TheInfluenceofChineseonEnglishVocabularyLearningforJuniorStudents

母语对中学生学习英语词汇的影响The Influence of Chinese on English Vocabulary Learning for Junior StudentsContentsAbstract. 1Key words1I. Summary on language transfer theory1.1Essence of language transfer. 21.2.Present situation of language transfer. . 2II. The influence of negative transfer for Chinese students on learning English vocabulary. 2.1.The importance of vocabulary learning in English learning process. 42.2The blind spot of English vocabulary learning for Chinese students. 5III. The influence of language transfer on English vocabulary learning3.1.Proposition of the question.5 3.2. Compare different meaning between Chinese and English. 5IV. Teaching principles and methods to avoid negative transfer in English vocabulary learning4.1.The environmental teaching principle10 4.2.Principle of learning vocabulary in sentence.114.3.Principle of encouragement. 12 V. Conclusion. 13 VI. References. 14The Influence of Chinese on English Vocabulary Larning for Junior Students摘 要：根据语言迁移理论所指出的,只要母语与另一种语言存在不同之处,母语就会对另一种语言的学习产生迁移,但如果母语与另一种语言存在相同之处,母语就会对另一种语言的学习产生积极的影响,也就是说,当两种间语言存在着相似之处,就会产生正迁移现象.在相反情况下,就会产生负迁移现象.在第二外语的习得过程中,负迁移现象是不可避免的.本文将从中英间词义的差异这个角度着手,阐述在英语词汇的学习中，汉语对英语词汇的学习所产生的影响及造成语言迁移的原因.并且提出一些教育教学原则方法，以便提高英语教学的有效性，提高学生学习英语词汇的能力 。关键词:语言迁移;概念意义;联想意义;内涵意义;文体意义Abstract: According to the language transfer theory, it is assumed that where there are differences between the native language and foreign language, the learners native language knowledge will interfere with the foreign language, and where the native language and foreign language are similar, the native language will actively aid the foreign language learning, that is, in the case of similarities between the native language and foreign language, the transfer functions positively, while in the case of difference, it functions negatively. Negative transfer cant be avoided in foreign language learning. This paper will throw light on the different meaning between English and Chinese vocabulary，from this point of view，we can clearly see why it is easy to cause language transfer during the English vocabulary learning process. Then the paper will come up with some efficient way of teaching English vocabulary. It is not only helpful for teachers efficient teaching but also useful for students to improve their learning abilities.Key words: language transfer; conceptual meaning; associative meaning; connotative meaning; stylistic meaning I. Summary on language transfer theory1.1Essence of language transfer1.1.1Transfer is an original terms from psychology. That is to say, it is a process of the language learners applying the acquired native language knowledge and experience to the learning of a second language. There are negative transfer and positive transfer. If the acquired knowledge is helpful for the second language learning, we usually call it positive transfer, on the contrary, we call it negative transfer. Transfer is a cognitive activity. Its essence is the original cognitive structure interacting with the new language learning process, thus forming the course of the new cognitive structure. The language transfer as a kind of migration phenomenon is one of the focuses that psychology and linguistics have been studying all the time. 1.1.2. Main factors affecting language transfer. The training of the psychological sense is the basic condition guaranteeing language transfer. Some famous linguists hold that it is much easier to cause the transfer phenomenon if the acquired native language has much similarity with the target language.1.2Present situation of language transferLanguage transfer has been the central issue in applied linguistics, second language acquisition (SLA), and language teaching for at least a century. Within the last few decades, however, its importance in the research of SLA has ebbed and flowed. In the 1950s, it was deemed as playing an important role in second language learning when LASOs contrastive analysis hypothesis dominated the field. With the popularity of Chomskyan Universal Grammar, which denies the existence of transfer phenomena, the researchers interest in language transfer, has declined since the 1960s. Meanwhile, empirical studies in the field have produced results that consider transfer as playing a minor role in learners acquisition of a second language. However, the development of the Interlingua theory and flourishing of psycholinguistics has finally recognized the significance of the role of the first language in SLA. As a result, the study of language transfer up to date has yielded large theoretical and empirical evidence in its effort to establish a fully developed theory of language transfer, though it still takes time to make such a theoretical system a perfect one.Language transfer took its root in the transfer theory in psychology. Psychologists defined transfer as a type of learning activities by which learners previously acquired knowledge about the learning skills will influence the outcome of their later learning or training behavior. They maintain that transfer can be both positive and negative. If a learners previous learning experience can produce positive effects, it will facilitate his/her learning. If the learners previous learning experience hinders his/her learning of new knowledge, a negative effect will be produced. C.Wolf (1679-1754) first used the term transfer in his formal discipline theory proponents of such a theory believed that human psyche has composed of some forms of competence (i .e. memory, observatory competence, inference competence .etc), which would function separately, and that those form of competence could be developed through specific course training. Around the turn of the 20th century, the formal discipline theory was challenged by the theory of common elements proposed by Sandike and others. The theory postulates that whether transfer occurs or not depends on the objective elements shared by transferring situations and the original learning situations. That is, transfer occurs on condition that both the training tasks and the transferred tasks contain elements that are similar. The above theories reflected the doctrines of behaviorism, which dominated the field of psychology and psycholinguistics at the time. One of the early attempts to apply this theory to language learning was initiated by scholars who expected that learners would automatically transfer their language competence into the learning of other languages through Chinese language