Literature Review
of
Written Form
班级？外国语学院 2010级英语(3)班
组长？黄晓晗;20102939；
组员？罗元梅;20102926；
曹姗 ;20102927；
殷兰兰;20102929；
项晓霜;20102934；
胡炜玲;20102935；
胡艳红;20102936；
胡爱珍;20102938；
古文燕;20102940；
;20102941； 程霜
I. Introduction: As Brown and Ellis (1994) point out in the introduction to their excellent collection of articles about spelling, this has been a growth area for research. What is striking about the research on spelling is the way that it reflects the issues involved in other aspects of phonology and different language system. What’s more, a correct written form is the foundation of an
excellent essay. Actually, it also obstructs numerous second language learners, especially to the beginner. Therefore, the discussion on written form is imperative.
II. Demonstrate the Phonology Influences Spelling Negatively
One aspect of gaining familiarity with the written form of words is spelling.
It has often been suggested that the English spelling system is so capricious that students must rely largely on rote memory to learn how to spell in English. However, most of them may make misspellings according to phonological rule. They usually pay less attention to the distinctions between the American English and the British English. Therefore, it pays to command these causes about the misspellings knowledge. We quote the points of Rebecca Treiman on the issue and conclude some reasons as follow:
Rebecca Treiman demonstrated that students’ spellings are systematic
attempts to translate genuine phonological distinctions, even though these spellings may be mistaken from the point of view of the conventional script .In
order to solve the problem, we should know the reasons. For example, most Americans do not pronounce a separate vowel sound in words like ‘girl’ , and
misplace the letter for the vowel sound in such word or leave some letters out as in the errors ‘gril’ and ‘grl’. What’s more, words such as ‘girl’ and ‘better’ are
pronounced without a /r/ sound in British English. Therefore, so other ways will influence the spelling from the phonology.
III. Analyze the L1’S Impact on the L2
From extracurricular reading material: if a word uses sounds that are in
the L1, follows regular spelling patterns, is a loan word in the L1 with roughly the same meaning, fits into roughly similar grammatical patterns as in the L1 with similar collocations and constraints, then the learning burden will be very light. The word will not be difficult to learn. For learners whose first language is closely related to the L2, the learning burden of most words will be light. For learners whose L1 is not related to the L2, the learning burden will be heavy.
Generally speaking, this idea of Nation is suitable for most L2 learners. The learning burden of the written form of words will be strongly affected by the L1and L2 parallels. Especially, it would be more obvious when the L1 use the same writing system as the L2. For instance, French have the ability to write down a huge amount of English words, for many English words are come from French. However, it also exists some negative effects. We found a theory from Moseley to support our point.
Comparison of the spelling of English speakers with speakers of other languages shows that the irregularity in the English spelling system creates difficulty for learners of English as a first language. (Moseley, 1994). What’s
more, to the grammar aspect, there is no capital word in Chinese written
form; so many students ignored this problem when they are writing.
In China, we confront with these difficulties, because Chinese is totally classified to different language system from English. Chinese predicate do not have any change in sentence, but English does. Hence, we must pay more attention to emphasize the materiality on irregularity of the written form through the insistent practice.
IV.Conclusion: we believe that the students’ spellings are systematic attempts
to translate genuine phonological distinctions, even though these spellings may be mistaken from the point of view of the conventional script. And we try to demonstrate that phonology and our first language play essential roles in
the written form. At the same time, with the development of science and technology, individuals often ignore the significance of a correct written form. In the aspect, we shall raise the awareness of the accurate written form and study it further more,.
Bibliography:
1. Brown and Ellis (1994). In the introduction…research.
2. Rebecca Treiman. Students’ spellings…the conventional script.
HANDBOOK OF CHILDREN’S LITERACY. Washington University in
St. Louis
3.I.S.P.Nation. TEACHING AND LEARNING VOCABULARY. Chapter3
P36-P37
4. Moseley (1994). Comparison…first language.