
4 Measures and teaching approaches
Knowledge of positive and negative transfer benefits L2 teachers a lot.“By making a comparison of the structures of the L1 and the L2, teachers could determine the L2 learners’‘real learning problems’.” (Braidi, 1999:40) So it is necessary to find out the origins of these transfers. On one hand, Teachers should take measures to avoid some negative transfers in their teaching syllabus. In the L2 classroom, teachers can take an exam which includes all the negative transfers first to evaluate students’ needs in foreign language, and then make a proper syllabus with particular emphasis. On the other hand, positive transfer of L1 should not be ignored. That means class of SLA should carry on in the company of L1 class. Learners are likely to pay lees attention to L1 when they start to learn L2. Some schools even have no class about students’ native language on their teaching programmes. It is unreasonable.
First, it is necessary for teachers to know that where their students come from, get to know the feature of pronouncing in their dialects, and understand the differences and weakness of them on their habits of pronouncing. And try to teach pronunciation in accordance with their real needs instead of adopting only one methodology to all the learners. For an instance, teachers in china should ask southern students to pay attention to[n] and[l], make a list of contrasts among these confused phonemes, and then try to use more words with these two phonemes in their oral English training or demonstrate those contrasts directly to help students correct pronunciations.
Second, it is inefficient to consider all the L2 words and phrases as the same important to all learners. Students make less progress if they can only remember words and phrases which were similar to their L1. The efficient way is to figure out the differences in idioms and customs between L1 and L2, and focus these points to design syllabus. On the other hand, teachers can take advantages of loanwords to explain unfamiliar ones.
Finally, the most important thing in SLA is to pay attention to the logic of thinking. “Foreign language differs from L2 because of the socio-cultural environment of the acquisition process and the linguistic background of the learners. SLA is a kind of social activities rather than pure acquisition of knowledge and technology.”(Kecskes, Papp, 2000:2) Culture difference causes the problem of syntactic logics and usages. Teachers should not only teach students how to use L2 but also tell them why foreigners are used to that way. Lots of practices in usages which are quite different from L1 should be taken in order to make students get accustomed to L2 logic.
5 Conclusion
L1 indeed influence SLA a lot. The positive transfers in aspects of pronunciation, words and phrases, syntactic logic can be utilized in L2 classroom to overcome difficulties in SLA; and the negative transfer can be avoided by adopting syllabus with different emphases and proposing proper strategies to help students reduce the number of errors. Measures are the follows: teachers evaluate levels and character of students in order to cater to their real needs, ask students to practice more on the words and phrases which have different matching rules with L1, and impart different culture background between L1 and L2 in order to help students get used to foreigners’ way of thinking. To sum up, knowledge of positive and negative influences of L1 to SLA can benefit language teachers to improve their teaching quality.
【References】
[1]Braidi, S.M. The Acquisition of Second-language Syntax[M]. London: Edward Arnold, 1999.
[2]Diller, K.C, Individual Differences & Universals in Language Learning Aptitude[M]. Newbury House Publishers, Inc, 1981.
[3]Kecskes, I, Papp, T. Foreign Language and Mother Tongue[M]. London: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, Inc, 2000.
[4]Odlin, T. Language Transfer: Cross-linguistic Influence in Language Learning[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
【作者简介】 刘星，女，四川威远人，2008年毕业于英国伯明翰大学英语系获硕士学位，研究方向：英语教育。
【KeyWords】first language；second language； transfer；measures
【中图分类号】 F121【文献标识码】 A 【文章编号】 1671-1270（2009)2-0001-02
1 Introduction
In the process of second language acquisition (SLA), the influence of learners’ mother-tongue could be transferred to the first language (L2) because they adopt the first language’s linguistic rules and way of thinking. Trying to be involved in a second language (L2) environment, which seems to be efficient, is an ideal method to acquire foreign languages to some extent. Transfer is inevitable. “Transfer is the influence resulting from similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has previously (and perhaps imperfectly) been acquired” (Odlin, 1989). And “In language acquisition the learners would transfer to L2 the L1 elements that were similar” (Braidi, 1999: 40). Therefore it is quiet important for learners to realize L1 potential influence on the second language acquisition, and pay attention to their linguistic differences in order to avoid making error or mistakes. Through contractive analysis between English and Chinese, this essay will introduce kinds of positive and negative transfers of L1 on pronunciation, words and phrases, syntactic logic of SLA, and put forward some measures and teaching approaches in L2 classroom.
2 Positive transfer
2.1 Similar pronunciation
Although might belonging to different language families, L2 sometimes adopts the similar way of making phonetics with L1.Phonetic symbol of Chinese is roman pinyin, which has the same 26 alphabets and interlinks to English. Thus Chinese students can pronounce some English words correctly according to the rules of pinyin.
2.2 Borrowing words
There are lots of borrowing words from English in Chinese, and vice versa. For example, shafa, xiangbo, ku, shala and kelong in Chinese are borrowing words of sofa, shampoo, cool, salad and clone respectively in English. Similarly, kung fu, tai chi, and mandarin in English come from Chinese. So these kinds of words could be understood and remembered by learner easily.
2.3 Same word order
Learners are easy to make L2 sentences when L1 and L2 have the same word orders. English and Chinese have the same orders of subject, verb, and object in declarative sentences. Therefore, while communicating with foreigners or reading English articles, beginners could figure out the main sentence structures and understand the meaning of the context quickly and correctly.
