An Investigation Of Negative Transfer Of Mother Tongue In Junior Middle School Students’ English Writing

With the development and progress of the times,English has become an important tool for international exchanges,and English learning has become increasingly important.There are four skills in junior middle school English learning and teaching,which are listening,speaking,reading and writing.Writing is one of the important learning aspects.All of English teachers and students should pay more attention.In the process of writing,students will have many errors,and the negative transfer of mother tongue is a more common aspect.The transfer of mother tongue refers to the phenomenon that learners bring the influence of their mother tongue into the acquisition process of the second language.There are positive and negative aspects of the phenomenon of mother tongue transfer.When the native language rules are consistent with the target language,the native language rules will have a positive impact on the target language.This is the positive transfer of the mother tongue.Conversely,when the native language rule is inconsistent with the target language,the native language rule will have a negative impact on the target language,which is the negative transfer of the mother tongue(Liaofei,1998).Negative transfer of mother tongue will cause students to have various problems in the process of English writing and learning,such as the usage of vocabulary(Cui Shuli and Wen Yanrong,2015;Guo Xiaoyan,2000),the composition of syntax(Niu Mengya,2017;Heqin,2004),the structure of text(Wang Wenyu and Wang Lifei,2014;Amdt,1987),writing thinking and habits(Liao Weiying,2004;Lang Hongqin and Yuan Caihong,2000)and so on.If these problems cannot be dealt with in time,it will not only affect the students’ English writing,but also gradually deplete students’ English learning interest.On the basis of domestic and foreign studies,Lado’s(1957)Comparative Analysis Theory,Corder’s(1971)Error Analysis Theory,Selinker’s(1972)Interlanguage Theory,Dai Weidong and Shu Dingfang’s(1994)related theories will be summarized.Through the material analysis method,questionnaire method and interview method,the investigation of all students and English teachers in the third grade of Jilin No.7 Middle School will be conducted.The types,causes and improvement strategies of negative transfer of mother tongue in English writing of junior middle school students will be analyzed and summarized in the thesis.The following questions will be studied.(1)What negative transfers of mother tongue will be found in junior middle school students’ English writing?(2)What are the reasons for the negative transfer of the mother tongue?(3)What suggestions can be found to improve the negative impact of negative transfer of mother tongue?This thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction.The research background,the purpose of the research,and the structure of the thesis will be introduced.The second chapter is the literature review.The definition of related concepts,theoretical basis and domestic and foreign studies will be stated deeply.The third chapter is the research process and method.According to the research questions raised,the material analysis method for analyzing the writings in two examinations,which are the first monthly exam and the midterm exam of all junior middle school students in Jilin No.7 Middle School will be adopted.Questionnaires for data collection and analysis will be used to all students and English teachers in the third grade.Interviews will be conducted to relevant students and English teachers to understand the phenomenon of negative transfer of mother tongue in Junior Middle School students’ English writing learning.The fourth chapter is the research results and discussion.The results of the student’s writings,the investigation results of the teachers and students,and the interview results will be analyzed and discussed.Based on the research results,the reasons for the negative transfer of mother tongue and suggestions for improving the negative transfer of mother tongue are summarized.The fifth chapter is the conclusion.The main findings and conclusions of this study,the limitations of this research,one-step research opinions and suggestions based on the limitations of the research will be proposed.Through the investigation,it is found that the English writing situation of students in Jilin No.7 Middle School is not satisfactory.Various forms of negative mother tongue transfer in writing,such as negative transfer of vocabulary,negative transfer of syntax,negative transfer of discourse,etc,often occur for different reasons.For example,students’ lack of solid grasp of basic knowledge,insufficient writing practice and English teachers’ inaccurate correction of students’ compositions are the reasons of negative transfer of mother tongue.There are various types of negative mother tongue transfer in English writing for junior middle school students,and the reasons for their formation are complex and different.However,through the efforts of students and teachers,some relevant suggestions to improve the negative transfer of mother tongue to promote English writing learning can still be summarized.