汉语语言环境对英语学习的影响 英语专业毕业论文

汉语语言环境对英语学习的影响

Abstract

A good mastery of English has become a must for all the students in China because of frequent communication between countries. It is easy for the students to get access to English. And our country lays stress on fostering English talents. But the present situation of English learning is that many people have labored on it but only to find it is a waste of time and energy. This thesis analyzes the factors affecting the English learning which are social context, the distinction betwee n these two languages and the students’ goals and motivations. With Bernard Spolsky’s theory, the author explains the most important conditions for second language learning: social context, cultural background, exposure condition and native pronunciation condition. He insists that learners should pay special attention to language transfer and intercultural communication. Besides, a good attitude is crucial. Available resources are also of great help to create good conditions for English learning in Chinese context.

Key Words

Chinese context; conditions; second language learning; language transfer

摘要

由于国际间的交流日益频繁，中国学生必须很好地掌握英语这门语言。目前，学生们接触英语的机会很多，而且我们国家也花了大量的人力、物力，着重培养英语人才。然而，学生们英语学习的进展却不尽人意，许多人花了大力气学英语，最后却发现它既费时，又费力。本文主要分析了影响英语学习的重要因素：社会环境、两种语言间的差异，学生学习英语的目的与动机。根据斯波尔斯基的《第二语言学习条件》理论可知,中国学生在学习英语过程中受汉语环境的影响颇深，缺乏英语语言环境。要克服这种影响，学习者首先要注意语言的迁移作用和跨文化的交流，其次要端正学习的态度，树立可达到的目标，最后尽可能利用现有的的资源创造适合学习英语的条件。

关键词

汉语语境；第二语言学习;条件；语言迁移

Introduction

English plays a very important role in every area of the society. Whether you are a teacher or a student, a farmer or a worker, a leader or a member, you have relations with English. In the long history, English has developed its individual uniqueness and it is easy to be adopted in most nations. Naturally, English has become the global language gradually and has its irreplaceable function and position. In another word, owing to its broad influence, the earth is becoming smaller and smaller. English, as an important tool, has a special function in the communications of all nations. It is estimated about 700 million to 800 million people can speak English. Apart from 400 million native speakers, the others are using English in different ways to different extent. At present up to 300 million people are learning English in China, and there are still more and more people joining the group of English learning. And the number of English learners is increasing rapidly.

However, among the English learners, not many have learned English well enough to communicate with English speakers. Both educators and linguistics are showing their concern about second language. Some are research into the English teaching methodology (the Grammar- translation Method, the Direct Method, the Oral Approach, the Audio-lingual Method, the Cognitive Approach, the Natural Approach, the Communicative Approach, etc.); some are analyzing relationship between psychology and second language acquisition( Sandra Lee Mckay, Nancy H. Hornberger, etc.), still some others are studying the way to learn English or a second language ( Bernard Spolsky, Claire Kranmsh, Elli Hinkel, Rod Ellis, etc.). At home, Yu Liming is studying language transfer, and Sun Mianzhi is exploring Chinese context and English learning. Indeed, teaching methodology, psychology and contexts affect the learning process.

Ⅰ. Actuality of English Learning in China

With the opening and reforming, English has been an important course in schools. More and more people realize the importance of English and became English learners to meet the challenges. In China, English is taught in most primary schools in the cities from Grade Three and in all the middle schools in the whole country. In a long term, English will be a major course from primary school to university learning. Even though one has graduated from university, he has to get in touch with English frequently. In China, CET-4 and CET-6 are set in most colleges and basically every one has to pass the CET-4, and every one is trying his best to pass them.

To some learners, English is a new thing and due to curiosity, they may have enough warmness and confidence at the beginning of English learning. Later, when they meet various difficulties and blocks, they lost their confidence gradually even at last most of them have to give it up. To some

students and some adults, the purpose to learn English is only to meet the demands of exams. According to some surveys we are seriously affected by the native language –Chinese. A lot of people can not break away from the control of the native language, because the two languages are quite different in some aspects.

II. Factors Affecting English Learning

The Chinese context has a great influence on English learning in China. Both English learners and English teachers always face this problem that how learners can master English language. Research shows that native language and native language context are the major blocks in the way to learning English. It is generally a bemusement: English learners in China have learned it for a long time, but English learners in China still can not see the progress. English speakers and Chinese speakers have different thoughts. English learners in China are always under the influence of Chinese context, so it is so difficult to have significant progress. In the last 20 years, the environment of English learning has changed a lot in China. We can see the rapid development in English learning. Otherwise, no matter how great the changes are, we are still in the Chinese context which is not changeable. So, the fact that we should not disengage the Chinese thought has an opposite effect on English learning everywhere and any time. In fact, how Chinese context affect the English learning.

