The Influence of Mother Tongue on Second Language Learning

1、the influence of mother tongue on second language learningabstract: in china, the second language of most the people is english and chinese students commonly begin to study english when they have already had a good acquisition of their mother tongue. so the mother tongue has a considerable influence

2、 on the way a second language is learnt. we can make best use of mother tongue while learning the second language, not only can we learn the second language well but also not forget the mother tongue. this paper which carries on further analyse and research this influence in the massive research fou

3、ndation, includes the concept of the mother tongue and second language, the influence of the mother tongue on the second language learning in translating and the sentence structure and elaborating the influence of the mother tongue on the second language learning in the writing through an experiment

4、.key words: mother tongue second language influence introduction in the field of second language acquisition, linguists found that mother tongue had a great influence on the acquisition of target language. very often, when an l2 learner intends to express himself in the target language, his l2 prono

5、unciation may sound unnatural, with a flavor of l1 influence. and this would make the learners produce an incorrect sentence. many of chinese students have already acquired some chinese before they learn english, which make them naturally use the knowledge of mother language to learn english. as a r

6、esult, the influence of mother language in the english learning is unavoidable.1.the reason of causing transfer transfer would not happen without any condition. so does the transfer in languages.l1 is considered as a kind of input from the inside. this input will occur just under some conditions. th

7、ere are some cognitive constraints that govern the transfer of l1 knowledge. one such constraint identified by kellerman (1983) is as follows: i want now to examine one factor that will act as a constrainer or a trigger of transfer. this is the learners notion of the relations between the l1 and l2

8、if l1 and l2 were very different, the lack of available correspondences would, in the initial stages at least, act as a bar to transfer, since the learner is unable to make the necessary cross-lingual tie-ups.for example, some kids may confuse tangerine and orange, because they are all fruits and th

9、eir appearances look alike. they would never confuse orange and shoe for they are two different things completely. such difference makes people to avoid the transfer. it forms a bar to transfer and prevent the transfer happen. therefore it is just the commonness between two things that cause transfe

10、r but not specialty. so does the transfer appear in chinese and english. there do have commonness between them actually, for example in letter, in syntax, in culture. (although the differences between them are the main part, there still have the commonness. that is a special commonness between langu

11、ages. for example, in english and chinese, the main part of a sentence is the subject and the predicate. this is the commonness.) when the learners are aware of the existence of that commonness, they would transfer the rules of l1 into l2 unconsciously. furthermore, if the rules between two language

12、s are completely alike, the positive transfer appears. if the rules were different in some areas (maybe we can call it the specialty in the commonness.), the negative transfer would appear. in a word, it is the commonness of language that leads to transfer.2. the positive influence of mother tongue

13、on l2 learning2.1. there is commonality between the two languages many foreign language education in promoting the mother tongue and mother tongue aside lone culture, the idea of mother tongue and native culture in the english teaching role in the lack of sufficient knowledge, too much emphasis on t

14、he mother tongue in foreign language learning the negative effect of wrong that language learning is to completely get rid of the impact of the mother tongue. in fact, there is commonality in language, we know that contradictions are unity of opposites. commonality of language determines the languag

15、e is the indispensable basis for learning english, but also can take advantage of the resources, which is learning english lies in the positive role of the mother tongue. foreign language and its cultures message must first be filtered through the native culture, professors, or affect the transmissi

16、on of information found in various languages, and non-verbal cultural factors must be learners mother tongue and cultural background, through the comparison of two cultures, to find a variety of cultural factors affecting communication, from the comparison of the similarities found in two cultures a

17、nd differences. many empirical studies have shown that: english learners in the cognitive process of thinking to rely on their mother tongue, especially in the writing and reading process. languages are interlinked, english and chinese in its grammatical structure is very similar in some areas, such

18、 as sentence elements and sentence structures, in both chinese and english subject, predicate, object, attribute, adverbial of such knowledge, if we can learn english, before an understanding of the knowledge of these chinese, or some grasp of the english language learning will play the role of a go

19、od bedding. 2.2 native learners of english to promote understanding michael swan said: learners are not empty his head into the classroom. most of the new access to information based on existing knowledge-based, and some new information with old knowledge itself contains the same elements, and the c

20、hildrens language development from simple to complex through a process of language skills and cognitive development is closely linked to capacity development. in the course of learning a foreign language the mother tongue as the cognitive basis is inevitable. therefore, learners can use their existi

