Influences of Native language on A Language Learning

卢小香 兰春寿

【Abstract】Native language plays an important role in foreign language learning， especially when the learners are beginners. This report examines （i） the most likely factors that affects A1 language learners reliance on their native and （ii） the overt， negative transfer of native language in A1 language learning in phonetic and morphological domains， with specific look into Chinese Mandarins influences on A1 English learners. It concludes that the most likely factor affecting A1 language learners reliance on their native language is low proficiency and that negative native transfer affects can be found in all areas of linguistics， particularly in the domains of phonology and morphology.

【Key words】 influence native language A1

【中圖分类号】H315.9 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2018）30-0005-01

1. Introduction

In language acquisition one must deal with the role of the first language （Gass， 2001， p. 92f） as the role of the L1 in L2 learning occupies a central place （Ringbom， 1987， p. 1f）. It is a rare occurrence that a beginner language learner does not rely on his or her native language， mostly the first language. Likewise， it is unavoidable to have native transfer during the language acquisition process. This report examines （i） the most likely factors that affects A1 language learners reliance on their native and （ii） the overt， negative transfer of native language in A1 language learning in phonetic and morphological domains， with specific look into Chinese Mandarins influences on A1 English learners.

2. Prodedure

The data is collected through the observation of an A1 English learning class of SWAN， an English training school in Dublin. A follow-up Wechat talk was conducted to collect more information about learners native languages， other background languages， ages， previous English learning experience in China， and duration of stay in Dublin.

The class， conducted by a native English speaker from Dublin， is about English modal verbs can/could， and the past tense of be. The 7 participants were all from China， which is geographically very distant from Ireland， where the target language is taught. All participants speak Chinese mandarin but with different Chinese dialects as their background languages. And all of them are male. The oldest student of the class is 30 years old， and the youngest ones are 18. The duration of their staying in Dublin ranges from 2 weeks to 6 weeks， 7 weeks， 8 weeks， 12weeks， and 16 weeks respectively. All students had formal instruction in English at school， where English is taught as a foreign language， which means English had never been practiced outside the classroom in 'real life '. This is the first time for all of them to attend an English class in an English-speaking country where English learned in the class could be put to use in real situation.

3. Findings and discussion

The 1-hour class was basically made up of 2 parts. In the first part， the teacher explained the usage of can/could and reviewed the past tense of English linking verb ' be '. In the second part， the learners were asked to do some exercises on past tense though pair works. The following are the findings from the class observation and the follow-up Wechat talk.

Finding （1） Learners ' reliance on their native language ' was readily perceived.

The class was instructed 100% in English， but the class talk among the students was 99% in Chinese Mandarin， i.e， Chinese mandarin seemed to be the only vehicle of communication in the class among students. Except for a very limited English words and short expressions as 'ok ' 'yes ' 'no problem ' 'very easy '， the learners could barely communicate in English. On all the occasions where a new word turn up， even though some learners did look up the new words with the smart phone， Chinese Mandarin was the first language they immediately resort to， be it a one-sentence question or one-word answer.

Finding （2） Noticeable traits of overt， negative transfer of native language were detected in all areas of linguistics， particularly phonetically and morphologically.

In the class， （1） 'Could ' was pronounced as 'coulder '， with an extra sound added to the end of the word； （2） 'Plane 'was pronounced separetely as ' per lane ' ； （3） Instead of saying ' Two months ' ， the learners said 'two month '； （4） 'I finish ' was used in the place of 'I finished ' when a past tense is needed in the sentence； and （5） 'I couldn 't speak English when I was four 'was replaced by 'I cannot speak English when I was four . '

4. Conclusion

There are a number of factors affecting language learners reliance on native language， what we can draw from this observation is： the most likely factor affecting A1 language learnersreliance on their native language is low proficiency. Due to shortage of linguistic resources， the immediate resort for them is their native language. And before a new system of grammar for the newly-learned language is established， transfer happens first， and negative native transfer affects can be found in all areas of linguistics， particularly in the domains of phonology and morphology.

5.ecommendation

Interestingly， one factor not mentioned in the previous research was found also affecting the degree of the reliance and hence more serious negative transfer， that is， the variety of the learners native languages in the group. And there is little research on the correlation between the degree of the reliance on the native language and the negative transfer. Further research could investigate whether learners from more a variety of native languages will be less reliant on their native languages and thus less negative native transfer in English learning than learners from the same variety of native language.

6. References

[1]Agudo， J. （2012）. Teaching and learning English through bilingual education. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

[2]Aronin， L. &. （2012）. Multilingualism . John Benjamins Publishing.

[3]chinese-pronunciation-problems. （n.d.）. Retrieved from http：//englishspeaklikenative.com.

[4]De Angelis， G. （2007）. Third or additional language acquisition . Multilingual Matters.