Abstract

Writing is one of the major language skills in English learning, which will reflect English learners’ overall ability of using the language. As the most complex and integrated part in English learning, writing is surely difficult for middle school students. According to the previous researches and the questionnaire analysis, the author found that the negative transfer of native language is one of the main causes. This investigation is conducted to study in what pattern Chinese has influenced the middle school students in their English writing. According to the causes found from the questionnaire, some suggestions are provided to minimize or even eliminate the influence of negative transfer of native language, and to improve the teaching and learning of English writing in middle school.

Keyword: negative transfer of native language; English writing; syntactic structure

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

1. Introduction-1

2. Literature Review-2

2.1 Definition of Language Transfer-2

2.2 Types of Transfer-2

2.3 Theories Related to the Negative Transfer of a Native Language-3

2.3.1 Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis Theory-3

2.3.2 Error Analysis Theory-3

2.3.3 Inter-Language Theory-4

2.4 A Contrast of Chinese and English in Syntactic Structure-4

2.4.1 Synthetic vs. Analytic-4

2.4.2 Hypotactic vs. Paratactic-4

2.4.3 Compact vs. Diffusive-5

2.4.4 Subject-prominence vs. Topic-prominence-5

2.4.5 Stative vs. Dynamic-6

3. Research procedure-6

3.1 Analysis of the Questionnaire-6

3.1.1 Methodology and Procedure-6

3.1.2 Presentation and Results-7

3.2 Analysis of Typical Errors in Middle School Students’ English Writing-10

3.2.1 The Writing Task-10

3.2.2 Data Collection-10

3.2.3 Data Analysis-10

3.2.3.1 The Distribution of Errors-10

3.2.3.2 The Distribution of Syntactic Errors-11

4. Suggestions of English Composition Teaching-13

4.1 Enhancing the awareness of syntactic structures-14

4.2 Applying Contrastive Teaching Method-14

4.3 Increasing the Target Language Input through English Teaching-14

4.4 Strengthening All-round Abilities of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing-15

4.5 Developing Students’ Habit of Thinking in English-15

4.6 Feasible Measures In or After Class-15

5. Conclusion-16

References-17

Appendix-18