A Study of L1 Transfer on the Use of Attributive Clauses In English Writing

Abstract: This study is carried out to find out the role of LI transfer on the problems of attributive clauses. By the application of Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis， the study shows， Chinese belongs to the left-branching language， while English is the right-branching one in terms of the structure of attributive clauses.

Keywords: L1 transfer; English writing；Attributive clause

I. Introduction

Transfer is a psychological terminology. It refers to the influence of one language on another language. However， L1 negative transfer is a difficult problem which Chinese students must face in learning English. Meanwhile， attributive clause is a typical case about difference between English and Chinese.

Ⅱ. LI Transfer on the Use of Attributive Clauses in English Writing

1. Differences Regarding Attributive Clauses in English and Chinese

Attributive function of English is the same as that of Chinese， namely， which modifies and restricts the headword. But the difference between the two is obvious. In summary， the differences mainly lie in attributive position and attributive clause hierarchy relations.

1.1 Differences Regarding Attributive Position in English and Chinese

English and Chinese have great differences in attributive position.

(1) People whose glasses are stolen can appeal.

Here， whose leads an attributive clause whose glasses are stolen， which is placed the modified noun people. However， in Chinese language， attributes `are always placed before the modified nouns or pronouns..

(2)（不怕苦難的）人才會取得成功

Those who are not afraid of suffering will be successful.

Here， “不怕苦難的” is phrase， it modifies the headword “人”， but it still is placed before noun.

1.2 Differences Regarding Attributive Clause Hierarchy Relations in English and Chinese

If we want to express the same meaning of being complex， English expressive forms usually are multi-hierarchy，while Chinese expressions have less levels. For example:

(3) But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of truth.

In this example， the English sentence has four levels in total. The main clause “But there is something” belongs to the basic sentence and the first level. The sentence “that I must say to my people” is restricted attributive clause which modifies “something”， and it is inserted into the main clause， belonging to the second level. The third level is the attributive clause “who stand on the warm threshold”， and it modifies the antecedent “people” and is inserted into the second level. At last， the attributive clause “which leads into the palace of truth” is the fourth level， which is inserted in the third level modifying the antecedent “threshold”. In contrast to Chinese of same semantic， the expression has only one level: 我有一些話必須要給（那些站在通向真理之宮艱險門檻上的）人們聽。In Chinese language， changes in word order are caused by the organization of information elements. Here， “那些站在通之向真理之宮艱險門檻上的人們” could be regarded as the known information， and “一些話” should be a topic element.

2.L1Negative Transfer on Attributive Clause in English and Chinese

The results show that Chinese thinking way and the inherent knowledge of interference are the sources of errors in the use of attributive clauses. In addition， the greater the differences are between English and Chinese， the more errors occur.

2.1 Avoidance Use of Attributive Clauses

In English writing， owing to the impact of Chinese thinking， Students are used to writing the simple sentences and short sentences.

For example:

(4) The letter is from my father. The letter arrived yesterday.

This sentence can be changed into “The letter that arrived yesterday is from my father”. The two sentences both relate to the letter， one of them can be used as the attributive clause to modify the other. After changing， the meaning of sentence is more smooth and coherent.

Above the example is overuse of simple and short sentences. The basic reason of Avoidance use is the differences between English and Chinese. Generally speaking， students are inclined to avoid using those sentence patterns that they are not sure， which is not uncommon. English and Chinese belong to different branches respectively， which causes the difficulty in learning attributive clauses. Just as some students are reluctant to use newly knowledge points， especially， the knowledge that they feel difficult. As a result， simple sentences are nowhere in students’ writing， though there are no serious grammatical errors， yet it is very hard to be called excellent article.

2.2 Misuse of Attributive Clause

The misuse of attributive clause leads to the confusion of sentence-level and logic in English composition. What’s worse， misuse makes semantic ambiguity， so kinds of misunderstandings occur.

For example:

(5) There are thirty students in our class of which girls are twenty-seven of them. The sentences should be changed into “There are thirty students in our class of which girls are twenty-seven”. This error refers to misuse of resumptive pronoun， and the difference is greater between such attributive clauses and Chinese. Thus， students usually avoid using this structure， even if they have learned such structure. As there is no such structure in Chinese， different people have different understandings. Then students don’t have a good command of English structures， which produces many errors.

Ⅲ. The Implications L1 Transfer on the Use of Attributive Clauses

Chinese students in the English writing are vulnerable to native negative transfer. As a postgraduate of becoming an English teacher， combining my experience in language learning and teaching， I get some implications to help students avoid L1 negative transfer as much as possible causing errors in attributive clause.

1. Attention to Strengthening Language Skills Training to Lay a Solid Language Foundation for Students.

For one thing， teachers must teach students knowledge of attributive clause， while teaching theory and practice should be combined. For another， learners should actively participate in learning activities organized by teachers and seriously complete the learning tasks， carrying out the attributive clause effective training to strengthen the impact of English sentence structure. But teachers must timely help students avoid same errors repetition forming stereotype， thereby gradually reducing attributive clause errors frequency to enhance students’ ability in resisting L1negative transfer.

2. Attention to Contrastive Research and Teaching between English and Chinese

Foreign language teachers should take the initiative to carry out comparative study of cognitive and English language to explore different rules. In the teaching of English attributive clause， teachers should compare the English attributive to help students find the difference between the two languages and similarity， avoiding over-generalization or over-analogy in case of language errors resulted in L1 transfer.

Ⅳ.Conclusion

The influence of L1transfer on English learning is an objective. English teachers should strengthen language comparative research and analysis between English and Chinese. Besides， teachers should encourage students use attributive clause in their writing to make them master this structure gradually in practice. Consequently， students can decrease L1 negative transfer. Finally， they can use attributive clauses adeptly and appropriately in their English writing.

References:

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[4]張道真.實用英語語法[M].北京：外語教學與研究出版社(2004).

作者簡介：

邊宛（1986-），女，陜西咸陽人，陜西師范大學外國語學院碩士研究生，研究方向：英語學科教學