Exploring Negative Transfer in Chinese Students' English Writing at Lexical Level

摘要

This study is aimed at an investigation of Chinese college students' writing, with focus on the negative transfer of native language at lexical level. The data is collected from essays written by two groups of non-English majors with different English proficiency levels. A classification as well as its exemplification is offered concerning all these lexical transfer errors. The cause of formation is also analyzed for the corresponding class of language transfer. For this reason, EFL teachers may find the results of this study useful, and they are advised to take countermeasures to help improve students' writing competence.