A Study On Cross-linguistic Influence Of Chinese Proficiency On Lexical Errors In English Writings By Mongolian High School Students

Third language acquisition is a relatively new field which is developed on the basis of research on second language acquisition and bilingualism,of which cross-linguistic influence has received an increasing attention with globalized world economy and frequent international exchanges.Through literature review,it may be found that research concerning cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition abroad covers a wider range of areas mainly focusing on Indo-European language speakers.When it comes to the research in China,it is comparatively small in number and limited information is available on minority groups,let alone Mongolian learners.However,both foreign and domestic studies come to an agreement on the important role of L2 proficiency in third language acquisition.Therefore,this thesis probes into the effect of L2 Chinese proficiency on the lexical transfer in L3 English writings of Mongolian high school students based on the theoretical framework of interlanguage transfer hypothesis and error analysis theory regarding 108 Mongolian senior high school students in Grade two in Horqin Right Wing Middle Banner of Xingan League located in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as subjects to address the following three research questions:(1)What is the correlation between L1 Mongolian proficiency,L2 Chinese proficiency and L3 English proficiency of Mongolian high school students?(2)What differences are there in L3 English lexical production in writings of Mongolian high school students with different L2 Chinese proficiency levels?(3)What causes L2 Chinese transfer in L3 English lexical production in writings of Mongolian high school students?In order to answer these questions,at first,correlation analyses both between scores of L1 Mongolian and L3 English,and between scores of L2 Chinese and L3 English of the second term in 2016 of subjects were done to see whether Mongolian proficiency,Chinese proficiency and English proficiency were correlated or not.Then,subjects were divided into two groups in terms of L2 Chinese proficiency so that differences between the two groups on lexical use in L3 English writings were found out.At last,questionnaires were filled up to explore main factors that cause L2 Chinese transfer in lexical production of L3 English writings.It is found that firstly,L2 Chinese proficiency has a major influence on the lexical use of L3 English writings by Mongolian high school students instead of L1 Mongolian proficiency since their L1 Mongolian proficiency and L3 proficiency are hardly correlated while L2 Chinese proficiency and L3 English proficiency have some correlation.Secondly,a large number of lexical errors are made by both higher L2 proficiency group and lower L2 proficiency group in L3 English writings,of which the former group outnumbers the latter group significantly.Through the analysis over ten types of lexical errors,it is discovered that there is a significant difference between the two groups on the frequency of errors in spelling and word building other than other kinds of lexical errors.Among them,errors in order,part of speech,absence and redundancy are primarily caused by L2 Chinese transfer.Lastly,as shown in questionnaire surveys,major factors that cause L2 Chinese transfer in L3 English are linguistic typology,language proficiency and recency of use.The research findings may have implications for the theoretical development in third language acquisition and foreign language teaching in Mongolian areas including cultivation of English teachers,improvement of students’ English vocabulary as well as Chinese proficiency,and comparison and contrast between Chinese and English.