Avoidance Phenomenon in the English Writing

Gao+Yingfang

【Abstract】English writing plays a significant role in almost every English test， however， the reality is that quite a few students still keep a relatively low standard of writing（羅雨. 2014）.And one of the reasons of it is that students apply avoidance strategy in the English writing. This thesis mainly introduces the situations of its appearance， reasons and some suggestions.

【Key words】Avoidance Phenomenon； English Writing

Introduction

In fact， avoidance phenomenon can be found at every corner of the L2 learners learning experience. As a communicative strategy， there is no way we can deny that it benefits us a lot in continuing a successful conversation. However， when we come to English writing， it is an another story. By applying the avoidance strategy， L2learners， especially beginners， avoid using unfamiliar expressions.As a result， L2 learners may find themselves develop their second language in a slowly way， even worse， they cease to develop their second language， that is to say， their L2 fossilized. Whether you admit it or not， anyone uses avoidance strategy from time and now. However， quite a few learners never give themselves seconds to consider the general characters which appear when we apply the avoidance strategy.

Here are some conditions under which avoidance appears.Because avoidance is too subtle and misunderstood to distinct， there is a need to figure out the some common features under which it appears（Lightbown， 2002）. Firstly， people consider using avoidance strategy in use of second language. It seems obvious that individuals seldom avoid some kind of expressions when they speak their mother tongue. Secondly， structures learners tend to avoid are those differ from their first language， There in no need to deny that we are afraid of mistakes and taking control of them is quite difficult（覃琦君. 2014）. Thirdly， there is always an alternative way of expressing the L2 structure in the target language， whether the grammatical and semantic structure is correct or not.

According to my observation， the reasons why it appears can be divided into three parts， students， teachers and tests are the ones to be blamed. To begin with， learners themselves are the first one to be responsible. First， they lack of language confidence. They doubt about their language ability， and afraid of making mistakes， consequently， students choose to stick to structures that under their control .Second， their poor English. Some learners language ability can not afford them to express some topics， so many of them choose to ignore or avoid some points. Third， the interference of mother tongue is a main cause. According to Krashens monitor theory， when a L2 learner noticed the difference between L1 and L2， but could not always successfully correct his mistakes during his language output， for the accuracy of the speech， the learner may choose to avoid those language forms or items. Fourth， be obsessed with some particular structures. Levenston（1971）explains avoidance with the theory of over-indulgence and under-representation. The former refers to an over obsession of certain grammatical forms in SLA which make L2 learner avoid using other language structures and cause under-representation. Different from the former ones， this one is unconsciously using avoidance phenomenon. As for teachers， first， over emphasis is put on some structures may lead to students avoidance in English writing. 2. teacher is less tolerant for mistakes. Afraid of being criticized by teachers， students never use new expressions， except for some that they are100percent sure about their correctness.

Based on the previous research， there are some benefit suggestions.Some are for teachers and some for learners themselves.To begin with， teachers should raise their level of tolerance， giving students more space to make mistakes and learn from mistakes. Then， arrange different activities for students to raise their awareness on the effect of avoidance phenomena. Quite a few learners never aware the harmful effects of avoidance， so they never stop to think over their avoidance behaviors. Finally， Encourage students use newly learned structures， and make feedback timely. It proves that avoidance phenomena occurs everywhere in our life， exerting great influence on us， putting us in some kind of “dangerous situation”. What we must to is figure out some effective way to deal with it. During the process of solving it， language learners and language teachers need to work together.

References：

[1]Levenston E.A.1971.Over-indulgence and under-representa—aspects of mother-tongue interference.New York：Cambridge University Press.

[2]PatsyM.Lightbown，NinaSpada，Lightbown.語言學習機制[M].上海外語教育出版社，2002.

[4]羅雨.高中英語寫作中的回避現象研究[D].四川師范大學， 2014.

作者簡介：高瀅芳（1993.10-），女，山西晉城人，碩士研究生在讀，讀研院校：廣州大學，研究方向：學科教學（英語）。