A Study On Conceptual Transfer In The Use Of Prepositions In English Writings Of Chinese Secondary School Students

Language transfer phenomenon is one of the research focuses in the field of second language acquisition(SLA). Theories of language transfer have developed from the traditional comparative analysis to the latest Conceptual Transfer Hypothesis, whose main theoretical source is linguistic relativity, i.e. the language we use influences our thought. In SLA research, conceptual transfer can be briefly understood as the influence of thinking pattern in one language to that in another language, indicating conceptual influence of L1 on L2 and vice versa. This kind of cross-linguistic influence may be positive or negative.Through literature review, it is found that conceptual transfer studies present three characteristics: Firstly, relevant studies of conceptual transfer abroad cover a diverse range of research topics, but studies of conceptual transfer in Chinese EFL learners’ linguistic production are relatively fewer; most relevant domestic studies of conceptual transfer are descriptive from the perspective of cognitive linguistics or psychology, but the explanations of linguistic data in some studies are inadequate and fail to analyze the underlying cognitive causes of conceptual transfer. Secondly, foreign studies of conceptual transfer are mostly based on theories of cognitive linguistics and linguistic relativity, the Conceptual Transfer Hypothesis is not clearly mentioned; likewise, most domestic studies are based on the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics or psychology. Thirdly, although research methods employed in studies abroad are diverse, corpus-based studies of conceptual transfer are limited in number in terms of the selection of linguistic data; research methods employed in domestic studies are relatively simple, and the lack of corpus-based studies of conceptual transfer is also reflected in domestic studies.Based on the “Conceptual Transfer Theoretical Framework in English Learning” and linguistic data selected from WCEL(Writing Corpus of English Learners), the expansion of ICCI(The International Corpus of Crosslinguistic Interlanguage), this study analyzes conceptual transfer in the use of English prepositions by Chinese EFL beginners in their writings. The study focuses merely on the influence of Chinese concepts on the use of English prepositions by Chinese EFL learners and does not involve reverse transfer. To be specific, there are two research questions to be investigated: Firstly, what are the types and manifestations of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in English writings of Chinese secondary school students? Secondly, what are the underlying causes of conceptual transfer in the use of prepositions in English writings of Chinese secondary school students? To answer these two research questions, simple search of English prepositions needs to be conducted first, thus the concordance lines containing these prepositions are built, which is followed by edition of these concordance lines, the creation of plain texts. In this process, the data processing software, Ant Conc, is used for observation of these concordance lines according to the minimum assumption proposed by Sinclair in corpus-based studies. Finally, the use of prepositions that manifests conceptual transfer is classified into types. The conceptual phenomenon is analyzed by focusing on conceptual transfer at both the lexical level and the grammatical level. Underlying causes of conceptual transfer are also analyzed from a cognitive perspective.It is found that errors made by Chinese secondary school students in their English writing are mainly caused by negative conceptual transfer of L1, the Chinese language in question. And positive conceptual transfer also exists. Conceptual transfer of L1 in the use of prepositions by Chinese EFL learners are mainly caused by conceptual similarities and differences at the lexical and grammatical levels. The theoretical significance of this study lies in that it enriches language transfer studies at the conceptual level. It is of practical significance in that it may provide implications for English teaching and learning in the Chinese context. In terms of research methodology, this study provides reference for corpus-based studies of conceptual transfer.