A. The Restriction of Social Context

Chinese and English are two very different languages and belong to different linguistic systems. To Chinese people, English is a second language. On the other hand, most of the Chinese English learners only depend on the teaching in the classroom, so they have few opportunities to communicate with a native English speaker face to face. Most surveys show that the infant time is the golden time to learn languages. Here we can imagine that if a baby is taught in English, Japanese and Spanish since he was born, when he grows up he can speak three kinds of languages at the same time. Even though he does not know the grammar, he can speak every language very fluently. For most Chinese, they do not know the grammar at all, but all of them can speak Chinese fluently. There is another phenomenon: if there is one English speaker or English teacher in the family, their baby always has a good English achievement. All of these show that Chinese social context has a great influence in English learning. Professor Sun Mianzhi quoted Professor Xiong Deni’s speech, “ I always compare English Learning to a Besiegment. Your English is the Besieger and of course your mother tongue is the one besieged. You Command your army of English to break through the line of defense until you overtake the stronghold—your mother tongue.”（Translated）. But it is really a hard job because you are completely surrounded by the enemy troops and your enemy is so strong.

B. Difference between the Two Languages

To learn English well, it is necessary to know the details of it. Firstly, when you are learning the pronunciation, you will be corrected for several times. Sometimes, you want to say go to somewhere by ship, but becau se you pronounce it too long, some others think that you “go somewhere by sheep”. When you can not separate[r] and [l], you will read rice(米饭) as lice(虱子). Secondly, in the grammar you always make mistakes like this: I am student, it raining hard, against this plan, etc. Thirdly, in the acceptation, once you have written “my English level low”. Sometimes even you want to “keep diary” but you use “keeping notes or writing everyday note”. Some sentences like “go buy thing and write with English” always appear in your articles. Fourthly, in pragmatics: you once called David Smith Teacher Smith or Mr. David. And we know Father, Mother, Sister in English is quite different from our Chinese. A teacher is very kind and easygoing. The students like her very much. They think she is just like their mother. But we can never call her Mother Teresa, because in English, Father, Mother or Sister has some religious connotations.

C. The Goals and Motivation

The goals and motivations of English learner have a great influence in the course of English learning. Most of us know that at the beginning of our new country, Chinese people were trying to learn Russian. Only after the opening and the reforming, English became the most popular second language in China. Some people realize the importance of English and they think English is very useful. So they will try their best to learn it well. But others bigotry thinks that they do not go abroad and they should spend so much time and money on English tests. The former will spend much more time than the latter ones on English learning. In fact, the total time you spent on English learning is not exceeding one year at all. Nobody can learn a language well enough to use it freely. In China, people learn English for different purposes. With the influence of the text-oriented education, people learn it just because they want to earn a diploma or have a better job in the future. So they learn by rote a lot of grammar rules, read a lot, practice lots of vocabulary and structures. As for communication, they become dumb. Finally, they may realize how inefficient their way is.

D. Phenomenon of Language Transfer

Language transfer, according to Odlin (1989), is the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and the other languages that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired. This definition thus suggests that transfer can occur at any levels, strategic, linguistic, discoursal, and pragmatic. Inter-language, such as a semantic formulae, strategy, or linguistic form, occurs in the NL (native language), TL (target language) and IL (inter-language) data. Similar response frequencies in all the three data sets are classified as

positive transfer, while different response frequencies between IL-TL and NL-TL combined with similar frequencies between IL-NL register as negative transfer (quoted, Liu Xiaozhong, 2001). We just take a pragmalinguistic failure for example.

Chinese learners usually use the expression: “Never mind” in replying to “Thanks a lot. That’s a great help” (He Ziran, 1988). In Chinese, we use “没关系”(Mei guan xi) or “不用谢”(Bu yong xie) in reply to “Thank you”. However, their equivalents in English, “Never mind”, “Not at all” and “You are welcome” are slightly different in use from one another, though they all may be translated as “没关系”(Mei guan xi) in Chinese. The students often failed to see the discrepancy and, due to their mother-tongue influence, used these expressions interchangeably. If a student helped the professor clean the blackboard, he would normally say “thank you” to the student. But instead of saying “My pleasure”, as native speakers normally do in this situati on, Chinese students would often say, “It’s my duty”. This shows the students’ falling back on the Chinese situation where it is wholesomely all right for people to say “应该的”(Ying gai de). But he failed to realize that in English ‘It is my duty” also implies an obligation instead of a volunteer help. Some other examples as “No smoking please” and “Our English teacher has peaches and plums everywhere in China” are also fail ures in use.

