Contents

Acknowledgements

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Background-1

1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study-1

1.3 Organization of the Thesis-2

Chapter Two Literature Review-3

2.1 Transfer in SLA-3

2.2 Error Analysis (EA)-3

2.3 Previous Studies of Negative Transfer of Syntax at Home and Abroad-4

2.3.1 The Study of Negative Transfer of Syntax Abroad-4

2.3.2 The Study of Negative Transfer of Syntax at Home-4

Chapter Three Syntactic Errors under the Influence of Native Language-6

3.1 Analysis on Syntactic Errors under the Influence of Native Language-6

3.1.1 Errors of Subject and Predicate-7

3.1.2 Errors of Object-9

3.1.3 Errors of Adjective-10

3.1.4 Errors of Adverbial-11

3.1.5 Errors of There be Structure-11

3.2 Factors of Negative Transfer of Syntax-12

3.2.1 Linguistic Factors-12

3.2.2 Non-linguistic Factors-12

3.3 Strategies for Negative Transfer of Syntax in SLA-13

Chapter Four Conclusion-15

4.1 Major Findings-15

4.2 Limitations of the Study-15

References-16

Abstract

 There exist different syntactic systems of Chinese and English, then Chinese learners are affected greatly by mother tongue with countless factors from every aspect, especially more in syntactic level. Thus, learners tend to make frequent syntactic errors which are different from syntax of mother tongue. For second language(SL) learners, negative transfer of syntax from native language is a striking barrier and should be probed into. Language transfer can be divided into positive transfer and negative transfer. The former presents the positive influence in SL learning while the latter is an obstacle for SL learners. To study negative transfer in syntactical level, this thesis makes a study on the negative transfer of syntax with the analysis of syntactic errors in writings in the process of second language acquisition(SLA), factors of negative transfer of syntax and strategies for it.

This thesis consists of four Chapters. The first chapter is an introduction with a brief description of background, the purpose, the significance and the organization of the thesis. Chapter Two is literature review about theoretical basis, which concerns with general views mainly on SLA, Error Analysis(EA), and previous studies on negative transfer of language at home and abroad. Chapter Three is the main body of the thesis with the detailed analysis of five types of syntactic errors in writings, the syntactic errors of subject and predicate, object, adjective, adverbial and There be structure. Chapter Four is the conclusion with limitations of the research, as well as major findings.

Key Words: Second Language Acquisition(SLA)  negative transfer of mother tongue     negative transfer of syntax