3 Negative transfer
3.1 Wrong pronunciation
Every language family has a unique spelling system in pronunciation. Syllable in Chinese is made up of pinyin which is divided into initials and finals; while the one in English is made up of phoneme which contains vowels and consonants. These two systems sometimes are confused by learners. Native speakers pronounce [t], [k], [h], [p] in English with explodents or aspirates. While Chinese students always misread them to [te], [ke], [he], [po] due to long-time habits of local pronunciation. People in the south of china can not make a distinction between [n], [r] and [l], and northerners confuse pronunciation of J, G, because of their habits of broad retroflex in dialect. As a result, L2 learners could not make them understood by others when they pronounce unfamiliar phonemes and then refuse to practice more gradually. This phenomenon is a typical influence of L1 in daily communication.
3.2 Incorrect words and phrases
Because of the transfer, errors and mistakes in words and phrases could be made in aspects of misapplied morphological change, improper-match and literal translation.
There are some unique morphological forms in L2 which L1 do not have. For example, English words diverse in singulars and plurals while Chinese express plural meaning by numeral-plus-classifier expressions. Personal pronouns, such as he、she、it, in English are always misapplied by Chinese students because which in Chinese pronounce the same. Direct translation from proper-matched phrases in L1 into L2 which are of different culture background and does not belong to the same language family might lead to error. Learn knowledge, see newspapers, talk telephone are correct matches in Chinese but not in English. Further, L2 learners prefer to rehearsal phrases in their L1’s way of thinking and then translate them into L2 directly. Original and improper words and phrases might be created during this process.
3.3 Confused syntactic logic
This is a relatively subconscious process of L2 influence on SLA. L1 and L2 sometimes have different syntactic logics and usages. “English, for example, uses intonation, inversion, and inversion questions; Chinese, on the other hand, utilizes intonation, pronominal, and particle questions.” (Braidi, 1999:28) When learners intend to organize a sentence structures, they are not likely to adopt English way of thinking because they are used to their native language. So sentences they made might not be standard. A typical instance is the sentence I don’t think he can speak English. Lots of Chinese students have made such an error as I think he can not speak English. Cause and effect sentence is another typical problem. In Chinese, because and so could be used in one cause-effect relationship simultaneously. In contrast, it is not correct in English. This kind of logical match in L1 influences SLA a lot. Further more, the answer of tag question is totally opposite in some different languages. And improper use causes misunderstandings in the communication.
4 Measures and teaching approaches
Knowledge of positive and negative transfer benefits L2 teachers a lot.“By making a comparison of the structures of the L1 and the L2, teachers could determine the L2 learners’‘real learning problems’.” (Braidi, 1999:40) So it is necessary to find out the origins of these transfers. On one hand, Teachers should take measures to avoid some negative transfers in their teaching syllabus. In the L2 classroom, teachers can take an exam which includes all the negative transfers first to evaluate students’ needs in foreign language, and then make a proper syllabus with particular emphasis. On the other hand, positive transfer of L1 should not be ignored. That means class of SLA should carry on in the company of L1 class. Learners are likely to pay lees attention to L1 when they start to learn L2. Some schools even have no class about students’ native language on their teaching programmes. It is unreasonable.
First, it is necessary for teachers to know that where their students come from, get to know the feature of pronouncing in their dialects, and understand the differences and weakness of them on their habits of pronouncing. And try to teach pronunciation in accordance with their real needs instead of adopting only one methodology to all the learners. For an instance, teachers in china should ask southern students to pay attention to[n] and[l], make a list of contrasts among these confused phonemes, and then try to use more words with these two phonemes in their oral English training or demonstrate those contrasts directly to help students correct pronunciations.
Second, it is inefficient to consider all the L2 words and phrases as the same important to all learners. Students make less progress if they can only remember words and phrases which were similar to their L1. The efficient way is to figure out the differences in idioms and customs between L1 and L2, and focus these points to design syllabus. On the other hand, teachers can take advantages of loanwords to explain unfamiliar ones.
Finally, the most important thing in SLA is to pay attention to the logic of thinking. “Foreign language differs from L2 because of the socio-cultural environment of the acquisition process and the linguistic background of the learners. SLA is a kind of social activities rather than pure acquisition of knowledge and technology.”(Kecskes, Papp, 2000:2) Culture difference causes the problem of syntactic logics and usages. Teachers should not only teach students how to use L2 but also tell them why foreigners are used to that way. Lots of practices in usages which are quite different from L1 should be taken in order to make students get accustomed to L2 logic.
5 Conclusion
L1 indeed influence SLA a lot. The positive transfers in aspects of pronunciation, words and phrases, syntactic logic can be utilized in L2 classroom to overcome difficulties in SLA; and the negative transfer can be avoided by adopting syllabus with different emphases and proposing proper strategies to help students reduce the number of errors. Measures are the follows: teachers evaluate levels and character of students in order to cater to their real needs, ask students to practice more on the words and phrases which have different matching rules with L1, and impart different culture background between L1 and L2 in order to help students get used to foreigners’ way of thinking. To sum up, knowledge of positive and negative influences of L1 to SLA can benefit language teachers to improve their teaching quality.
【References】
[1]Braidi, S.M. The Acquisition of Second-language Syntax[M]. London: Edward Arnold, 1999.
[2]Diller, K.C, Individual Differences & Universals in Language Learning Aptitude[M]. Newbury House Publishers, Inc, 1981.
[3]Kecskes, I, Papp, T. Foreign Language and Mother Tongue[M]. London: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, Inc, 2000.
[4]Odlin, T. Language Transfer: Cross-linguistic Influence in Language Learning[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
【作者简介】 刘星，女，四川威远人，2008年毕业于英国伯明翰大学英语系获硕士学位，研究方向：英语教育。