Ⅲ. Distinctions between English and Chinese

China also has its individual culture which is rooted deeply in its long history. Generally speaking, each nation has its unique culture and should be honored for it. Each nation always thinks of the culture of its own the best in the world. When Chinese developed into the native language in the eastern Asia where all the people think it was the most splendid language and knowledge in the world, so it is comparatively difficult to accept another new language. Chinese and English are both two widely used languages in the world. Totally, the numbers of the Chinese Speakers and English speakers take one fourth of the global population.

Linguists classify languages using two main classification systems: typological and genetic. A typological classification system organizes languages according to the similarities and differences in their structures. Languages that share the same structure belong to the same type, while languages with different structures belong to different types. For example, despite the great differences between the two languages in other respects, Mandarin Chinese and English belong to the same type, grouped by word-order typology. Both languages have a basic word order of subject-verb-object.

But, they are different. Chinese belongs to Han—Tibet language system, but English belongs to Indo—Euro language system. In Chinese, the square hieroglyph is the tool to express ideas, but in

English it is the 26 letters. There exists difference in sentence structure, pronunciation, vocabulary.

A. Structure

There are 7 basic types in English. 1.SVC 2.SV 3.SV A 4.SVO 5.SVOA 6.SvoO 7.SVOC(Note: S→ subject V→ verb C→ complement O→ object o→ object A→ adverbial). Some people think it should combine the second and the third one as well as the fifth one and the sixth one. So they think there are five basic types.) In Chinese, there are far more than five basic types.

B. Pronunciation

In Chinese, there are some similar pronunciations with English, like some consonants [p] [b], [t] [d], [s] [z], [m] [n], [f] [g], [k] [h], and some vowels [a:] [i] and [u]. But individually, they have their own pronunciation and standard. Chinese has four tunes but English only depends on the different positions of the stress. In addition, in English there are some phonetics which are very difficult to pronounce like[r] [v] etc. In Chinese pinyin, each “zi” has a “yunmu”, which is like the vowel sound in English. An English consonant or several consonants are preceded by a vowel.

C. V ocabulary

Generally, English has a larger vocabulary. Nowadays, there are some ten thousands Characters in Chinese. It has accumulated to a large storeroom. All the factors considered, English has a quicker and more significant development than Chinese. Webster’s Third New International Dictiona ry, which was published in 1962, includes 480,000 million words. Chinese word has a surprising ability to combine another word and then form a new word. So Chinese has abundant phrases and the meanings of words vary in different phrases. Chinese words can express more clearly and make the descriptions more vivid. In some other part, Chinese is so brief that you use just one word to express a clear meaning. For example, 走means to go, 吃means have some food by yourself. To English, there are not only abundant basic word, but also a lot of loanwords which enrich or have enriched the vocabulary and make a lot of synonyms. In English, the word “thief” has 37 synonyms. On the other hand, the usage of preposition between Chinese and English are very different.

D．Culture

People grow up in different environments. They are growing in two deferent semis. They absorb the different nurture at different time and restricts. There are many good examples of misunderstanding between Chinese people and English speakers. A Chinese scholar went to America for further studies. One day, he missed his wife and children. He brought out a family photograph and stared at it. An American came over an d saw the photo. He commented,” Your wife is beautiful.” The scholar felt embarrassed and said modestly, “Where, where”. Now it was the American’s turn to feel awkward. To be amusing, he had to say,“Everywhere”. In fact, for an

American, to say “Your wife is beautiful” is just a way to show politeness, but a Chinese man may take it as a compliment. And about greetings, we are familiar with the questions like “你吃了吗”(ni chi le ma)、“你到哪里去？(ni dao na li qu)”、“你每个月薪挣多少钱？(ni mei ge yue zheng duo shao qian)”, but the English speakers may take those questions as taboos. “It’s none of your business.”

