The Reasons for Different Results of Acquiring English and Chinese in China

Abstract：This article mainly presents the phenomenon of results of acquiring different language in China as a Korean student. Obviously， the acquiring of Chinese is much easier in China. Moreover， it puts forward reasons of different languages effects， which are attitude， motivation between Chinese and English.

Key word：Attitude；Motivation；Acquiring

Ⅰ. Introduction

Last several decades have witnessed a dramatic development in Second Language Acquisition （SLA） research. Although SLA is a rather sophisticated field to research， the purpose of this article is to state the different effects of SLA of a Korean student in China， which involves the individual differences and other objective factors.

It is an interesting phenomenon to perceive the Korean students learning to acquire English and Chinese in China. Here， what I am really concerned is the reason about different results of acquiring. The author will give a deep state of this phenomenon.

Ⅱ. Different results in acquiring Chinese and English

1. The Criterion in Oral English and Chineses performance

The Criterion in Oral English and Chineses performance can be divided in three aspects. First， it is the fluency of oral language. As for the fluency of language， besides that the speaker has controlled the language rules and forms， other aspects also should be paid attention to. Second， it is the appropriate tone and pronunciation. As for second language acquisition， it is rather important in the tone and pronunciation of oral language， which embodies in the control of following aspects， the tone， the meaning phrase， continuous rhythm， the light and heavy sound and the incomplete plosive. Third， it is the maintenance of logical structure and order. As for the logical structure and order， the expression of thoughts must be precise， logical and enrichment. The logical mainly presents in three aspects， clearly concept， reasonable inference and tight reasoning.

2. The Result of the acquisition of Chinese and English of Korean student in China

From the statements of the criterion of languages level， it is easily to make a conclusion that the girl， named Bona， who is a 12 years old， acquires two languages in two different levels. And the acquisition of Chinese is much more fluency than English. By utilizing Chinese， the tone and pronunciation is native-like. Although the logical structure and order is not satisfying to native speaker， it is better than that in English. The last point， the usage of correct grammar and appropriate words is not so good in English and Chinese.

III. Individual differences affecting SLA

1. Attitude and Motivation in SLA

Ellis says， motivation involves the attitude and affection that influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn a second language （Rod Ellis， 1997：75）.Then， the paper will analyze different effects of acquiring from attitude and motivations.

2. Attitude and Motivation in the comparison of different effects of acquiring

2.1 Attitude in the comparison of different effects of acquiring

Attitude has two sides： positive and negative attitudes. Active learners and target language speakers will be on the promotion of the role of language learning. Conversely， the language learner will refuse or fear the communication with the target language， which will hinder the process of the acquisition of language.

In the Koreans case， the girl is unwilling to learn English. The reason is that her English teacher has a bad temper and often punishes students corporally. Students performance is to refuse to learn English or finish homework. Therefore， the role of teacher in second language acquisition is quite considerable factor in classroom learning. Here， we know that the negative attitude produces the negative effect in English learning.

2.2 Motivation in the comparison of different effects of acquiring

As the article as mentioned， there is not difference in learning Chinese and English， considering the instrumental motivation. Therefore， the integrative motivation will be considered deeply.

Although the Korean family， they came to China for just one year， the Korean family has a strong interest in the culture of China. And they are active to learn and communicate with native people. They often visit the locals in the weekend and they learn Chinese with at least an hour everyday. All I have stated is that the student has a strong desire to learn Chinese. It is the integrative motivation that stimulates the student to learn Chinese more quickly. Compared with the learning of Chinese， the student has not the strong emotion to learn English， without of the interest in the culture of English countries.

IV. Conclusion

The article briefly explains reasons of different effects of acquiring different languages in China in one case. The paper focuses on the reasons that produce different effects from individual factors---attitude and motivation.

All in all， the article also has shortcomings， although it can be approved by theories. For example， the lack of empirical research can be found in the article. The article will be more credible with the empirical research.

References：

[1]Ellis， R. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford： Oxford University Press， 1985.

[2]Ellis， R. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford： Oxford University Press， 1997.

[3]Gardner， R. and W. Lambert. Attitude and Motivation in Second Language Learning. Newbury House， 1972.

[4]Krashen， S. The Input Hypothesis. London： Longman， 1985.

[5]Larry A Samovar， Richard E Porter， Edwin R McDaniel. Communication between Cultures. Wadsworth Publishing Company， 1998.

作者簡介：

徐海艳（1986- ），女，汉，山东省临沂市人，硕士学位，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学。

（责编 张亚欣）