3。1 The research methods

3。1。1 The objects of research

The questionnaire serves 120 students in Prep and Senior Grade One from HuaiZhou Senior High School as objects。 110 valid questionnaires are taken back。 There are seven different nationality students, 60 of them the Uyghur-native, 18 of them the Han nationality, 14 of them the Hui nationality, 9 of them Kazak, 5 of them Dongxiang nationality。 Others are Manchu, Mongolian and Khalkhas（柯尔克孜族）。

3。1。2 The design of questionnaire

The questionnaire mainly investigates the English basis of Uyghur-native students, learning strategies and motivations。 However, the factors affecting their English learning are the main points that we need to focus on。

3。2 The data collection and analysis

Q18: Which influences you most when you learning English? Mandarin Chinese or Uyghur?

Q20: Which respects are similar to your native language?文献综述

A。 Pronunciation B。 Intonation C。 Grammar D。 Writing 

Q21: In your native language, which aspects interfere with your English learning? 

A。 Pronunciation & Intonation    B。 Word order 

C。 Grammar      D。 Cultural background difference

From the collection of data, we can see that 88。3 percent of students take Mandarin Chinese as the factor that affects English learning。 On top of that, 66。7 percent of students think English Pronunciation is similar to their native language, 30 percent of them choosing Intonation。 About Q21, 23。3% (A), 20% (D), 26。7% (C), 25% (D)。

4。 Language Transfer and Language Layers

Language transfer, an intricate linguistic and psychological phenomenon, refers to that language learners may apply mother tongue rules to handle the target language information in learning a second language because they have not learned or have forgotten its usage (Littlewood 25)。 The native language behavior habits have been formed, hence, when learning a foreign language, language learners will be affected by the migration patterns of behaviorism psychology。 That is to say, the formation of new language habits are influenced by the certain ones(Xu Yulong 278)。 The language transfer has two kinds, including positive transfer and negative transfer。 And it is also called language interference。 When the relevant unit or structure of both languages are the same, linguistic interference can result in correct language production called positive transfer — “correct” meaning in line with most native speakers notions of acceptability。 Negative transfer occurs when speakers and writers transfer items and structures that are not the same in both languages。 “Positive transfer is conducive to language learning, while the negative transfer hinders it。”(Ellis 29) Uyghur native students, growing up around different languages and cultures, also can be affected from the language of Uyghur and Mandarin Chinese 。

From the perspective of linguistic, it is a must to analyze linguistic aspect of transfer in order to study language transfer。 Studies have shown that “It could occur at all levels of linguistic, such as phonological transfer, lexical transfer, discourse reading transfer pragmatic transfer。” (Xu Yulong 304) Meanwhile, “At the beginning of learning a foreign language, language learners are apt to make use of existing cognitive structures in mother tongue to analyze the speech in a foreign language。 As a result, when using a foreign language, language learners are often likely to use some elements in mother tongue instead of others in a foreign language。 In addition, the primary stage is more likely to generate language transfer than advanced stage。(Sajavaara 115)

As long as we have full understanding of layers and stages of language transfer as well as all sorts of different factors, we can realize explicit recognition of language transfer in learning a foreign language。