OnSlipsoftheTongueofChineseEnglishLearners-最新文档

1、On Slips of the Tongue of Chinese English Learners1. Introduction1.1 Definition of slips of the tongueSlips of the tongue are common and frequently interesting phonic errors. Maybe we are not sure that W. A. Spooner ( 1844-1930 ) is the first person to make such mistakes ， but he was well known for

2、a word “Spoonerism” (Appendix I )， which is the famous word to describe the phenomenon of slips of the tongue in the early time. He always made mistakes about the first sound of the words. For example ， he once said we all know the feeling when we have a half- warmed fish in our hearts ， which he in

3、tended to say we all know the feeling when we have a half- formed wish in our hearts. People around him foundthat he always made such mistakes about the first sound of the words. Therefore ， people who analyzed W. A. Spooner speaking behavior felt interesting and described this phenomenona s Spooner

4、ism， and the meaning of this word in dictionary is the transposition of the initial consonants or consonant clusters of a pair of words， oftensuch asresulting in an amusing ambiguity of meaning“hush my brat ” for “brush my hat ” （ Collins English Dictionary ， 21st Century Edition） .Dell （ 1986） defi

5、ned slips of tongue as unintended ， nonhabitual deviations from a speech plan in his bookSpreading Activation Theory Retrieval in Sentence Production Psychological Review （Dell ，1986： 284 ）. From this ， we can find two standards for the characteristics of the slips of tongue： the first one is that t

6、here mustbe errors ， and the second one is that the errors can be corrected. So， when a conversation is over ， people always know nothing about what they have said and take little care about their slips of the tongue.Freud （ 1901） was alsothe person who pays serious attention to slips of the tongue.

7、 He believed that every slip of the tongue was a consequence of deeper unconscious motivations that allowed expression through such errors. And we call his theory asFreudianslips . In his book Psychopathology of Everyday Life ， he pointed out that speech disturbance may be caused through the influen

8、ce of fore-sounds ， after-sounds ， words from the same sentence that were intended for expression， aswell as through the effect of words outside the sentenceintended ， the stimulus of which would otherwise not have been suspected (Sigmund Freud ， 1901 ).Also， people attach more and more importance t

9、o slips of the tongue in China. Zhang Chunchao， a famous linguist ， believed that the speech is planned in advance， so thespeech error is contributed to linguistics mechanism rather than the motivation of consciousness in his work The Phenomenon of Slips of The Tongue ， Types ， Causes ， Solutions.As

10、 we talk ， we unconsciously make more kinds of little errors than we probably think we do. Usually we either dont notice them at all or we go back and correct them so quickly that we will still commit the errors on the other occasions.1.2 The current situation of average Chinese English-learnersEven

11、 for us university students who have already studied English for nearly eight years， it is stilldifficult for us to speak out what we really want to say. In daily life ， it s very commont o hear Chinese students slips of tongue ， especially when the students are communicating with each other after c

12、lass. However， without others correction ， they could tend to correct at once if realizing it.Several days ago ， I met one of my foreign friends in Xihu English Corner. When he asked me when to leave， Ireplied “I will lef t （leave ）soon”. Of course ， I knew the grammar， but I didn t know how the wor

13、d “left ” came out.This kind of phenomenon occurs almost everywhereinEnglish lessons ， English corners ， and so on. Therefore ， we might infer that nearly all Chinese English learners have the problem of the slips of tongue ， and the sufficient solutions of the slips of tongue should be provided to

14、the public to arisethe Chinese English learners awareness ，with the aim of improving the Chinese English learnersEnglish level.2. The Reasons That Cause Slips of the Tongue2.1 Influence of PsychologyWe all experience the phenomenon of slips of the tongue ， when we are excited ， confused ， happy and

15、sad or interrupted by some other things. We might know that the eyes are the window of our heart ， similarly ， and the mouth can also to be a mirror of our thought. Freud （1901） wasalso the person who pays serious attention to slips of the tongue. He believed that every slip of the tongue was a cons

16、equence of deeper unconscious motivations that allowed expression through such errors， and we call this theoryas Freudian slips . In our daily life， some slips ofthe tongue are always caused psychologically and always can reflect our intentions ， wishes ， motivations ， emotions and so on. Take my ex

17、perience for example， last week ， Imet one of my friends Elsa on Wenyi Road. When she asked me about the situation of one of our classmates HuangLi，she blurted out a sentencewhere is Jia Qiang . And Ifelt puzzled and repliedwho is Jia Qiang . In fact ，Jia Qiang is Elsa s boyfriend and she hasnt seen

18、 him for two months. And she told me that she strongly missed him so as to say Jia Qiang ， and what she intended to say is Huang Li. Therefore ， our mouths always are restrained by our psychology ， which results in slips of the tongue.2.2 Restrained by native languageAs we all know ， China is differ

19、ent from the western countries both in its history and its culture ， it is quite easier that the language Chinese ， which is closely related to its culture ， will be different from English ， by whichI mean that the misunderstanding of each language is because of the different ways of thinking and li

20、ving between Chinese and foreigners， which will lead to thephenomenon of slips of the tongue of the Chinese English Learners.For Chinese English learners， slip of the tongue isone of the major problems which affect the quality of their spoken English. Chinese English learners are always interfered a

