Exploring native language interference of Chinese learners in acquisition of English as a second language on cases in composition of college level students

Abstract

Under the dominating phenomenon of mandatory English learning among most of Chinese university, students are commonly criticized unnatural Chinglish in their compositions. Thus, it has been a widely studied topics to discover the nature of first language influence on foreign or second language learning. This study investigates the impact of native language interference on the English writing proficiency of Chinese college students. By examining a large body of student papers collected at a corpus created and maintained by Beijing Foreign Studies University, the study aims to identify common grammatical errors and non-standard language that arise when Chinese students switch to English. Another element of the study that tries to identify and illustrate Chinese students' mental processes while they write in English is the semi-structured interview. Observation and analysis reveal that interference from the original tongue often manifests as errors in sentence construction, misuse of articles and agreements, and excessive use of personal pronouns as subjects. This leads to descriptive inappropriate language usage and prescriptive grammar errors in composition. The study emphasizes the necessity for focused pedagogical approaches to deal with these issues, with the ultimate goal of improving English as Second Language (ESL) instruction techniques and raising Chinese learners' confidence and language competency.