Brief analysis of the Role of Mother Tongue in Second Language Acquisition

【Abstract】The relationship between L1（Mother language）and L2（second language）has long been a subject of research.The popular belief that L1 thinking is negative needs to be reconsidered in the cognitive frame work.This paper argues that native language contributes to L2 acquisition.The paper examines the positive influence of L1 on SLA and the use of L1 strategies to achieve positive transfer.

【Key words】mother tongue；second language acquisition；positive role

【摘要】母語和第二語言之間的關系長期以來都是很主要的研究。普遍認為，母語思維是需要重新建立在認知框架上的。本文認為，母語有助于二語的習得。本文探討了母語對二語習得的積極影響，以實現二者之間積極的轉化。

【關鍵詞】母語；二語習得；積極影響

【作者簡介】陳丹（1984- ），女，黑龍江鶴崗人，海南省三亞技師學院教師，主要負責職業院校的英語教學以及班主任工作，多年來一直堅持從事第一線的教學工作，積累了豐富的教學經驗與教學成果。

I. Introduction

This paper analyzes the relationship between mother tongue and second language acquisition and emphasizes on the positive transfer and its role in second language acquisition.The study and analysis in this paper show that mother tongue plays a positive role in second language acquisition and is an important factor to promote second language acquisition.

Second Language Acquisition refers to how man learns another language after he acquired a mother tongue.

It is popularly believed that the mother tongue of learners，or the first language，negatively influences the second language acquisition.People think that mother tongue slows down and interferes with the process of second language acquisition.It is believed that the most distinctive transfer is the phonetic and phonological transfer.

On the one hand，we should admit the negative role of mother tongue in second language acquisition.On the other hand，we must know that to some extent，the mother tongue does not play a negative role but a positive one to the second language acquisition.So we should reconsider the role of mother tongue in second language acquisition.We should see the positive role of mother tongue in the second language acquisition.In this way，we can make good use of positive role of mother tongue in the second language acquisition to promote second language acquisition.

II. Review of the theories on the second language acquisition

The role that mother tongue plays in the second language acquisition has been a disputative field in academic circles and it has become a branch of second language acquisition.Many researches have been conducted on the role of mother tongue in second language acquisition.In the following part，the views held by behaviorism and mentalism about the role of mother tongue in second language acquisition will be discussed.

1.Behaviorism. The research on the second language acquisition was mainly developed on the effects that mother tongue plays on second language acquisition in 1950s and 1960s when behaviorism was very popular. According to the theories of behaviorism，the difficulties in second language acquisition mainly comes from the interference of the languages acquired before.It is the old language habits that prevent the study of new knowledge—proactive inhibition.

2.Mentalism. Chomsky and his followers put forth what came to be known as mentalism.Mentalism sees language as a system of innate rules.In Chomskys view，a native speaker possesses a kind of linguistic competence.The child is born with knowledge of some linguistic universals.While acquiring his mother tongue，he compares his innate language system with that of his native language and modifies his grammar.Therefore，language learning is not a matter of habit formation，but an activity of building and testing hypothesis.

III. The positive role of mother tongue in second language acquisition

The positive role of mother tongue in second language acquisition can be proved and concluded as following.

1.Research support. The Dulay and Burt study of the errors which were made by Spanish-speaking children learning English as the second language claimed that：of all the learners errors they had collected 85% were”developmental”（i.e.non-interference errors），12% were unique，and only 3% were resulted of the mother tongue interference.The research on role of mother tongue has ever been proved in a university in China. A similar research was conducted in a middle school in China.The English exam papers and Chinese exam papers of 100 students were compared.The researcher made the following conclusion：the learners second language study is direct ratio with their mother tongue study.It means that the students whose Chinese are good do a good job in English study.

2.Theory support. he positive side is that by borrowing mother tongue patterns and mother tongue communication strategies，the learners can at least stay in communication and manage to make himself or herself understood，not to mention the fact that culture-wise.

In the process of second language acquisition，especially in the first step，there are many differences between mother tongue and the second language.In order to communicate，the second language learners always depend on the expression of their mother tongue.In the communication，when the resource of the second language is lack，the mother tongue will help.

3.Examples support. （a）In pronunciation. Chinese and English both use IPA.There are also vowels and consonants in Chinese.Initial consonants of Chinese syllable are similar with English consonants.Vowels of Chinese syllable are similar with those in English.（b）In syntax. The basic structures of Chinese and English are the same.For example，the declarative，interrogative，exclamatory sentences，the passive voice and so on.These sentence patterns are easy to be acquired by Chinese students.For example：

（1）她是我的妹妹。

She is my sister.

（2）我經常幫他學英語。

I often help him study English.

There are also some Chinese sentences which are similar in structure with the compound sentences and complex sentences in English.For example：

（3）這實驗失敗了，但是他沒有失去勇氣。

The test failed，but he didnt lose heart.

（4）如果明天不下雨，我們就去逛街。

If it does not rain tomorrow，we will go shopping.

（c）In meaning.

There are a lot of similarities in meaning between English and Chinese.

a）The English word”black”has many meanings.Three meanings are the same with Chinese.

①黑色- 顏色for example：black clothes（黑色的衣服）

②秘密-secret for example：black list（黑名單）

3. Support from other perspective

As the Chinese linguist Sunli says：English，once is adopted by some areas in the world，will be reproduced in some layers.It is the same in China.Some English with Chinese characteristics has been popularly accepted internationally.

In all，in second language acquisition，we should find the differences and similarities between mother tongue and the second language.And make the best use of the positive transfer to promote second language acquisition.Anyway，most second language learners cannot study the second language in the complete foreign language environment，so the positive transfer of mother tongue should be highly valued.

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