Impact of Language Ego, the Native Language Effect on Oral English Learning of High School Students

Abstract

Language transfer, especially the native language effect on the process of second language acquisition, has always been a hot issue of various linguists. Language transfer is inevitable in the process of second language acquisition, which can be divided into positive transfer and negative transfer. The positive transfer will promote the foreign language learning while negative transfer of mother tongue will hinder the second language learning. In English learning, compared with reading and writing, oral English learning is more important and more complex. Chinese high school students are often disturbed by negative effect of their mother tongue in oral English communication. In China, experts and scholars have done a lot of researches on the negative native language effect in English learning, but most of the researches focus on writing and translation skills, while few of them emphasize on listening and speaking skills.

At present, English teaching is undergoing a profound reform, and English teachers and learners are paying an increasing number of attention to the study of spoken English. In order to fill the gap and correctly understand the influences of oral English acquisition of high school students, through the analysis of the principle of native language effect, this paper finds that the vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and pragmatics of mother tongue all have negative transfer to foreign language learning. What’s more, language ego, as an important part of affective principles, has a profound impact on the process of oral English learning. There is a strong and negative correlation between language ego and oral English learning to some extent. The less students´language ego is, the more oral English output students will produce.