1002 THEORY AND PRACTICE IN LANGUAGE STUDIESCorrelationsNo. ofT-eS(s) <strong>in</strong>CEETABLE 3-3CORRELATIONSNo. of T- eS(s) <strong>in</strong> CEEPearson Correlation 1 -.755**Sig. (2-tailed) .000N 30 30Pearson Correlation -.755** 1Sig. (2-tailed) .000N 30 30Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).In this table, No. of T-e refers to the number of transferred errors, <strong>and</strong> S(s) <strong>in</strong> CEE refers to the English scores <strong>in</strong>College Entrance Exam<strong>in</strong>ation.We can see these two components, the number of transferred errors <strong>and</strong> the scores <strong>in</strong> College Entrance Exam<strong>in</strong>ationis highly negative correlated, <strong>and</strong> the Pearson Correlation proficiency is -.755*.IV. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONSA. Causes of the Transferred Errors1. The different thought patternsS<strong>in</strong>ce language <strong>in</strong>fluences the way people perceive, organize <strong>and</strong> communicate, speakers of different languages havedifferent ways of th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g. So the negative transfer of l<strong>in</strong>guistic knowledge on the surface is the negative transfer ofthought patterns <strong>in</strong> deep cognitive processes. The way people th<strong>in</strong>k is language-specific <strong>and</strong> the manifestation of theirthought patterns. The thought patterns <strong>in</strong> a language, which are the ways we <strong>in</strong>terpret the experience, are commonlyaccepted <strong>in</strong> this particular speech community by its people. So, different speech community embodies a dist<strong>in</strong>ct habitualmode of thought. Brought up <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a, Ch<strong>in</strong>ese students are used to Ch<strong>in</strong>ese th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g patterns. Negative transfer ofsyntactic knowledge is <strong>in</strong> fact that of thought patterns. Then the negative transfer of Ch<strong>in</strong>ese thought patterns onstudents’ C-E translation is just a typical example.2. Lack of comprehensible <strong>in</strong>putAccord<strong>in</strong>g to Krashen (1982), a second language learner improves <strong>and</strong> progresses along the “natural order” when heor she receives second language “<strong>in</strong>put” that is one step beyond his or her current stage of l<strong>in</strong>guistic competence. That iscalled “The Input Hypothesis”. That is a language acquirer who is at “level i” must receive comprehensible <strong>in</strong>put that isat “level i +1”. So <strong>in</strong>put is very important for the acquisition or learn<strong>in</strong>g of a foreign language. For example, if a studenthas never learned a structure, it is difficult for him to produce it. English is learned as a foreign language <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a, sostudents, esp. the non-English majors, have few opportunities to acquire the language knowledge as is done <strong>in</strong> theacquisition of mother tongue. In most cases, students are consciously learn<strong>in</strong>g the language rather than acquir<strong>in</strong>g theknowledge, <strong>in</strong> Krashen’s words. Even if there is <strong>in</strong>put, it might not become <strong>in</strong>take <strong>and</strong> be <strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong>to the learner’sl<strong>in</strong>guistic system. As a result, students often suffer from the limited l<strong>in</strong>guistic repertoire of English, <strong>and</strong> have to resort totheir mother tongue when necessary.3. Lack of comparison <strong>and</strong> contrast