Thought Patterns and English Teaching of Writing

Zhao Weining

Abstract： Because of the difference of geography， history， culture and humane studies of different countries， Chinese people and English-speaking people have different thought patterns. In fact， the effect of differences between English and Chinese thought patterns on teaching English as a foreign language has drawn our increasing attention. This paper discusses the differences between Chinese thought pattern and English thought pattern， and provides some suggestion for English teaching of writing.

Key Words： thought patternsWritingEnglish teachingBecause of different thought patterns of human beings， Chinese and English express the same subject in different ways.

1Chinese thought patterns and English thought patterns

1.1 The characteristics of Chinese thought patterns

The thought characteristics of the Orientals are directly synthetic and whole.They emphasize the concept of viewing the world as a whole. This direct thought pattern provides a strong recognizing mechanism in order to form the harmonious relationship between people and environment.

1.2 The characteristics of English thought patterns.

The characteristics of the English-speaking people's thought pattern are logical， analytic and inferential. This kind of thought pattern is trying to form a consistent and inspectableworld and impose people's will on nature and society. The people who have inferential thought are more confident to their opinions and theories. They always induce from definition to definition. They analyze the materials that are provided by sense organs to support their ideas in logical way. Concretely， the thought pattern of English-speaking nation is "linear". This"linear"logical thought pattern makes the Occidentals use direct pattern to exchange their ideas. On language expression， they are used to this to indicate their ideas and opinion. First， they point out the theme； then show the background， condition， causes and evidence one by one； and last analyze them.

2The influence of thought patterns on teaching of writing

Once we examined the English writing of Chinese students majoring in English， we looked especially at three areas： 1.Lexical choice and distribution 2.Cohesion 3.The magic structure. As a final comparative check， we asked a native English speaker to writean essay about the same topic. With the two comparative essays in hand， we found that the target essay is grammatically simple， and lexically simple， lacking the density of fluent English writing. Talking about cohesion， we found that the target essay lacks a prominent impression chain. Though the most prominent theme in both essays is the same chain "mother"， the non-native essay has "mother"as the initial theme， and the native essay introduces "mother"as thematicmaterial. The failure of the non-native essay as a coherently descriptive essay comes from two separate but interrelated sources： native language and cultural transfer， and lack of proficiency in constructing English prose.

In writing， structurally similar sentences need not be used in the same way whereas structurally dissimilar sentences may be used to perform the same function in certain circumstances and with certain intonations.

The article written by English native people can basically summarize： start， question， analysis， demonstration and conclusion. The process of this kind of thought pattern is deductive and abstract. That is to say， the English paragraphs are generally started by a topic sentence， then develop this central idea in later every sentence in this paragraph.

Although the English learners whose native language is Chinese have mastered English syntax very well， their English compositions don't seem relevant to the subject and always make a detour because of the influence of Chinese thought patterns on these learners. These compositions are mainly"spiral". People always say that the structure of English paragraphs is the miniature of English articles. They are all "linear"and abstract. But the "spiral"of Chinese writings is related to the concept of viewing the situation as whole of Chinese culture， so this is one of Chinese students'problems.

Comparatively speaking， the structure of "linear"is rather direct. This kind of structure always uses conjunctions to connect sentences and reflects "deductive"thought pattern. There are many conjunctions in English such as"but， and， or， if， when， lest， whereas， whereupon， except， while， considering， provided"， but in Chinese there is no this kind of circumstances. These conjunctions play an important part in connecting any kind of logical semantics， so we can also call them logic-grammatical connectors. If Chinese students can't use them very well， the compositions will make the non-native people feel confused. Because of the influence of the thought pattern on cause and effect， Chinese people always put thesis in a lot of materials and at last provide the striking key point. But the English native people can't understand it. They usually first state the conclusions or the main points tersely and concisely， and then discuss them respectively.

References：

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