A Probe Of The Influences Of Chinese Thought Patterns On English Compositions Of Non-English Majors

College English teaching aims at developing the learner抯 competence. There is, however, a worrying phenomenon. The students do not have ability to write a complete and appropriate English paragraph after having learned English for such a long time. We paid much attention to the teaching of the learners?linguistic skills but little attention to the linguistic functions; more attention to the study of teachers?teaching approach while little attention to the development of the students?linguistic competence. As 21st century-the serious challenging age, the information age is coming, and more and more companies demand the learners to have a better command of English not only in reading and interpreting, but also in speaking and writing. However, the current teaching methods in writing employed by most teachers in colleges and universities seem lagged behind the requirements, as a result, we often get half the result with twice the effort. Whatever hinders them? This paper attempts to explore the differences between Chinese and English thought patterns and the expressions in their own written discourses, the interference of Chinese thought patterns with English written discourses of non-English majors, and the negative factors influencing the students?discourse structures. Chapter 1 gives a brief account of ~LT in China and the problems the non-English majors encountering in their writing, and supports the idea that culture and thought differences stand in their way. Furthermore, it talks about the theories of Robert Kaplan and Michael Hoey that thought pattern differences bring forth the discourse pattern differences in these two languages. Chapter 2 analyses the differences of Chinese and English thought patterns and A Probe of the Influences of Chinese Thought Patterns on English Compositions of Non-English Majors supports these ideas from production styles, philosophy and languages: Chinese prefer imagination, synthesis, while English speakers abstract, analysis; Chinese prefer unity while English speakers opposite. These thought tendencies are formed by the influences of their cultures, history and philosophy. Chinese regard heaven and earth as a whole, believe in "the doctrine of the mean" which are expressed in Chinese philosophy and medicine. English speakers?thought tendencies are expressed in their cultures, traditions especially in their grammar, which rules influence their thought characteristics. Chapter 3 offers a detailed expression of Chinese and English thought patterns in these two languages. Language and thought are connected together, and the thought pattern differences are expressed by their linguistic structures. With the increasing cooperation between countries, people have more opportunity to communicate with the people from the other countries and feel deeply their cultural differences, and thought patterns expressed in sentence structures, alignment of information and writing styles. In structure, English belongs to hypotaxis while Chinese emphasizes on parataxis. In alignment of information, English seems like a peacock, the important idea is put at the front of the sentence behind which the less important components are put. Chinese structure seems like a lion, the main environment is arranged first, the main structures are set, and the minor ideas are put in. English describes something in an anti-clockwise way while Chinese a clockwise way. In written discourse, Chinese is circular English linear. Chapter...