| 汉语语言环境对英语学习的影响
The Influence of Chinese Context on English Learning
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Introduction English plays a very important role in every field of the present society. Whether you are a teacher or a student, you have relations with English. In the long history, English has developed its individual uniqueness and it is easy to adopt in most nations. It has become the global language and has its function and position. It is estimated about 700 million to 800 million people can speak English.. In another word, because of its influence, our world is becoming smaller and smaller. But apart from 400 million native speakers, the others are using English in different ways to different extent. At present up to 300 million people are learning English in China, and there are still more and more people joining the group of English learning. And the number of English learners is increasing rapidly. However, among the English learners, not every person have learned English well.. Both educators and linguistics are showing their concern about second language. Some are research into the English teaching methodology ; some are analyzing relationship between psychology and second language acuisition still some others are studying the way to learn English or a second language. 1.Present Situation of English Learning in China With the opening and reforming of china, English has been an important course in schools. It is taught in most primary schools in the cities from Grade Three be fore ,but now ,it expend to our poverty area, it is aught in all the middle schools in the whole country. In a long term, English will be a major course from primary school to university learning. Even though they graduated from university, In China, university students must pass CET4and CET6 before they graduate or they can not get the deplom .To some learners, English is a new course and due to curiosity, they may have enough warmness and confidence at the beginning of English learning. Later, when they meet various difficulties and blocks, they lost their confidence gradually even at last most of them have to give it up. To some students and some adults, the purpose to learn English is only to meet the demands of exams. According to some surveys we are seriously affected by the native language –Chinese. A lot of people can not break away from the control of the native language, because the two languages are quite different . China also has its individual culture which is rooted deeply in its long history. Generally speaking, each nation has its own culture When Chinese developed into the native language in china , all the people think it was the most splendid language and knowledge in the world, so we difficult to accept another new language. Chinese and English are both two widely used languages in the world. Totally, the numbers of the Chinese Speakers and English speakers take one fourth of the global population. Linguists classify languages using two main classification systems: typological and genetic. A typological system organizes languages according to the similars and differences in their structures. Languages share the same structure belong to the same type, while languages with different structures belong to different types; For example, despite the great differences between the two languages in other respects, Mandarin Chinese and English belong to the same type, grouped by word-order typology. Both languages have a basic word order of subject-verb-object. But they are different. Chinese belongs to Han—Tibet language system, but English belongs to Indo—Euro language system. In Chinese, the square hieroglyph is the tool to express ideas, but in English it is the 26 letters.(Long,Richards,2006:3) There exists difference in sentence structure, pronunciation, vocabulary. There are 7 basic types in English:SVC .SV SVA SVO SVOA SvoO SVOC. Some people think it should combine the second and the third one as well as the fifth one and the sixth one. So they think there are five basic types. In Chinese, there are far more than five basic types. 2.2. Pronunciation In Chinese, there are some similar pronunciations with English, like some consonants [p] [b], [t] [d], [s] [z], [m] [n], [f] [g], [k] [h], and some vowels [a:] [i] and [u]. But individually, they have their own pronunciation and standard. Chinese has four tunes but English only depends on the different positions of the stress. In addition, in English there are some phonetics which are very difficult to pronounce like[r] [v] etc. In Chinese pinyin, each “zi” has a “yunmu”, which is like the vowel sound in English. An English consonant or several consonants are preceded by a vowel. (Sun,2001:18). 2.3. Vocabulary Generally, English has larger vocabulary. Nowadays, there are about ten thousands Characters in Chinese. And Chinese word has a surprising ability to combine another word and then reform a new word. So Chinese has abundant phrases and the meanings of words vary in different phrases. Chinese words can express more clearly and descript things more vivid. In some other part, Chinese is so brief that you use just one word to express a clear meaning. For example, 走means to go, 吃 means have some food ,no matter what you eat, but English is not only abundant basic word, but also a lot of loan words which make a lot of synonyms. In English, the word “thief” has 37 synonyms.(Li, 2004:46).On the other hand, the usage of preposition between Chinese and English are very different. 2.4 Culture Because we grow up in different environment. There are many good examples of misunderstanding between Chinese people and English speakers. Sometimes we can meet this kind of joke; A English speaker said to a girl “you are beautiful”, she must answered modestly, “Where, where”, then the English speaker felt amusing and had to said “Every where”. In fact, for a English speaker to say “You are beautiful” is just a way to show politeness, but a Chinese people may take it as a compliment. And about some greetings, we are familiar with the questions like “你吃饭了吗”(ni chi fan le ma)、“你到哪里去？(ni dao na li qu)”、“你每个月挣多少钱？ge yue zheng duo shao qian)”, but the English speakers may take those questions as taboos. “It’s none of your business.” 3. Factors Affecting English Learning The Chinese context has deeply influence on English learning in China. How to learn English well is a headache problem for English learners and English teachers. Because English speakers and Chinese speakers have different thoughts. learners in China are always under the influence of Chinese context, so it is so difficult to have significant progress. In the last 20 years, the environment of English learning has changed a lot in China. We can see the rapid development in English learning. Otherwise, no matter how we change , we are still in the Chinese context .the fact that we should not disengage the Chinese thought has an opposite effect on English learning everywhere and any time. In fact, how Chinese context affect the English learning. 