第二外语学习与英语学习及汉语的互相影响——以德语作为第二外语为例.docx

1、第二外语学习与英语学习及汉语的互相影响以德语作为第二外语为例摘要：第二外语学习研究是一个相对较新的年轻领域。与此同时，却有越来越多的人参与到第二外语学习中来。目前，并没有关于第二外语学习的完整系统的理论体系，相关研究也相对较少。本论文主要以二语习得现有的语言迁移和中介语为理论基础，以词源学、词汇学基本知识为辅佐，探讨了第二外语学习中词汇与语际距离之间的关系。首先，问卷设计调查了英语为外语的学习者对第二外语学习的感受。其次，对英语、中文和德语（第二外语）进行了词汇水平上的对比分析。最后，从这些探究中得出结论，发现第二外语（德语）学习的效率和英语与德语之间语际距离的负相关性。关键词：第二外语学习；

2、语言迁移；中介语；语际距离The Interaction among Second Foreign Language Learning, English and First Language-Take German as a Second Foreign Language as an ExampleAbstract: Study on second foreign language learning is a relatively new field. At the same time, more and more people start to learn a second foreign

3、language. At present, there is no complete and systematic theory in this field. And few studies have been made relating to it. Based on the theories of language transfer and interlanguage in the Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and some basic knowledge of etymology and lexicology, this paper studie

4、s the relationship between vocabulary and language distance in the second foreign language learning. Questionnaires are designed first to know from EFL learners what their experiences are and then contrastive analysis on word level are made among English, Chinese and German (as a second foreign lang

5、uage). Finally, a conclusion has been drawn from findings that the effectiveness of learning second foreign language (German) has a negative correlation with the language distance between English and German.Key words: second foreign language learning; language transfer; interlanguage;interlanguage d

6、istanceThe Interaction among Second Foreign Language Learning, English and First Language-Take German as a Second Foreign Language as an Example1. IntroductionWith the rapid development of globalization, more and more Chinese people arerealizing the importance of learning a second foreign language b

7、esides English. As the biggest economic entity in Europe and an important political member in international society, Germany has built more trade connections with fast developing China. Therefore, more and more Chinese are studying German. However, few linguistic studies target on group of people wh

8、o have fully acquired their first language (Chinese), have certain level of English, and are going to learn a second foreign language (German). Those groups of people have different English language proficiencies. Therefore, if we can make some research on the interaction among the second foreign la

9、nguage, English, and ones first language, we will have some new ideas and findings in the second language acquisition, both theoretically and practically. Moreover, with the findings, we can provide language learners with more efficient study strategies.Compared with the growing demand for the secon

10、d foreign language study, thesupply of the foreign language education in China is various in qualities. Not only universities provide foreign language classes for their English majors and other language majors as the second foreign language, some private education systems also give such kind of cour

11、ses. Although the fad of learning a second foreign language and establishing education institutions can contribute to the nurturing of language talents, the system of study and evaluation and the supervision of education quality are still not established yet. So, the study on the interaction among t

12、he second foreign language, English, and our first language, will provide a theoretical base on the third language learning. And in turn, theories of third language learning, or theories of the second foreign language, will broaden the scale of language acquisition and give an extension to the secon

13、d language acquisition.In addition, the study of a second foreign language is compulsory for English majors. It has become a problem for English majors on how to choose a proper second foreign language and how to learn the second foreign language efficiently without intervening English. Therefore, f

14、or those special groups of English majors who are already good users of English, the study of the third language acquisition will tell them what influence will be when learning a third language. In this way, we can offerthose English majors better suggestions and learning strategies.In the present s

15、tudy, firstly, previous theories and hypothesis will be given generally through literature review. This part shows what early scholars have done, what questions still remained unsolved, and what the most controversial problem is.Those theories and hypothesis have been classified according to their n

16、ature and focus. They will be divided into two main parts: theories that support innate learning device and theories that support acquired learning model.Secondly, this paper will demonstrate the detailed research methods that I have used in this paper. They are questionnaires and words contrast.In

17、this part, the raw questionnaire will be showed, and the process of how to choose the responders, how to design the questions and how to analyze the data will also be demonstrated. The word contrast part will discuss where the modern English words and modern German words come from and in what way th

18、ese words are classified.The last part is the most important one. It will demonstrate all the analysis results of the questionnaires and give a detailed word contrast with specific words (mainly English words and German words). According to the results of analysis and words contrast, the author will

19、 give her own hypothesis on the field of third language acquisition and language distance.2. Literature ReviewSecond foreign language learning study is a relatively new field of research. Through the overview of the field of second language acquisition, including basic definitions and basic theories

20、, many books and papers on this field provide us with new ideas, new theories and new research methods.According to the main researches around the world in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), we can know the most popular theories and the most conducted research methods. Here come the mai

21、n theories, main research methods and the latest assumptions in this field.2.1 Theories that Supporting Innate Learning DeviceLinguists are divided into two parts when it comes to the question that whether the language learning ability is born with us or is a kind of habit development.Following prev

22、ious theories support the belief of innate device. That is: young children and adults are equipped with the ability to learn human language from the time when they were born. It is like a physical device that is implanted in human brains. Without that certain device, people can never learn a languag

23、e no matter how hard he/she tries.2.1.1 Universal GrammarUniversal Grammar (UG) first put forward by Chomsky and some other linguists in early 1980s. They think universal grammar is a kind of special language system that exists in all human brains. Wikipedia defines UG as:Universal grammar (UG) is a

24、 theory in linguistics, usually credited to Noam Chomsky, proposing that the ability to learn grammar is hard-wired into the brain. It is sometimes known as mental grammar, and as opposed to other grammars, e.g. prescriptive, descriptive and pedagogical. The theory suggests that linguistic ability m

25、anifests itself without being taught, and that there are properties that all natural human languages share. It is a matter of observation and experimentation to determine precisely what abilities are innate and what properties are shared by all languages (Wikipedia: Universal Grammar)Universal gramm

26、ar thinks there is something in common among all the human languages around the whole world. For example, most languages dividewords into nouns, verbs and so on. Universal grammar is related to the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) of Chomsky. LAD thinks that there is a special biological system in

27、human heads that enables us to learn human language. And the prerequisite of this device is that there must be a set of certain features in all human languages that only kids can learn. And that set of feature is universal grammar.2.1.2 Language TransferThis concept is first established in 1950s, an

28、d experienced winding development over the past several decades. And the most accepted definition of language transfer is from Terence Odlin (Language Transfer, 1989). It is an assumption that the influence from language learners mother tongue and any other languages (fully acquired or half acquired

29、) will play a part in the process of acquiring target languages. And thisinfluence is caused by the similarities or differences among other languages and target languages.Language transfer is a very important theory in the study of second language acquisition. This theory thinks that ones mother ton

30、gue will have an influence on the learning of target language. If the influence is positive, then we call it positive transfer. If the influence is negative, we call it negative transfer. And language transfer is not only a result, but also a process. When we are going to decide whether the transfer

31、will be positive or negative, we have to look at the distance between ones mother tongue and target language. This distance includes interlanguage distance and psychological distance. Interlanguage distance mainly refers to closeness of languages like syntax and lexicon. However, psychological dista

32、nce is always related to culture.2.1.3 Interlanguage and Language Learner LanguageThis theory is first brought up by L. Selinker (1969). According to Selinkers definition, interlanguage refers to the separateness of a second language learner system, a system, that has structurally intermediate statu

33、s between the native and target languages.This theory thinks that the language a learner acquires is different from both their mother tongue and the target language. Interlanguage is the intermediate language that a learner use in the process of learning the target language. Interlanguage is not fixe