This thesis introduces both positive and negative crosslinguistic influence of Chinese EFL learners on English Acquisition. Most Chinese EFL learners have difficulties in English acquisition due to the negative crosslinguistic influence caused by the differences between mother tongue and the target language. In order to help Chinese EFL learners to tackle this problem, comparative analysis is done between English and Mandarin Chinese in terms of phonetics and phonology, morphology, part syntax, and pragmatics. The focus of this thesis is to investigate both the positive and negative crosslinguistic influence phenomena in the process of English acquisition conducted by Chinese EFL learners and the strategies of how to utilize the positive crosslinguistic influence and minimize the negative crosslinguistic influence on English learning. Both Chinese EFL teachers and learners will benefit from this thesis by acknowledging the crosslinguistic influence of their mother tongue on English acquisition and learning various English study methods.
Requests, a speech act people frequently use to perform everyday social interactions, have attracted particular attenTION IN Politeness theories, pragmatics, and second language acquisition. This book looks at request behaviours in a significant EFL population - Chinese speaking learners of English. It will draw on recent literature, such as politeness theories and cognitive models for interlanguage pragmatics development, as well as placing special emphasis on situational context and formulaic language to provide a more fine-grained investigation. A rnage of request scenarios has been specifically designed for this project, from common service encounters to highly face-threatening situations such as borrowing money and asking a favour of police officer. Our findings on Chinese-style pragmatic behaviours and patterns of pragmatic development will be of value to cross-cultural pragmatics researchers, TESOL professionals, and university students with an interest in this area of study.
When people attempt to learn a new language, the language(s) they already know can help but also hinder their understanding or production of new forms. This phenomenon, known as language transfer, is the focus of this book. The collection offers new theoretical perspectives, some in the empirical studies and some in other chapters, and consists of four sections considering lexical, syntactic, phonological and cognitive perspectives. The volume provides a wealth of studies on the influence of Chinese on the acquisition of English but also includes studies involving Finnish, French, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Spanish, Swedish and Tamil. It will be of great interest to researchers and students working in the areas of crosslinguistic influence in second language acquisition, language pedagogy and psycholinguistics.
This book surveys multi-verb constructions in multiple languages from the Americas, showing a very rich tapestry of typologically unusual constructions, including serial verbs, auxiliaries, co-verbs, phasal verbs. Where possible, a diachronic perspectrive is offered.
Language transfer or cross-linguistic influence of one language on another has become one of the most heated topics and extensively discussed issues in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) and bilingualism. Most of the studies have explored the influence of the first language on the second language. Fewer studies have turned their research focus to the influence of the second language on the first language, much less to develop some mature theories in this emerging field. This study, therefore, adopts the "reversed" way of investigating the cross-linguistic influence and tries to demonstrate that the first language of those people who remain in their home country and learn the second language intensively may be influenced by the second language and show the combined features of the first and the second language. Based on the theoretical framework of Cook's Multi-competence Theory (1991) and the Integration Continuum (2002), Cummins's Common Underlying Proficiency Model (1981), Kecskes and Papp's Common Underlying Conceptual Base (2003), and DePalma and Ringer's Adaptive Transfer Framework (2011), the present study investigated the effects of the second language (English) on the first language (Chinese) in an environment where English as a foreign language (EFL) is learned through instruction in a classroom setting, where the target language culture is not directly present and students usually do not have direct access to it. The main research objectives of the present study are: 1) To examine the relationships between the first language (L1) Chinese argumentative writing and the second language (L2) English argumentative writing produced by Chinese students who learn English as an L2; 2) to identify the second language (L2) linguistic features reflected in L2 English writers' L1 Chinese argumentative writing; 3) to identify L2 English rhetorical text features reflected in their L1 Chinese argumentative writing; and 4) to probe into L2 English writers' writing process to see how backward transfer occurs. Due to the explanatory and exploratory nature of the present study, a mixed-methods design is adopted to answer the research questions in breadth and depth. This study recruited 284 third-year and fourth-year Chinese English-major undergraduates on a voluntary basis. Quantitative data were obtained through the two writing tests (L1 Chinese argumentative writing test and L2 English argumentative writing) to examine the relationships between L1 writing and L2 writing. Then, the follow-up qualitative approach which included think-aloud protocols and stimulated recall interviews were conducted to triangulate, extend and explain findings from the quantitative study and demonstrate the cognitive processes of transfer of L2 features to L1 writing. The results indicated that there was a small correlation between L1 Chinese writing proficiency and L2 English writing proficiency and that L2 English writing proficiency was a small factor predicting Chinese EFL learners' L1 Chinese writing proficiency. The backward transfer in writing occurred at the linguistic levels in terms of the lexical transfer, syntactic transfer, and transfer in cohesion, as well as the rhetorical levels such as the main idea location, macro-level rhetorical patterns, summary statement, evidence type, and language style which was not salient. The factors affecting the backward transfer were categorized into linguistic and psycholinguistic factors, cognitive, attentional, and developmental factors, and factors related to cumulative language experience. This study offers important insights into backward transfer research and provides empirical evidence for policy-makers and institutions of higher education in China. The findings of this study are beneficial to Chinese EFL teachers' and learners' awareness of the effects of the second language on the first language, which will contribute to language teaching and learning and develop both teachers' and students' language awareness to enhance the positive transfer, inhibit the negative transfer, and leverage on its benefit.
