OnheInfluenceofChineseConexinEnglishLearning_开题报告

Context is a popular research subject in modern linguistics. It was first supposed by Malinoswski. After him, many other scholars have also probed into this field, such as Firth, Halliday, Lyons and Hymes etc. Owing to their different interests and research perspectives, they have their own notions of context. 

Context was initiated by a Polish anthropologist, Malinoswski. He states that utterances and situation are bound up inextricably with each other and the context of situation is indispensable for the understanding of words. His "context" refers to situational context and cultural context, without consideration of the linguistic context. 

Firth, the founder of British Functionalism, accepts Malinoswski’s notion and develops the contextual theories. He supposes that "the context of situation is not merely a setting, background for the words at a particular moment, but rather includes the entire cultural setting of speech and the personal history of the participants".     Meanwhile he believes that the task of linguistic study includes the combination of the meaningful aspects of language with non-linguistic elements. In other words, in the research of context, semantics and pragmatics should be associated with each other. 

British linguist Halliday, inspired by Firth, suggests the theory of "register" (i.e. context). In his opinion, context consists of three parts: field of discourse, style of discourse and mode of discourse. He further develops non-linguistic context. So he is another great linguist who makes achievement in the field of context after Firth.

British linguist Lyons illustrates his notion of context by introducing six kinds of knowledge of context: 

Each of the participants must know his role and status, 

The participants must know where they are in space and time, 

The participants must be able to recognize the situation in terms of its degree of formality, 

The participants must know what medium is appropriate to the situation, 

The participants must know how to make their utterances appropriate to the subject matter, 

The participants must know how to make their utterances appropriate to the province or domain the situation belongs to. 

The six factors he describes are in the scope of non-linguistic context. His theory of context is thought to be appropriate and is an instruction for us to build a more complete and systematical theory of context. Moreover, his illustration of context by means of knowledge is quite illuminating. 

D. H. Hymes, an American socialist, categorizes the context into eight components: setting, participant, ends, art characteristics, key, instrumentalities, norms of interaction and of interpretation, and genres. 

Language transfer, according to Odlin (1989), is the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and the other languages that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired.

In China, many scholars have come to realize the importance of context in understanding the meanings of words and sentences etc. He Zhaoxiong, Hu Zhuanglin and other linguists also make a good study on context. 

Only when Chinese learners think in English can they master this language completely and use it naturally to communicate with other people. However, in the process of English learning, many Chinese learners cannot overcome the negative influence of their mother tongue. Therefore, learners may produce some Chinglish (Chinese English) expressions. This negative influence of mother tongue on English learning can be called negative transfer.

To some learners, English is a new thing 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 enthusiasm and 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 in some aspects.

My point of view the Chinese context has a great influence on English learning in China. Both English learners and English teachers always face this problem that how learners can master English language. Research shows that native language and native language context are the major blocks in the way to learning English. It is generally a bemusement: English learners in China have learned it for a long time, but English learners in China still can not see the progress. English speakers and Chinese speakers have different thoughts. English learners in China are always under the influence of Chinese context, so it is so difficult to have significant progress. I try to seek for some corresponding methods based on theories above to resolve those problems troubling on the influence of Chinese context in English learning.

II．Outline

Introduction

The significance of the research

At present more and more 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 many have learned English well enough to communicate with English speakers on account of Chinese contextual background. Therefore, the study on the influence of Chinese context in English learning is endowed with great significance.

English learning in Chinese context

Actuality of English learning in China

Factors affecting English learning

The restriction of social context; differences between the two languages; the goals 

    and motivation; phenomena of language transfer. 

Distinctions between English and Chinese

Structure\Pronunciation\Vocabulary\Culture

Conditions for English learning

Social context

Attitudes and motivation

Native pronunciation condition

Cultural background

Creating conditions for English learning

A good foundation of English

A good attitude on English learning

Using available resources

Cultural communication

Proper use of language transfer

Conclusion

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. Language learning needs a lot of conditions and without these conditions; it is harder for them to learn the language well. So it is crucial to create some suitable conditions according to the learners’ needs. International communications enable Chinese learners to get easy access to native English speakers, so learners have a standard language condition. 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.

Ⅲ、References:

[1] Ellis Rod. Understanding Second Language Acquisition.上海：外教社，1994. [2] Elis Rod. Second Language Acquisition. 上海：外教社，1994. [3] Hinkel, Eli Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning.上海：外教社, 2003. [4] Kramsch Claire. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. 上海：外教社，1993.[5]Liu Shaozhong. Studies on Transfer in Second Language Acquisition. Guangxi Normal University Journal, 2001.(3).[6]Mckay, Sandra &Hornberger Nancy .Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching. 上海：外教社，2001. [7]Odlin, T. Language Transfer: Cross-linguistic Influence in Language Learning. 上海：外教社, 2001.[8]Spolsky Bernard. Condition for Second Language Learning. 上海：外教社, 2000.[9]戴凡，Smith Stephen.《 文化碰撞—中国北美人际交往误解剖析》. 上海：外教社, 2000.[10]戴炜栋、王栋.《语言迁移研究：问题与思考》.外国语，2002,（6）.[11]何善芬.《英汉语言对比研究》.上海：外教社，2002.[12]何自然. 《语用学概论》 [M]. 湖南教育出版社, 1988.[13]孙勉志.《汉语环境与英语学习》[M].上海：外教社，2001.[14]王菊泉，郑立信.《英汉语言文化对比研究》[M]. 上海：外教社, 2002.[15]俞理明.《语言迁移与二语习得—回顾、反思和研究》[M].上海：外教社，2002.