3.1. The Restriction of Social Context Chinese and English are two very different languages and belong to different linguistic systems. To Chinese people, English is a second language, most of the Chinese English learners only depend on the teaching in the classroom, so they have few opportunities to communicate with a native English speakers .“ I always compare English Learning to a besiegment. Your English is the Besieger and of course your mother tongue is the one besieged. You Command your army of English to break through the line of defense until you overtake the stronghold—your mother tongue.”(sun,2001:11). But it is really a hard job because you are completely surrounded by the enemy and your enemy is so strong. To Chinese people, English is a second language, most of the Chinese English learners only depend on the teaching in the classroom, so they have few opportunities to communicate with a native English speaker .Most surveys show that the infant time is the golden time to learn languages. we can imagine if a baby is taught in English, Japanese and Spanish since he was born, when he grows up he can speak three kinds of languages even though he does not know the grammar .For most Chinese, they do not know the grammar at all, but all of them can speak Chinese. These examples show that Chinese social context has a great influence in English learning. 3.2. Difference between the Two Languages To learn English well, we must know the details of it. Firstly, when you are learning the pronunciation, you will be corrected for several times. Sometimes, you want to say go to somewhere by ship, but because you pronounce it too long, some others think that you “go somewhere by sheep”. Secondly, in pragmatics: we know Father, Mother, Sister in English is quite different from our Chinese. A teacher is very kind and easygoing. The students like her very much. They think she is just like their mother. But we can never call her Mother, because in English, Father, Mother or Sister has some religious connotations.Thirdly, in the acceptation, once you have written “my English level low” always appear in your articles. Fourthly, in the grammar you always make mistakes like this: it’s a apple , you running fast ect. 3.3 Phenomenon of Language Transfer Language transfer is the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and the other languages that has been previously acquired (Odlin, 1989),. This definition thus suggests that transfer can occur at any levels, strategic, linguistic, discoursal, and pragmatic. Inter-language, such as a semantic formulae, strategy, or linguistic form, occurs in the NL (native language), TL (target language) and IL (inter-language) data. Similar response frequencies in all the three data sets are classified as positive transfer, while different response frequencies between IL-TL and NL-TL combined with similar frequencies between IL-NL register as negative transfer ( Liu , 2001:59). Chinese learners usually use the expression: “Never mind” in replying to “Thanks a lot. That’s a great help” (He, 1988:67). In Chinese, we use “Mei guan xi” or “Bu yong xie)”to reply to “Thank you”. However, their equivalents in English, “Never mind”, “Not at all” and “You are welcome” are slightly different in use from one another, though they all may be translated as “没关系”(Mei guan xi) in Chinese. another example as “No smoking please” and “Our English teacher has peaches and plums everywhere in China” are also wrong in use.. 4. Conditions for English Learning More and more Chinese people are trying their best to learn English But the results are always not satisfactory, because we don’t have the conditions for second language learning. “They are seventy-four conditions of second language learning”.(Spolsky,2000:77) He specially notes that thirty-one conditions are necessary and the others are typical and graded conditions. Among the thirty-one conditions, social context, culture background, exposure conditions, attitude and motivation and native pronunciation are the most important. 4.1 Social Context According to Bernard Spolsky, language is primarily a social mechanism, so languages are learned in social context. He proved this idea by quoting another linguist’s word.“What is needed is a linguistics which can describe whatever features of speech proves relevant in the given case, and which can relate linguistic elements to each other in terms of relationships of role, status, task and the like. Such a linguistic requires foundations in social theory and ethnographic practice as well as in practical phonetics and grammar.” As a whole a good mastery of English has become a must for all the students in China because of frequent communication between countries. More and more people pay their attention to English learning. At the same time, Chinese government encourages everyone to learn English and create a lot good conditions for English learners, so Chinese English learners have a better social context to learn English. 4.2 Attitudes and Motivation Another two key factors of English learning are attitude and motivation . because they predict the amount of time a learner would apply to the task of language learning. 4.2.1Attitude condition The greater a learner’s attitude, the faster he or she will learn all parts of the second language. 4.2.2. Exposure Condition: The more time spent learning any aspect of a second language, the more will be learned 4.2.3 Motivation condition: The more motivation a learner has, the more time he or she will spend learning an aspect of a second language. Anyway, the goal of English learning is to communicate with English speakers. energy and time on English learning, Chinese English learners make progress in English learning on condition that they spend a lot of energy and time on it. Without hard work and persistence, Chinese English learners cannot learn English well. 4.3 Native Pronunciation Condition The younger one starts to learn a second language the better chance on has to develop a native-like pronunciation. We all know that the golden time to learn language is 2 to 6 years old. So if a child can get in touch with English when he is a baby, he can hear the English sound for a long time, after some time he can speak English very well naturally. Now, a lot of foreigners are living in China and English is prevalent in China, so Chinese English learners can get in touch with English native speakers easily. Chinese English learners have more chances to practice their English with English native speakers. Chinese English learners can learn native pronunciation in a good native environment. 