training. Moreover, the dominance of behaviorism was closely related to the contrastive analysis hypothesis, the latter of which was formulated to predict the learning difficulty of a second language through the comparison of the objective features of the two languages. However, critiques on behaviorist learning theory in the late 1960s led to the decline of contrastive analysis approach in cross-linguistic studies for the reason that the latter has neglected the role of the learners themselves as subjective entities in the learning process. Replaced by the emerging mentalist in psychology, behaviorism became discredited by linguists in their research of SLA. Mentalist stressed the role of mental mechanism or brain in human linguistic competence. As a result, the popularity of the Chomskyan from the study of language transfer, UG (Universal Grammar) theory laid much emphasis on system-external factors.S.Pit Corder comes up his elaboration on the distinction between acquisition and learning on the basis of similar standards to the above assertion, though his claim is vaguely proposed. According to Corder (1973), language acquisition occurs to infants and young children and language starts normally at a later age. Such a distinction is based on the “physical and mental process of maturation ” of the children who are exposed to a language what Corder means is that only when many other physical and mental process of maturation are complete or nearing completion will language learning take place. Corders elaboration on the “physical and mental processes of maturation are closely related to Krashens explanation to the conscious unconscious learning distinction. In fact, the two assertions are complementary to each other because the latter is an explicit elaboration on the former.Recent study on interlanguage systems insists that both a linguistic and a cognitive perspective should be applied to transfer research. As we know, learners first language plays an important role in SLA research. Other factors associated with it are learners interlanguage system, cognitive factors, learner strategies, linguistic universals, and so on. All those factors interact with each other, which makes transfer study far more complicated than is expected. Researchers advocate that examination on how learners of a second language associate their native language with the target language should be highlighted before any assertions on first language influence can be made. Therefore, in the first place, many researchers should examine the linguistic features of the two languages; then they should place transfer study within the cognitive framework so that learners can make judgments and decisions as to how language forms and functions are transferred from their mother tongue to their second language. As a result, empirical research is mainly set within two sets of frameworks: the approach of linguistic universals and the cognitive approach. Actually, both approaches are cognitive in nature. Yet the two differ in that the former stresses a linguistic view toward transfer studies, whereas the latter a cognitive view.II. The influence of negative transfer for Chinese students on learning English vocabulary. 2.1.The importance of vocabulary learning in English learning processVocabulary is one of the basic elements of English language and the foundation of English learning. For many years, we have stressed the importance of grammatical knowledge in English language learning, rather than the competence of applying the language in the communicative activity. That is to say, we even couldnt find out some effective methods to learn English vocabulary sufficiently.For English learners, an English learners communicative competence depends on many aspects, but a good and sufficient command of English vocabulary cannot be ignored by anyone. It has been proved that the students inadequate store of vocabulary and misuse of words has greatly affected the improvement of their English level. Therefore, researchers, teachers and learners have been trying to find out how to successfully enlarge the learners vocabulary. However, there is yet no ideal model of English vocabulary learning.2.2 The blind spot of English vocabulary learning for Chinese studentsIt is almost known to everyone that English vocabulary learning is very important to every beginner. For a long history, for teachers and learners, they both considered that the best way to master English vocabulary was to mechanically memorize. It is generally thought that students can memorize words without learning the methods. There are no effective rules for them to adopt. It s not hard to understand how painstaking the students are, at the same time, how low the efficiency is. Gradually, more and more people found that the way of simply memorizing words was not considered as the best way any more. Therefore, researchers, teachers and learners have been trying to find out how to successfully enlarge the learners vocabulary. However, there is yet no ideal model of English vocabulary learning, to some extent, the way of learning English vocabulary is relatively improved.III. The influence of language transfer on English vocabulary learning 3.1. Proposition of the question. The acquisition of a second language is a very complicated process. Though there are many factors in the way of learning a second language, the native language is the most serious factor anyhow. During the process of learning a second language, especially at the very beginning, learners can only resort to the acquired native language. In China, the Chinese students have formed a concrete Chinese language system before they start to learn English. Furthermore, the only environment to learn English for them is at school, the time is also limited. Because of the different language systems, different cultures and ways of thinking and the unnatural study environment, the Chinese students have to turn to their native language for help. However, Chinese and English have much dissimilarity in phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, culture and so on. For vocabulary, English has a rich vocabulary and it can be expressed in a variety of ways. For the interference of Chinese with English, the interference with vocabulary is shown as the main aspect. This kind of phenomenon prevents us from delivering accurate information to each other. In order to verify whether or not the degree of the influence of Chinese negative transfer on English vocabulary learning is