Abstract: Mother tongue is closely connected with second language acquisition. In the course of foreign language acquisition, the positive role of mother tongue in English learning is commonplace. Based the transfer theory and contrastive analysis hypothesis, the paper will analyze the Chinese language’s positive transfer in different ways. From the vantage points of phonetic level, lexical level, syntactic level and cultural level, the paper has discussed  the role of positive transfer in English learning. The aim is to find more effective ways and strategy for Chinese beginners to improve the efficiency in English learning.

Key words:  second language acquisition; positive transfer; English learning; mother tongue; English beginners

CONTENTS

摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction1

2. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework1

2.1 Background of the study

  2.2 Definition of Positive Transfer

  2.3 The Development of Theories About Positive Transfer

3. The Role of Positive Transfer In English Learning3

3.1 Phonetic Level

3.2 Lexical level

  3.3 Syntactic level

  3.4 Cultural level

4. Conclusion8

Bibliography.9

Acknowledgements10