between Ch<strong>in</strong>ese <strong>and</strong> EnglishWhen students enter the college, pass<strong>in</strong>g CET4&6 becomes their goal <strong>in</strong> college English learn<strong>in</strong>g. In order to passthe exams, teachers ask students to do lots of test papers, which occupies much time <strong>in</strong> English course. In the practice ofsentence translation, the teachers usually just give students the equivalent answers, ignor<strong>in</strong>g the difference betweenCh<strong>in</strong>ese <strong>and</strong> English <strong>and</strong> lack<strong>in</strong>g an awareness of cross-l<strong>in</strong>guistic <strong>in</strong>fluence. They don’t notice they should compare <strong>and</strong>contrast the different syntactic structures of Ch<strong>in</strong>ese <strong>and</strong> English.B. Implications for Teach<strong>in</strong>gAccord<strong>in</strong>g to the results of experimental research <strong>and</strong> the causes to the transferred errors, some measures should beentaken <strong>in</strong> future teach<strong>in</strong>g.1. Increas<strong>in</strong>g comprehensive <strong>in</strong>put <strong>and</strong> outputComprehensive <strong>in</strong>put <strong>and</strong> output should be <strong>in</strong>creased <strong>in</strong> future English teach<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> learn<strong>in</strong>g. E.g., students are to beasked to read all k<strong>in</strong>ds of English newspapers <strong>and</strong> magaz<strong>in</strong>es. They also have to recite parts of the text <strong>and</strong> do sometranslation practices.Swa<strong>in</strong> (1985) claims comprehensible output is also <strong>in</strong>dispensable to SLA. Translation is not only a basic need forcommunication between two different countries, but also a means to review <strong>and</strong> re<strong>in</strong>force the l<strong>in</strong>guistic knowledge thathas just been learned, through which language learners can also check the deficiencies of their knowledge. So at the endof each class, the students should be assigned with some homework, such as, some sentence translation, the detailedunderst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g of the text, <strong>and</strong> sometimes a composition.2. Increas<strong>in</strong>g comparison <strong>and</strong> contrast between Ch<strong>in</strong>ese <strong>and</strong> English© 2013 ACADEMY PUBLISHER
THEORY AND PRACTICE IN LANGUAGE STUDIES 1003Due to the last item <strong>in</strong> the questionnaire, we can see few teachers have done well <strong>in</strong> this aspect. So it should bere<strong>in</strong>forced. The contrastive fields <strong>in</strong>clude phonology, lexicology, syntax, context <strong>and</strong> culture.In actual classroom teach<strong>in</strong>g, the teacher have to give abundant practice on the difference between two languagesthrough imitation <strong>and</strong> re<strong>in</strong>forcement, <strong>in</strong> order to help students overcome the <strong>in</strong>terference of their mother tongue <strong>and</strong>form new habits <strong>in</strong> the target language learn<strong>in</strong>g. E.g., every week the assignments of C-E sentence translations shouldbe asked to h<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>. At the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of the next week, the answers <strong>and</strong> analysis are given to the students. Sometimes,before giv<strong>in</strong>g the answer, the students can be asked to check their versions by themselves. Ideally, as only the learnersare actually capable of mak<strong>in</strong>g changes <strong>in</strong> their develop<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>ter-language