4.4 Cultural Background Standard language condition need formal teaching situations . Modernized language condition need teach of learn a language which is officially used .if we want to learn the target language very well, we had better know the customs and the originality of it. You know more about it, you can learn it much quicker and better. Some other conditions also influence second language acquisition, according to Bernard Spolsky, we can know : 4.4.1 Language distance condition: The closer two languages are to each other genetically and typologically, the quicker the speaker of one will learn the other. 4.4.2 Shared feature condition: When two languages share a feature, learning is facilitated. 4.4.3 Contrastive feature condition: Differences between two languages interfere when speakers of one set out to learn the other. With the development of economic globalization, the communications between China and other countries become more frequent. Chinese people know more about the knowledge of the outside world. The distance between two backgrounds will become smaller and smaller. And Chinese English learners can compare the differences and contrast the similar in learning. And Chinese English learners can take the advantages of the positive transfer and remove the negative transfer. 5. Creating Conditions for English Learning From analyzed the conditions above condition, it is obvious that the first step to learn English is to learn the pronunciation. The pronunciation should be the standard language but not the dialects in some local areas. Imaging that you have learned one kind of language of a minority, for example, the yi language, still we can not communicate with most of the Chinese people. As for communication, we all know that if we want to use a second language freely, you have to get more chances to practice. Only talking more with native speakers and doing a lot practice can help you to improve your English level. On the other hand, as mentioned above, the purpose of English learning is not only to join the exams but listen, speak, read and write in English and finally use the global language to learn and exchange information with other countries. In fact, the conditions of English learning are not same. Different people choose different ways to improve own English. It is very important to create conditions to learn English. 5.1．A Good Foundation of English Chinese English learners must learn it from simple letters, words and phonetics. In the course of English learning, learners dig into it incessantly and enlarge the vocabulary gradually. They try their best to charge the basic grammar and usage of English. In this course they can find some good ways by themselves, which is very useful and suitable for them. 5.2 A Good Attitude on English Learning English is a basic tool in nowadays .It is the time for human intelligence. Learning English is not only for the exams, but for a good tool to make your life more wonderful and colorful. So, everyone has the duty to learn it very well for both his individual life and the country’s development. At the same time, learners should change some wrong ideas formed before and show their highest motivation to learn it. Of course, learners have to spend more energy and time on English study. 5.3. Using Available Resources There is an unprecedented of English learning in China. whether you are in the city or in the countryside. You can get any material you want,. Learners do not neglect the basic knowledge teaching in the classroom so they first have a full understanding of their teacher’s lectures, then they have got good improvement. Now, a lot of high-teching products can help learners to have a good environment to learn English. You can use either a recorder, or some advanced equipments like TV, CD, VCD etc. or all of them. So learners have a good practice in the created scene of communication with native speakers. Especially, you can surf on the internet to look for all the latest materials that you want directly and quickly. Hi- tech creates good conditions for learners, and they can use the golden time to charge English language which is very important. 5.4 Cultural Communication Learning English is not only translate English into Chinese and Chinese into English. They grow in the different soil in two semis. Further more, we have to know the inherence of the English language, but not only the appearance of it, like to know one person, not only from his appearance but also from his morality. You had better know the people around him. If you can consider English as an important tool which serve your own life and society, it will be easy for you to learn it very well. 5.5 Using of Language Transfer properly Language transfer is inevitable in learning a second language. It occurs at all linguistic levels, phonetic, lexical, semantic and syntactic. Therefore, learners are to lay emphasis on how to teach and learn from grammatical analysis and difference of cultural differences should also kept in mind. The existence of Chin-glish is but a fact. In the book English in Use, Quirk mentioned “Occasionally, our principal problem is not to find the exact meaning of a word but to find the exact word for a meaning which is floating, so to speak, in our heads.” To overcome the negative transfer, we need to listen to Standard English, read articles and literature in English so as to have enough language input. When it’s time to put out, learners are to think in English and express in the native speaker’s way. Conclusion Learning English is a long process. We must try our best to work on it, most of us spend a lot of time and energy, but the results is unsatisfactory.On the one hand, Chinese is one comprehensive language. It has its unique originality, structure, pronunciation, lexicology and cultural background and all these factors affect the process of English learning. On the other hand, the goals of the English learners in China are not the same, and they have different attitudes and motivations. So the degrees of mastery are different. Most of the learners are learning English in Chinese context. Chinese has been deeply rooted in their memory. Although positive transfer helps with the second language learning, negative transfer leads to confusion. When we learning English, we need good condition, and without these condition it is hard for them to learn the language well. International communications enable Chinese learners to get easy access to native English speakers, so learners have a standard language condition. On the other hand, development in science and technology provides learners with various visual and audio resources. With all those things to help, Chinese learners are destined to learn English well. Acknowledgements: 相关链接：教学论文
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