determined by correct using of Chinese, Id like to throw myself into this topic.3.2. Compare different meaning between Chinese and EnglishAt the very beginning, students would like to find an equal Chinese expression or sentence to that of English. Because of the differences in many aspects between the two languages, during the process of learning the target languageEnglish, the native language will has a great influence on the target language learning process. If a learners previous learning experience can produce positive effects, it will facilitate his/her learning. If the learners previous learning experience hinders his/her learning of new knowledge, a negative effect will be produced. In the following thesis, Ill start it from the different conceptual meaning, associative meaning and relative culture background knowledge. As a result of these differences, at the very beginning, the negative transfer will play a certain stronger effect on the target language learning process.3.2.1.Different conceptual meaning Conceptual meaning (also known as cognitive, denotative, or designative meaning) is meaning given in the dictionary and forms the core of word meaning. Being constant and relatively stable, conceptual meaning forms the basis for communication as the same word generally has the same conceptual meaning to all the speakers in the same speech community. Take the sun rises in the east. The symbol sun here means a heavenly body which gives off light, heat and energy, a concept, which is unmistakable to anyone who speaks English.Take the word “politician” for an example , for Chinese students ,they would easily translate it into Chinese :政治家。However, its a derogatory term in English. Politician in English usually means person who is skilled at handling people or situation, or at getting people to do what he wants. Its quite important for learners to put the word into the certain context. At the very beginning of learning a second language, students should form a very good language learning habit. Students shouldnt easily transfer a language into another. They should pay much more attention to the different cultural background knowledge of a second language.3.2.2.Different associative meaningAssociative meaning is the secondary meaning supplemented to the conceptual meaning. It differs from the conceptual meaning in that it is open-ended and indeterminate, liable to the influence of such factors as culture, experience, religion, geographical region, class background, education, ectAssociative meaning can be fused into four categories: connotative, stylistic, affective, and collocative (Leech 1981).3.2.2.1.Different stylistic meaning Apart from their conceptual meanings, many words have stylistic features, which make them appropriate for different styles. These distinctive features form the stylistic meaning of words. For Chinese learners, they couldnt understand the real meaning of the words, because they are not under the authentic circumstance. Under this kind of condition, the negative transfer will play a very striking role during the vocabulary learning process.This kind of vocabulary connects much with its certain culture background. In the “the United States has now set up a loneliness industry “, in this sentence, there is a “ loneliness industry ”. according to its literal meaning , in Chinese it means : 孤独的工业 。However, This is not the case, its a part of the American welfare project. In America, many young people dont like to live with their old parents. More and more lonely old people lead a very hard life and cannot be taken care of. This causes many social problems, so the government set up this kind of social service to help the old lonely people. Language is a carrier of culture. Different country has different culture. So vocabulary carries different meaning in different counties. To master a second language, it would not be a process of learning a language itself, rather than a process of learning cultural background knowledge of that country.There is another example to illustrate this. In the phrase to have January chicks , for most Chinese learners, every word in this phrase is not so strange to them, however, when they get the whole meaning of this phrase, they feel strange to it, even feel puzzled. January is the first month of a year, chicks is little chickens. the whole phrase meaning to Chinese learners is :得到一月的小鸡. For English people, they will feel ridiculous about it. Actually, its from a story named the story of merchant by Gorsy. In this story, January is not the meaning of the first month of a year any more; it is the hero of the story named Lombard Baron .At the age of 60,the old Lombard baron and the beautiful Mary got the son called January.For Chinese learners, it is quite difficult to understand the real meaning of the word without knowing the certain background knowledge of it. At the very beginning of learning English vocabulary, learners should not only concentrate their attention on the new word they met, they should pay much attention to the cultural knowledge of the language. The broader the culture knowledge the learners have, the easier they can learn English vocabulary, that is to say, during the learning process, they must broaden their horizon when they are in the process of learning English vocabulary. It is considered as one of the most effective way for Chinese learners to learn English vocabulary.3.2.2.2. Different connotative meaning Connotative meaning refers to the overtones or associations suggests by the conceptual meaning. It is not an essential part of the word meaning, but social and cultural values that might occur in the mind of particular users of the language. It is peripheral compared with conceptual meaning and connotations are relatively unstable, varying considerably according to culture, historical period, and the experience of the individual.The word dragon, it is almost have the same denotative meaning both in Chinese and English, however, they have quite different connotation. In the new Longman dictionary , there are two explanations for it : an imaginary fire breathing animal in childrens stories(童话中一种能吐火的怪兽)龙;a fierce older woman, esp. one who allows too little freedom to a young girl in her charge (尤指管女孩子且爱干涉女孩子自由的凶恶的女人;母夜叉). In English speaking countries, it has the derogative meaning; the people in these countries dislike it. However, in China, it is quite another story. It possesses the positive meaning at most of the time. Most of the Chinese people h