Abstract

English and Chinese belong to different language systems and there are various differences between them, which lead to the phenomenon of negative transfer of mother tongue in English learning for junior high school students. As one of the important ways of language output, writing is the comprehensive reflection of learner’s language level. Junior high school is the not only initial stage but also the significant stage to cultivate learners’ interest in English writing. Therefore, how to help learners overcome the negative transfer of mother tongue has already become one of the most important subjects in the field of the second language acquisition.

The purpose of this study is to explore the negative transfer of mother tongue in junior high school students’ English writing and seek the teaching strategy of English writing, which is based on the contrastive analysis, error analysis and interlanguage theory. The subjects of this study are 82 junior high school students from two different schools. The research instruments of this study are 164 English compositions of two different topics and students’ interview record. The study confirms that the negative transfer of mother tongue exist in the junior high school students’ English writing. The errors caused by the negative transfer of mother tongue are classified from substance errors, lexical errors and writing habit. The typical errors are analyzed with examples and reasons. Meanwhile, the corresponding measures are put forward as the followings: increasing the language input to develop a sense of language, strengthening the lexical and syntax training and valuing the process of writing.

In this study, through the classification, statistics and interpretation of the collected samples, the effective ways to overcome the negative transfer of mother tongue are put forward, hoping to improve students’ English writing.

Key Words: English writing; negative transfer of mother tongue; junior high school students

Contents

Abstract

摘  要

Chapter 1 Introduction-5

1.1-Background of the Research-5

1.2-Importance of Writing Teaching-5

1.3-Current Situation of Junior High School English Writing-6

1.4-Significance of the Research-6

Chapter 2 Literature Review-7

2.1 Language Transfer-7

2.1.1 Definition of Language Transfer-7

2.1.2 Performance of Language Transfer-8

2.2 Theories Related to Negative Transfer of Mother Tongue-8

2.2.1 Contrastive Analysis Theory-9

2.2.2 Error Analysis Theory-10

2.2.3 Interlanguage Theory-11

2.3 Language Transfer in Second Language Writing-11

Chapter 3 Research Design-13

3.1 Research Questions-13

3.2 Research Objectives-13

3.3 Research Participants-13

3.4 Research Methods-14

3.4.1 Literature Review Method-15

3.4.2 Students’ Composition Analysis-15

3.4.3 Interview-15

Chapter 4 Results and Analysis-15

4.1 Writing Error Analysis-15

4.2 Writing Error Classification-16

4.2.1 Lexical Negative Transfer-16

4.2.2 Syntactic Negative Transfer-20

4.2.3 Negative Transfer of Written Habits-23

Chapter 5 Conclusion-26

5.1 Findings-26

5.2 Suggestions-27

5.3 Limitations-29

References-30