Abstract

English writing, a reflection of the students’ comprehensive skills, is a process that we use English to obtain the language skills. It is also a good way to check the students’ English proficiency. However, Chinglish, as a kind of errors attributing to the interference of our native language, different thinking pattern and culture, appears frequently in non-English major students’ compositions. If we don’t pay much attention to the Chinglish, the students’ writing ability will not be developed. 

Thus, this paper focuses on the analysis of Chinglish in the compositions among non-English majors. First of all, this paper gives a brief introduction to the definition of Chinglish and presents some previous studies on Chinglish. Then, it analyzes the different manifestations at three levels by adopting many examples. It points out the main causes are the different thinking patterns and mother tongue interference. At last, this paper puts forward some appropriate suggestions. Non-English majors should enlarge the reading scope to increase the language input. In addition, some writing techniques and sufficient practice are required to help them overcome this language learning obstacle. In conclusion, this paper intends to be helpful for the students and the future research.

Key words: English writing; Chinglish; causes; measures

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1Introduction.1

1.1 The Research background..1

1.2 Purpose and significance of this paper..1

1.3 Organization of this paper..2

2 What is Chinglish?2

2.1 Definition of Chinglish2

2.2 Manifestations of Chinglish in writing3

2.2.1 Lexicon level ..3 

 2.2.1.1 Improper word choice ..3

2.2.1.2 Redundancy ..4

 2.2.1.3 Collocation 4

  2.2.2 Syntax level ..5

 2.2.2.1 Monotonous sentence ..5 

2.2.2.2 Grammatical error and incorrect structure 5 

  2.2.3 Discourse level .6

 2.3 Earlier studies on Chinglish .7

3 Analysis of main causes of Chinglish in writing.8

 3.1 Personal reasons8

3.1.1 Study habits ..8

3.1.2 Personal English proficiency .8

 3.2 Mother tongue disturbance ..9

3.2.1 Cultural difference .9

3.2.2 Language transfer 10

 3.3 Different thinking mode 10

4 Solutions to the problem .11

 4.1 The understanding of the discrepancy between Chinese and English..11

 4.1.1 Reading scope ..12

 4.1.2 The cultivation of English thinking ..12

 4.2 English writing ability .13

 4.2.1 Listening - speaking training .14

 4.2.2 The techniques of writing ..14

 4.3 Writing Practice .15

5 Conclusion16

References 17