21、nd influenced by their native language ， which is different from the rules of English language and culture. The problems such as Chinglish frequently emerge in the process of English studying， especially due to thedifference of the two languages. Therefore， slips oftongue of Chinese English learners

22、 always appear. Slip of the tongue is harmful to the successful communication. It is necessary to make learners aware of the differences between their own language use and that of native speakers in order to make changes in their developing rule systems. The Chinese English learners should know more

23、 knowledge about foreign culture to reduce and avoid slips of the tongue.2.3 Chinese exam-orientation studySlip of the tongue is a very common phenomenon happening to Chinese English learners. The biggest obstacle for them to master spoken English well is the exam-orientation study ， which leads stu

24、dents to remember the vocabulary day by day， paying little attention toapplying language skills to use. The“exam -orientededucation ” leads to the single teaching goal. The content of courses is more outmoded ， and the examination relies mainly on grammar. There is an inclination existing seriously

25、in English teaching“Pay attention to theteaching of knowledge ， but sometimes neglect the cultivation of language ability ”. As a result ， it makes some students obtain the high scores in college entrance examination ， but they are not good at spoken English and always utter lots of slips of the ton

26、gue. In view of this ， the traditional English teaching mode is difficult to finish the task of quality-oriented education. So itsnecessary to make Chinese English teachers and learners know more knowledge about slips of the tongue to reduce and avoid them.As we all know， most Chinese English learne

27、rs have less difficulties in reading and writing while they can notspeak fluently and always have slips of the tongue. It is usually extremely difficult for them to communicate with foreigners because of their poor spoken English. So when a conversation is over ， they almost know nothing about what

28、they have said and take little care about their slips of the tongue. Therefore ， some Chinese English learners even lose their confidence in learning English. This is partially because of Chinese English teachers and learner s wrong methods in English teaching and learning. Besides ， to the Chinese

29、English learners who learn English in environment where English is not the native language and they have few opportunities to practice English with native speakers ， they always speak some Chinglish and slips of the tongue because of their traditional habits of their native language speaking. In fac

30、t， the improvement ofspoken English and reducing slips of the tongue can be gained by good methods. And the researchers of slips of the tongue should introduce some useful methods to help Chinese English learners to improve their spoken English and reduce even avoid slips of the tongue of Chinese En

31、glish learners.3. Ways to Avoid Slips of the Tongue3.1 Teachers helpEnglish teachers should take a proper attitude towards slips of the tongue. In class， when they teach studentsvocabulary and grammar， error-correctionis necessary andhelpful. When the learnermistakes are corrected ， theywill remembe

32、r and avoid them next time. The teachers should help students understand the cause of the slips of the tongue and know how to do next time. Besides ， the teachers are expected to indicate learners to self-repair. It is the teachers duty to help students to form good language learning habits or to be

33、comea good language learner ， which will benefit them in their lifetime. Also， how to guideChinese English learners to avoid producing slips of the tongue is a universal problem that English teachers face.3.2 Learners self -repairSelf-repair is one of the most important ways to avoid slips of tongue

34、. As we all know， the learners is the body of English learning. Slips of the tongue that Chinese English learners make are always systematic in nature ， so as long as the learners have the good habits of speaking English ， the slips of tongue could be reduced even avoided. Therefore ， the learners t

35、hemselves should often correct their own mistakes and think more before saying. Whenf aced with errors ， as long as the learners always self-repair ， the slips of the tongue could be reduced.Slip of the tongue is a problem for Chinese English Learners and to reduce even avoid slips of the tongue is

36、a basic mean to improve Chinese English learners spokenEnglish. We should have a further development in finding more useful ways to reduce and avoid slips of the tongue to pursue high English language quality. Meanwhile ， we emphasize that English teachers should use their knowledge to help English

37、learners to use correct ways to avoid slips of the tongue and to train students to express themselves and understand others in English nimbly and freely with little errors even without errors. For this reason，Chinese English learner should understand the reasons and effects of slips of the tongue in

38、 order to speak English more decently. Besides ， the Chinese English teachers should make full use of varieties of teaching skills to stimulate the students to speak more and have less slips of the tongue and create an authentic environment in class. Whats more， the Chinese government should offer b

39、etter and correct English education. That is because Chinese education still has lots of problems in English teaching.To solve the problem of slips of the tongue and improveChinese English level， the Chinese English learners andgovernment should make a joint effort.4. ConclusionFrom what has been di

40、scussed above， we may come toconclusion that there are five reasonsthat cause slips ofthe tongue ， which include the influenceof fore-sounds andafter-sounds ， linguistics mechanism， restriction ofnative language ， affection of their English level and Chinese exam-orientation study. And it is very im

41、portantto learn the reasons of producing slips of the tongue so as to reduce them. In English class ， teachers should improve the Chinese English learners a bility ofunderstanding slips of the tongue ， which can arouse students interest and initiative to study the ways to reduce slips of the tongue

42、and finally improve the quality of English of Chinese English learners. Therefore ， it s a need of new development in pursuing further research on slips of the tongue， making Chinese English learners to express themselves and understand others in English nimbly and freely.We have classified the slips of the tongue ， analyzed its reasons and put forward the solutions to thisphenomenon， with the purpose of making more people know the slips of tongue and try their best to reduce the slips of tongue. As we all know ， to completely avoid the slips of tongue