On Cultivating Chinese Non-English Majors’ English Thinking Ability to Improve Their English Writing

Abstract

Writing is a big part of language learning and the writing ability of a language learner can well embody his language competence. Many Chinese non-English majors have difficulty writing a decent English essay. Although many teachers and scholars have been probing into ways of teaching English writing effectively, the results of the national CET 4 and CET 6 indicate that there is no big change in the writings of Chinese non-English majors. A careful study of many students’ essays and interviews with some of them showed that students’ ignorance of the differences between Chinese and English thought patterns contributes a lot to the problem. So, this paper first gives a brief introduction to thought pattern and the relationship between thought pattern and language, then analyzes the main differences between Chinese and English thought patterns, followed by a description of the negative transfer of Chinese thought pattern in students’ writing, and finally proposes some practical and effective methods to help non-English majors learn to think as native English speakers do and improve their writing ability.