Ⅳ. Conditions for English Learning

English is a basic tool in the new world. More and more Chinese people are trying their best to charge it. But, in fact, the results are always not satisfactory, because we don’t have the conditions for second language learning. In the book of Conditions for Second Language Learning, Bernard Spolsky shows seventy-four conditions of second language learning. He specially notes that thirty-one conditions are necessary and the others are typical and graded conditions. Among the thirty-one conditions, social context, culture background, exposure conditions, attitude and motivation and native pronunciation are the most important.

A．Social Context

According to Bernard Spolsky, language is primarily a social mechanism, so languages are learned in social context. He proved this idea by quoting another linguist’s remarks: “What is needed is a linguistics which can describe whatever features of speech proves relevant in the given case, and which can relate linguistic elements to each other in terms of relationships of role, status, task and the like. Such a linguistic requires foundations in social theory and ethnographic practice as well as in practical phonetics and grammar.”

Condition 42: the Number of Speakers condition. The number of people who speak a language as a first or second language influences the desire of others to learn it.

Condition 48: Linguistic condition prefers to learn a language when

(a) You desire the social approval of its speakers, and/or

(b) You see strong value in being able to communicate with its speakers, and/or

(c) There are no social norms providing other methods of communicating with speakers of that language, and/or

(d) Your learning is reinforced of encouraged by speakers of the language.

Condition 43 Standard language condition: Formal teaching situations are possible only with standardized languages.

Condition 44: In formal learning situations are possible only with languages with vitality. Condition 55 Instrumental language learning or teaching condition: If you need to speak to someone who does not know your language, you can learn that person’s language or help that

person to learn your language

Condition 56 Language values condition: The social and individual values which underlie language choice rules also determine the value an individual assigns to the learning of a specific language.

To sum up, a good mastery of English has become a must for all the students in China because of frequent communication between countries. More and more people pay their attention to English learning. At the same time, Chinese government encourages everyone to learn English and create a lot good conditions for English learners, so Chinese English learners have a better social context to learn English.

B．Attitudes and Motivation

Another two critical factors of English learning are attitude and motivation because they predict the amount of time a learner would apply to the task of language learning.

Condition 50 Aptitude condition: The greater a learner’s aptitude, the faster he or she will learn all parts of the second language.

Condition 51 Exposure Condition: The more time spent learning any aspect of a second language, the more will be learned.

Conditions52 Motivation condition: The more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend learning an aspect of a second language.

Anyway, the goal of English learning is to communicate with English speakers. energy and time on English learning, Chinese English learners make progress in English learning on condition that they spend a lot of energy and time on it. Without hard work and persistence, Chinese English learners cannot learn English well.

C．Native Pronunciation Condition

Condition 23: Native pronunciation condition. The younger one starts to learn a second language the better chance on has to develop a native-like pronunciation. We all know that the golden time to learn language is 2 to 6 years old. So if a child can get in touch with English as he is a baby, he can hear the English sound for a long time, after some time he can speak English very well naturally.

Now, a lot of foreigners are living in China and English is prevalent in China, so Chinese English learners can get in touch with English native speakers easily. Chinese English learners have more chances to practice their English with English native speakers. Chinese English learners can learn native pronunciation in a good native environment.

D．Cultural Background

Standard language condition prefers to formal teaching situations are possible only with

standardized languages. Modernized language condition prefers to teach of learn a language which is officially used or recognized. Of want to charge the target language very well, we had better know the customs and the originality of it. You know more about it, you can learn it much quicker and better.

Some other conditions also influence second language acquisition.

Condition 34 Language distance condition: The closer two languages are to each other genetically and typologically, the quicker the speaker of one will learn the other.

Condition 35 Shared feature condition: When two languages share a feature, learning is facilitated. Condition 36: Contrastive feature condition: Differences between two languages interfere when speakers of one set out to learn the other.

With the development of the economic globalization, the communications between China and other countries become more frequent. Chinese people know more about the knowledge of the outside world. The blocks between two backgrounds will become smaller and smaller. And Chinese English learners can compare the differences and contrast the similarities in learning. And Chinese English learners can take the advantages of the positive transfer and remove the negative transfer.

Ⅴ. Creating Conditions for English Learning

From the conditions analyzed above, it is obvious that the first step to learn English is to learn the pronunciation. The pronunciation should be the standard language but not the dialects in some local areas. Imaging that you have learned one kind of language of a minority, for example, the yi language, still we can not communicate with most of the Chinese people. As for communication, we all know that if we want to use a second language freely, you have to get more chances to practice. Only talking more with native speakers and doing a lot practice can help you to improve your English level. On the other hand, as mentioned above, the purpose of English learning is not only to meet the exams but to listen, speak, read and write in English and finally use the global language to learn and exchange information with other countries.

