Language transfer is caused by the similarities and differences between a native language and a second language。 Therefore, in order to study the causes of negative transfer in middle school student’s English writing in the syntactic structure, it’s necessary to study the similarities and differences between Chinese and English in the syntactic structure。 An American translator E。 Nida (1982: 16) believes that hypotactic in English and paratactic in Chinese is the main difference。 Besides, some other features of the two languages will also influence the word order, the sentence constituent, word forms and so on。 

Therefore, this paper will research the following two questions: (1) Is negative transfer of native language a hindrance to the improvement of middle school students’ English writing? (2) Whether reducing the impact of negative transfer of native language helps students to write with a clear syntactic structure? Through the research, some main causes of the negative transfer will be found, and some strategies to reduce the influence will be given。 Thus, this paper will help the students to write with a clear syntactic structure in their writings, and it will also improve the English composition teaching in middle school。

2。 Literature Review

2。1 Definition of Language Transfer 论文网

In 1984, Dechert defined, “Language transfer is the activation of a certain knowledge base, operator, or procedure in one area of language or languages with the influence to perform the same operation in another similar area of language or languages”。

Odlin (1989:27) pointed out that language transfer (LT) is “the effect resulting from the differences and similarities between the target language and any other language or languages that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired。”

Dechert explained the procedure of language transfer, while Odlin pointed out the causes of the effect。 

2。2 Types of Transfer

Language transfer can be pided into positive and negative transfer due to its impact on second language acquisition。 Both types of transfer are known as the automatic and subconscious application of old action in different learning environment (Dulay 1982:101)。 On the basis of this information, language transfer can explain most of the errors appearing in second language learners’ writing。

Positive transfer is the transfer that can do good to second language learning because of the similarities of different languages in the world。 The positive effects can be found more obviously when learners from different countries studied the same target language (Odlin, 1989)。

Negative transfer, known as interference, is the misuse of patterns and rules of mother tongue and the target language, which leads to errors or inappropriate forms in second language acquisition (Richard, 2002)。 Negative Transfer is considered as the major cause of errors in second language acquisition (Lado, 1957; Corder, 1971)。

2。3 Theories Related to the Negative Transfer of a Native Language

2。3。1 Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis Theory

Contrastive analysis hypothesis theory was come up with by Charles Fries in 1927, and he designed comparison language teaching。 In 1957, An American linguist Lado claimed that second language learners tend to be influenced by their native language when using the target language, from words’ meanings and word order to language culture and habits。 In the 1950s and 1960s, contrastive analysis hypothesis theory had influenced many linguists and second language teachers。 Fries believed that native language transfer was a main hindrance to second language learning。 And he found that many errors in second language learning could be predicted according to the similarities and differences between the native language and target language。