This book presents the latest research in various areas of cross-linguistic influence (CLI), providing educators with insights into how previously learned languages influence the learning of an additional language at different levels, such as phonetics/phonology, morphosyntax, vocabulary, pragmatics, writing style and learning context. While the majority of the chapters have English as the target language, one investigates the acquisition of French. The L1s of the learners include Arabic, Basque, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Galician, Georgian, German, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. Each chapter ends with a reflection on possible pedagogical implications of the findings and offers recommendations on how to make the most of cross-linguistic influence in the classroom.
This volume provides an unprecedented insight into current approaches to crosslinguistic influence (CLI). The collection investigates a range of themes including linguistic relativity, the possible contributions of neurolinguistics, the problem of cognitive development and the role of the frequency of structures in acquisition from distinct, overlapping and complementary perspectives. Chapters focusing on vocabulary, morphosyntactic categories, semantic structures, and phonetic and phonological structures feature in the volume, as do over 20 languages, in order to offer new insights into both theoretical and empirical issues in CLI, including the consequences of great or little similarity in structures between languages. The relevance of CLI research for teaching is discussed in a number of chapters, as is the phenomenon of multilingualism. The collection will appeal to researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, teachers and professionals interested in the field of CLI in SLA.
China has attached great importance to teaching students to become proficient users of English. Yet, despite a plethora of studies and practice on Chinese ESL/EFL (English as a second/foreign language) learners, the large student population, its complicated composition and the complex nature of second and foreign language learning have rendered it difficult to offer a panoramic view on ESL/EFL teaching and learning of Chinese learners. This book provides a new and up-to-date perspective on the teaching and learning of Chinese ESL/EFL learners. The book collects 15 case studies, falling into two parts—Curriculum Development and Teaching Practice and Skills-Based Research. The collected studies deploy qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods to explore patterns, features, developments and causes and effects of a variety of issues in the sphere of ESL/EFL teaching and learning. Moreover, the cases offer insights that are relevant beyond the mainland Chinese context such as Hong Kong, Macau, Britain and Australia. Students and scholars of TESOL and applied linguistics will be interested in this title.
As the number of Chinese students learning English increases worldwide, the need for teachers to understand the characteristics and challenges facing this group of learners grows. This is particularly true for those students moving from an English as a Foreign Language context to an English as a Second Language/International Language one where they experience academic, linguistic and sociocultural transitions. Drawing on over 20 years’ experience teaching English courses to Chinese learners, the author aims to highlight key findings to aid understanding, improve teachers’ practice and offer pedagogical recommendations. Using students’ voices, the book covers: how the traditional Chinese culture of learning plays a role; how new learning contexts provide opportunities and empowerment; how learners’ beliefs and strategies are interconnected; how their motivation and identity underscore the power of real and imagined communities, and finally, that affect matters, showing how learners are propelled by the trajectory of their emotions. The book cites from the rich data collected over a five-year period to authenticate the findings and recommendations but also to give voice to this group of learners to challenge the stereotype of the passive "Chinese learner". The essential insights contained within are useful for pre- and in-service teachers of English and researchers interested in language education around the world.
This text provides teachers of English to Chinese students with information on the linguistic, cultural and pedagogical backgrounds of these students. It analyses the importance of this background, and offers information on successful classroom teaching methods and student learning strategies.