In fact, the conditions of English learning vary. Different people choose different ways to improve your English. It is very important to create conditions to learn English.

A．A Good Foundation of English

Chinese English learners must learn it from simple letters, words and phonetics. In the course of English learning, learners dig into it incessantly and enlarge the vocabulary gradually. They try their best to charge the basic grammar and usage of English. In this course they can find some

good ways by themselves, which is very useful and suitable for them.

B．A Good Attitude on English Learning

English is one basic tool in nowadays society. It is the time of human intelligence. Learning English is not only for the exams, but for a good tool to make your life more wonderful and colorful. So, one has the duty to learn it very well for both his individual life and the country’s development. At the same time, learners should change some wrong ideas formed before and show their highest motivation and aspiration to learn it. Of course, learners have to spend more energy and time on English study.

C. Using Available Resources

There is an unprecedented fever of English learning in China. You can get any material you want, whether you are in the city or in the countryside. Learners do not neglect the basic knowledge teaching in the classroom so they first have a full understanding of their teacher’s lectures, then they have got good improvement. Now, a lot of high-tech products can help learners and ensure them to have a good environment to learn English. You can use either a recorder, or some advanced equipments like TV, CD, VCD etc. or all of them. So learners have a good practice in the created scene of communication with native speakers. Especially, you can surf on the internet to look for all the latest materials you want directly and quickly. Hi- tech creates good conditions for learners, and they can use the golden time to charge English language which is very important.

D．Cultural Communication

Learning English is absolutely not only translating English into Chinese and Chinese into English. They grow in the different soil in two semis. Further more, we have to know the inherence of the English language, but not only the appearance of it, like knowing one person, not only from his appearance but also from his morality. You had better know the people around him. If you can consider English as an important tool which serve your own life and society, it will be easy for you to learn it very well.

E. Proper Use of Language Transfer

Language transfer is inevitable in learning a second language. It occurs at all linguistic levels, phonetic, lexical, semantic and syntactic. Therefore, learners are to lay emphasis on how to teach and learn from grammatical analysis and difference of cultural differences should also be kept in mind. The existence of Chinglish is but a fact. In the book English in Use, Quirk mentioned “Occasionally, our principal problem is not to find the exact meanin g of a word but to find the exact word for a meaning which is floating, so to speak, in our heads.” To overcome the negative transfer, we need to listen to Standard English, read articles and literature in English so as to have enough language input. When it’s time to put out, learners are to think in English and express in

the native speaker’s way.

Conclusion

English learning is a long process. It needs persistence and hard work. Though a lot of English learners have spent a lot of time and energy on it, the results are still not satisfactory. The native language ---Chinese, tightly restricts them. On the one hand, Chinese is one comprehensive language. It has its unique originality, structure, pronunciation, lexicology and cultural background and all these factors affect the process of English learning. On the other hand, the goals of the English learners in China are not the same, and they have different attitudes and motivations. So the degrees of mastery are different.

Most of the learners are learning English in Chinese context. Chinese has been deeply rooted in their memory. Although positive transfer helps with the second language learning, negative transfer leads to confusion. Language learning needs a lot of conditions and without these conditions; it is harder for them to learn the language well. So it is crucial to create some suitable conditions according to the learners’ needs. International communications enable Chinese learners to get easy access to native English speakers, so learners have a standard language condition. On the other hand, the Ministry of Educational has set up kinds of English curriculum standards to popularize English in the whole nation which is a good condition of the number of speakers. Development in science and technology provides learners with various visual and audio resources. With all those things to help, Chinese learners are destined to learn English well.

Acknowledgements

My idea for the thesis sprang from the enlightenment of Ms. Tan Changlian, my tutor, to whom I owed great gratitude and appreciation. She gave me invaluable institutions and encouragement. In the process of composing this paper, she gives me much academic and constructive advice and helps me to correct my paper.

Moreover, I am deeply grateful to those teachers who gave me much help these four years, such as Mr. Deng Xingyi, Mr. Zhou Ronghui, Ms. Huang Tianhong, Ms. Zhang Yihua and Mr. Liu Youlong. They benefited me a lot with sparkling ideas in their lectures.

My indebtedness also goes to my roommates, who offer me excellent advice and environment to write my paper.

Finally, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to those who spend their precious time in reading this thesis.

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