The Role of Native Language in Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogical Implications

周捷

【Abstract】This paper aims to argue that native language also contributes a great share to the second language acquisition. Detailed analysis in the following paper regarding positive aspects of language transfer has been put forward. It is of paramount significance to make full advantage of positive transfer of L1， and thus to strengthen the confidence of the second language learners.

【Key words】native language； second language acquisition； positive transfer； pedagogical implication

1. Introduction

The role of the native language has had a rocky history during the course of second language acquisition research （Gass & Selinker， 2008）. Researchers in linguistic field reached a consensus that the role of native language on second language learning is negative. It is not until the the end of 20th century that people came to realize the positive role that L1 plays on L2. According to Ellis （1994）， positive transfer refers to the transfer when the learners L1 facilitates L2 learning. This paper clarifies that the positive influences of native language directly reflex at phonological， lexical and pragmatic levels.

2. Positive Transfer form L1 to L2

It is found that L2 learners pronunciation deviates from that of native speakers and is deeply influenced by native language. As a matter of fact， the Chinese phonological system is different from that of English， especially when it comes to dental [?] that many Chinese learners have troubles in pronunciation. From the perspective of L1 transfer， learners are most likely to choose a similar sound as substitution at the very beginning of English learning. For example， they probably prefer to pronounce [s] instead of [?]， which may not decrease the quality of communication.

In terms of understanding the word meaning， it is well-advised for learners to explain and memorize words in Chinese instead of English， especially the abstract words. The abstract word “friendship” could justify the point of view above. “Friendship” refers to “a relationship between friends”， which renders learners a more difficult meaning to understand. By contrast， the Chinese meaning “友谊” explains this word directly concisely and clearly. Under such a condition， the transfer of native language benefits a great deal.

This part justifies the pragmatic transfer in terms of the achievement of humorous effects by violating Cooperative Principle. For example， a teacher was giving a lecture to students on the stage. Suddenly， he noticed a student taking a nap on the desk right in the class. In order to wake up the student and attract his attention， he stopped lecturing and asked the student to stand up. Teacher： What are you doing？ Student： Sleeping. Teacher： Please spell it. Student： I-T. The student intentionally avoided spelling the word “sleeping”. It is evident that whatever in Chinese or English， people will flout the maxims of Cooperative Principle to create humorous effects. In fact， these pragmatic functions are conductive for second language learners to transfer positively from native language to target language.

3. Pedagogical Implications

After clarifying and analyzing the positive influences of native language， the pedagogical implications are worthy of profound and reflective thinking. Firstly， it is impossible to shorten the learning process and achieve satisfactory results unless the teaching method fits the characteristics of the content to be learned， the learning environment and the learner （Hu， 1990）. If a teacher gives an English lecture， speaking English from the very beginning right to the end of the period， students tend to have trouble in grasping the main points of the whole class. In this regard， it is advantageous for the teacher to explain the knowledge in Chinese in advance and attach more importance to the comparison between Chinese and English. Thus it facilitates students learning and boosts the efficiency. Secondly， although this paper reveals a quantity of examples about positive transfer， the negative transfer still exists on all accounts. A good method in teaching can help students realize clearly the similarities and dissimilarities between L1 and L2. By comparing， concluding and practicing， students incline to internalize the target language within a short term.

4. Conclusion

To conclude， this paper demonstrates the positive role of L1 in second language acquisition. The further analysis provides a relatively complete access to supporting this point of view， followed by the pedagogical implications， which remind teachers of making full use of positive transfer and avoiding negative transfer to the greatest extent.

References：

[1]Ellis，R.（1994）.The Study of Second Language Acquisition.Oxford：Oxford University Press.

[2]Gass，S.，&Selinker，L.（2008）.Second Language Acquisition：An Introductory Course，Taylor & Francis e-Library，89

[3]陸效用.试论母语对二语的正面影响[J].外语界，2002（4）.