On the Function of Mother Tongue Transfer in English Vocabulary Acquisition

Abstract

The theory of mother tongue transfer refers to that the habit of the first language will directly influence the acquisition of the second language, and play its positive and negative functions. As a Chinese learner, English vocabulary learning is inevitably influenced by the Chinese ways of pronunciation, cognitive styles and thought patterns. Based on the language transfer theory, this paper will analyze the influences of Chinese on English vocabulary learning from the positive and negative transfer respectively, and reveal the positive and negative effects of Chinese in the process of English vocabulary acquisition. What this paper intends to convey is to improve the efficiency of English vocabulary learning by investigating the main forms of transfer and finding the reasons of them. It presents some suggestions that language learners should make full use of positive transfer and avoid negative transfer.