systems, the best form of correction a teachercan do is to offer the learners the opportunity to try to self correct. By repair<strong>in</strong>g their translation breakdowns, the correctform will be <strong>in</strong>ternalized. In addition, for the <strong>in</strong>termediate or advanced learners, most of the l<strong>in</strong>guistic errors can becorrected by themselves. Furthermore, English learners can ga<strong>in</strong> more confidence <strong>in</strong> their language capacity if theyhave time to put their own errors correct. But <strong>in</strong> most cases students couldn’t detect the errors that they have made. Atthis time the teacher can ask them to discuss with their classmates. After discussion, the answer will be given to them.Moreover, it’s also necessary for the teacher to compare the different cultures between the east <strong>and</strong> west. <strong>Language</strong> is<strong>in</strong>fluenced <strong>and</strong> shaped by culture. Every nation has different religious belief <strong>and</strong> different th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g way. Therefore,teachers need to f<strong>in</strong>d some methods to help the students notice the different thought patterns <strong>and</strong> tend to use English <strong>in</strong> ast<strong>and</strong>ard way.APPENDIX1. 对 于 网 络 课 程 , 学 生 不 仅 可 以 选 择 何 时 何 地 学 习 , 在 回 答 问 题 之 前 他 们 还 可 以 有 时 间 思 考 答 案 。2. 网 上 学 习 的 想 法 使 她 非 常 兴 奋 , 而 他 认 为 网 上 学 习 毫 无 意 义 和 用 处 。3. 与 以 英 语 为 母 语 的 人 交 谈 是 非 常 有 益 的 体 验 , 从 中 我 们 能 学 到 许 多 东 西 。4. 如 今 , 越 来 越 多 的 人 可 以 利 用 互 联 网 查 找 他 们 需 要 的 信 息 。5. 在 短 短 的 十 五 年 期 间 中 国 变 得 认 不 出 来 了 。6. 既 然 我 们 已 经 学 完 这 门 课 程 , 就 应 该 多 做 些 复 习 。7. 我 跑 下 了 楼 的 时 候 , 听 到 钟 敲 了 12 下 。8. 冷 静 耐 心 地 处 理 这 个 微 妙 问 题 是 明 智 的 。9. 明 天 下 午 两 点 在 学 校 礼 堂 开 教 学 研 究 会 。10. 他 能 不 能 来 , 还 说 不 准 。11. 他 的 误 解 和 解 释 , 雯 雯 倒 喜 欢 , 这 使 她 放 心 了 一 点 。12. 对 于 这 次 大 会 的 精 神 , 对 大 会 做 出 的 各 项 决 定 ,( 我 们 ) 必 须 坚 决 贯 彻 执 行 。13. 文 艺 是 从 属 于 政 治 的 , 但 又 反 过 来 给 予 伟 大 的 影 响 于 政 治 。14. 我 觉 得 清 扫 车 真 残 酷 , 它 把 美 丽 的 落 叶 视 同 垃 圾 , 有 点 不 尽 人 情 。15. 我 认 为 这 是 一 个 遗 憾 , 你 没 有 更 努 力 一 些 。16. 每 天 做 同 样 的 事 情 , 他 觉 得 这 难 以 忍 受 。17. 一 片 阴 影 掠 过 我 的 眼 前 , 记 忆 把 我 拉 回 到 几 十 年 前 的 一 个 黄 昏 。18. 夏 天 给 人 们 种 种 磨 难 与 考 验 , 训 练 人 的 耐 性 、 智 慧 跟 机 敏 。19. 科 学 研 究 是 人 类 认 识 世 界 的 重 要 途 径 , 也 是 技 术 进 步 的 源 泉 。20. 谦 虚 使 人 进 步 , 骄 傲 使 人 落 后 。21. 对 任 何 事 情 来 说 , 有 准 备 都 比 没 有 准 备 好 。22. 计 算 机 是 如 何 工 作 的 将 在 下 一 次 课 上 做 详 细 说 明 。23. 有 些 人 以 为 男 孩 子 比 女 孩 子 聪 明 。 然 而 , 事 实 未 必 如 此 。24. 即 使 我 们 失 败 一 百 次 , 天 也 不 会 塌 下 来 。 只 要 我 们 不 失 去 信 心 , 我 们 终 将 成 功 。25. 过 去 的 10 年 中 , 经 过 共 同 努 力 , 在 我 国 的 研 究 生 教 育 方 面 取 得 了 很 大 的 进 步 。26. 老 人 读 完 信 后 失 望 之 极 , 竟 用 颤 抖 的 手 指 把 它 撕 得 粉 碎 。27. 我 提 议 咱 们 会 后 马 上 去 办 公 室 找 史 密 斯 教 授 , 邀 请 他 参 加 我 们 的 英 语 晚 会 。28. 你 们 应 该 在 货 物 运 到 后 立 即 付 款 。29. 采 用 这 个 办 法 , 我 们 提 高 了 学 习 英 语 的 效 率 。30. 我 们 何 时 开 工 并 无 关 系 。 最 重 要 的 是 我 们 必 须 做 好 准 备 。The reference translations <strong>in</strong> English are as follows:1) Not only can students choose when <strong>and</strong> where to learn for an onl<strong>in</strong>e course, but they can also take time to th<strong>in</strong>kthrough answers before mak<strong>in</strong>g a reply.2) She is excited by the idea of onl<strong>in</strong>e learn<strong>in</strong>g while he considers it mean<strong>in</strong>gless <strong>and</strong> useless.3) Communicat<strong>in</strong>g with native English speakers is a very reward<strong>in</strong>g experience from which we can learn a lot.4) Today, more <strong>and</strong> more people have access to the Internet through which they look for the <strong>in</strong>formation they need.5) In the short space of fifteen years, Ch<strong>in</strong>a has changed beyond the recognition.© 2013 ACADEMY PUBLISHER