Brief Analysis of Chinese Students’ Errors in English Reading

Abstract：On the basis of the theories of psycholinguistic perspective in language teaching and communicative approach in language learning， this paper analyses briefly some tangible errors for the Chinese students in their reading in line with the authors own teaching experiences. The paper is an attempt at overcoming the obstacles existing between the text writers and the text readers and enabling the latter to become effective readers.

Key words：psycholinguistic；communicative； errors；reading comprehension

1 Instruction

English reading has always been considered one of the most important parts of foreign language learning. Without reading， nothing can be done in the development of the competence in listening， speaking， writing and translating. Reading courses， or rather， intensive reading ones， fill up a large component of the curricula. Obviously， students and teacher should pay great attention to the importance of reading courses. And what is reading？ How can Chinese students achieve proficient reading？

2 Some Tangible Errors in Reading Comprehension

The Chinese language is totally different from the English language. The former belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family and the latter to the Indo-European language family. Therefore， When Chinese learners attempt to understand a text in English， they face linguistic problems in various respects： spelling， gender， verb forms， tenses and word order. In addition to these， Id like to discuss some other obstacles between writers and readers.

2.1 Lexical and syntactical errors

Words such as “imaginative” and “imaginary” and “respectable” are often misunderstood and misused by Chinese learners as in their mother tongue words have virtually no inflexions. In my classroom， however， I have found my students more liable to stumble over articles and prepositions. I believe the reason is that these particles are never used in the Chinese language and hence difficult to handle. For example：

The president said at a press conference dominated by questions on yesterdays election results that he could not explain why the Republicans had suffered such a widespread defeat， which in the end would deprive the Republican Party of long-held superiority in the House.

Its not easy for a Chinese student to smooth out the complicated structure of this long sentence at first sight. In order to decode these graphic signs， a grammatical analysis is necessary， but this can be done by the students before or after class. Only when the students fail to present an acceptable explanation should the teacher do the job for them （“That-clause” is the object of the verb “said” and“which-clause”is used as an attribute modifying “defeat”）.

When the reader reconstructs meaning from the text， he has unavoidably to use the graphic symbols， syntactic structures and semantic systems of the language. The teachers task is to point out possible difficulties for the students and guide them to attack the problems.

2.2 Different ways of thinking and expression

Chinese people and English native speakers have different ways of thinking and modes of expression， owing to their respective and unique social practice and geographic environments. In this connection arise the problems in our students comprehension of their English texts： because we dont have their experiences， we dont know what it means， not only linguistically， but also emotionally and cognitively.

A case in point is the English way of negation. We often come across the statements which are affirmative in form but negative in content， or vice versa. “I know better”means“I don?t think so”， while“I couldn?t feel better” is understood as “I?m feeling great”. The following two sentences may also puzzle the Chinese readers：

You could have come at a better time.

I hope you?re none the worse for that fall from your horse.

To Chinese students， English speaking people have a peculiar way of negation in the above two sentences. In my class only efficient readers can understand the first sentence as “You have come at a wrong time” and the second one as “I hope you didnt hurt by the fall from your horse.”

The interference by the mother tongue is sometimes very strong. Whenever problems arise， teachers of English should give heed to rectification of the misunderstanding

2.3 Non -linguistic information

Reading needs both visual and non-visual information. If a reader lacks non-visual information， his interpretation of the visual information will be severely limited， because what he can see is his brains interpretation of the brain. This is an interaction between thought and graphic designs. Therefore， in order to decode those graphic designs， a reader must be equipped with both the knowledge of language and of the world， just as Scott says” reading is essentially a ‘top-down process， whereby the reader samples the text visually， a teacher may take these two things into account： one is that the reading material should be readable for the Chinese students； the other is that the necessary prior knowledge should be provided in one way or another. For example：

Shall I compare thee to a summers day？

Thou art more lovely and more temperate （Shakespeare）

To a Chinese students knowledge， spring is a pleasant season while summer is usually associated with unbearable heat. But in England， summer is mild and comfortable. Obviously some geographical knowledge should be introduced here.

Descriptions of figures， customs， geographical features， etc . can provide possible sources to explore. Usually background knowledge is imparted by the teacher ， with students listening passively to the teacher?s introduction. With a view to communicative processing， the teacher can leave this job to the students， if possible.

3 Conclusion

In this study I can quote several more restraints which hinders the Chinese students from efficient reading. However， my intention here is not to make an overall description of the known facts， but to bring our attention to some of the pitfalls， which particularly trap the Chinese students into misunderstanding.

To make the reading class more efficient， we have for many years incorporated some foreign language teaching techniques into the present framework. However， this does not mean to discard completely the traditional way or adopt an out-and-out new foreign approach. As we are teaching Chinese students inside of China， any teaching methodology deviating from the concrete situation is neither possible nor realistic. The correct attitude we should have is to adopt advanced foreign theories on the one hand， and build on the strengths already inherent in the present teaching framework on the other.

作者简介：

张碧霞（1981年～）女，汉族，甘肃省临洮县人，甘肃省临洮县明德初中教师，本科学历，研究方向：英语教学。