21、ng knowledge to study and understand the english language rules, thus promoting learning of english. a survey recorded 10 high school and two college students in english writing plug-thinking process, results showed: 11 students understand the stages of the mother tongue in the picture analysis to d

22、etermine the cognitive processing stages in the formation of statements 60% of the contents of the contents of generated by the mother tongue. one study found that participation in english language learners to write the number of accounts for a high level of writing 2 / 3, to a certain extent, to il

23、lustrate that even in such as the chinese and english language does not belong to the same type in the writing process between the native also played a facilitating role. 2.3. the mother tongue can enhance interest in learning english of a thing can often have a deep interest in the promotion of hum

24、an learning activities; on the contrary, it will prevent people learning. individuals will in general tend to learn the things he liked. nation has pointed out, do not use their mother tongue will increase the learners psychological burden would have a negative impact on learning english. in class t

25、eaching, learners ability and level of inconsistency, teachers use only a portion of full-time teaching of english learners be able to keep up with, there is no basis or foundation heard that poor learners would like to hear to understand it, want to learn can not keep up. over time, they will feel

26、frustrated and lose confidence, loss of interest in learning, not to participate in classroom activities, till weariness produced emotional, and even to give up learning english. a long time, and some students simply do not go to school, and to the professional or even create drop-out home mentality

27、. in a survey of junior high 85.6% of the students thought the use of english classes in chinese mentally more relaxed. in the survey, up 88.7% of the learners that the foreign language classroom in which they are confused when their mother tongue make them feel more relaxed and more confident. 3. t

28、he negative influence of mother tongue on l2 learning3.1. voice chinese speech and english speech are two different voice systems, for chinese students learning english, the english language voice that there are chinese students who do not have the unfamiliar voice, and they have been used in chines

29、e pronunciation, so learning english pronunciation, when the total unconsciously use of english instead of voice sounds similar to, or instead of english intonation in chinese intonation. in particular, who have just started learning english will always be used to find a similar phonetic pronunciati

30、on to help the memory. chinese is a tonal language, tone identified by righteousness. english is an intonation language, tone identified by righteousness. english words have stress, secondary stress, sentences are also transferred to the lifting of the points, so the students are beginning to learn

31、english well in their possession, so talking about the tone of ups and downs in english is often not difficult to read out the standard of english tone to. such a situation will not charm the english language, voice, on becoming authentic chinese english (chinglish). 3.2. grammar chinese grammar of

32、the english learning also more prominent, mainly reflected in the definite article usage, word order, tense and so on. there is no definite article in chinese and english in the use of the definite article would be very complicated, and it also makes a number of english language for beginners, parti

33、cularly in oral expression, due to the continuity of thinking, too late to do too much thinking, often overlooked definite article . chinese verbs do not morphological changes, there is no tense, voice, and called for changes in time for the chinese language is the meaning of the adverb used to indi

34、cate the time (once, are, already, will be) as adverbial, or the use of forward, the , over , etc. to complement the language means of expression. the english meaning of the expression of time through the actions reflected by time and state. chinese customs that often do not have a passive meaning o

35、f the time is the word, but appears to take the initiative to actually expressed in a passive means. 3.3. culture different nationalities have different cultures and languages, language use will be constrained by culture, language and all ethnic groups from different cultures are inseparable, and th

36、eir customs, traditions and ways of thinking are reflected in the language of them. therefore, chinese students learning english, it will to some extent affected by the ethnic culture and language influence and interference, often unconsciously, into the culture and language of this tribe moved to t

37、he english learning. chinese people for the first time when they meet the general said, jiuyang daimyo, but in english communication can not be said: i have heard your name for a long time. can only be nice to meet you. english also has green tea (green tea), but the black we can not be applied for

38、the red tea but black tea. in english communication generally will not ask how old are you, are you married and so on, but in china, due to the national customs, these problems even if those who are not familiar with is also possible to ask, and generally does not cause dissatisfaction, but will inc

39、rease goodwill. however, because of its influence, many chinese students, communicating with foreigners in english, english-speaking people will feel as disgusted by the police interrogation. 4 .conclusion to sum up, the mother tongue of english learning has both positive and negative implications. this effect is inevitable in the learning process, so the process of learning english must recognize the dual role of