Appendix C Teacher’S Resource Guide of Language Transfer Issues for English Language Learners
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Appendix C Teacher’s Resource Guide of Language Transfer Issues for English Language Learners GRAMMAR TRANSFER ISSUES FOR TEN LANGUAGES The following chart identifies areas in which speakers of various primary languages may have some difficulty in acquiring English grammar (syntax). The type of transfer error and its cause is outlined for each grammatical category.1 NOUNS Grammar Type of Transfer Language Cause of Transfer Point Error in English Background Difficulty Plural forms omission of plural marker -s Cantonese, Nouns do not change I have 5 book. Haitian Creole, form to show the plural in Hmong, Khmer, the primary language. Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese Possessive avoidance of ’s to Haitian Creole, Hmong, The use of a prepositional forms describe possession Khmer, Spanish, phrase to express 6e by Michael F. Opitz, Dorothy Rubin, and James A. Erekson. All rights reserved. the children of my sister Tagalog, Vietnamese possession reflects the instead of my sister’s only structure or a more children common structure in the primary language. no marker for Haitian Creole, A noun’s owner comes possessive forms Khmer, Vietnamese after the object in the house my friend instead primary language. of my friend’s house Count versus use of plural forms for Haitian Creole, Nouns that are count and noncount nouns English noncount nouns Russian, Spanish, noncount differ between the furnitures, the color Tagalog English and the primary Reading Diagnosis and Improvement, of her hairs language. 1Charts from “Teacher’s Resource Guide of Language Transfer Issues for English Language Learners” in the series On Our Way to English, copyright © 2004 Harcourt Achieve, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. © 2011. Pearson. For C-1 C-2 Appendix C Teacher’s Resource Guide of Language Transfer Issues for English Language Learners ARTICLES Grammar Type of Transfer Language Cause of Transfer Point Error in English Background Difficulty omission of article Cantonese, Haitian Articles are either lacking He has job. Creole, Hmong, Khmer, or the distinction between Korean, Russian, a and the is not paralleled His dream is to become Tagalog, Vietnamese in the primary language. lawyer, not teacher. omission of articles in certain Spanish The article is not used in contexts such as to identify Spanish in this context, but a profession it is needed in English. He is teacher. overuse of articles Arabic, Haitian Creole, The article is used in the The honesty is the best policy. Hmong, Spanish, primary language in Tagalog places where it isn’t used This food is popular in the in English. Japan. I like the cats. use of one for a/an Haitian Creole, Hmong, Learners sometimes He is one engineer. Vietnamese confuse the articles a/an with one since articles either do not exist in the primary language or serve a different function. PRONOUNS Grammar Type of Transfer Language Cause of Transfer Point Error in English Background Difficulty Personal use of pronouns with Cantonese, The third person pronoun pronouns, inappropriate gender Haitian Creole, Hmong, in the primary language is gender He is my sister. Khmer, Korean, Tagalog gender free. The same pronoun is used where 6e by Michael F. Opitz, Dorothy Rubin, and James A. Erekson. All rights reserved. English uses masculine, feminine, and neuter pronouns, resulting in confusion of pronoun forms in English. use of pronouns with Spanish In Spanish, subject inappropriate gender pronouns are dropped in He is my sister. everyday speech and the verb conveys third-person agreement, effectively collapsing the two pronouns and causing Reading Diagnosis and Improvement, transfer difficulty for sub- ject pronouns in English. use of inappropriate gender, Russian, Spanish Inanimate nouns have particularly with neuter nouns feminine and masculine The house is big. She is gender in the primary beautiful. language, and the gender may be carried over into © 2011. Pearson. For English. Appendix C Teacher’s Resource Guide of Language Transfer Issues for English Language Learners C-3 PRONOUNS (continued) Grammar Type of Transfer Language Cause of Transfer Point Error in English Background Difficulty Personal confusion of subject and Cantonese, The same pronoun form is pronoun forms object pronoun forms Hmong, Khmer used for he/him, she/her, Him hit me. and in some primary languages for I/me and I like she. we/us. Let we go. use of incorrect number Cantonese, Korean There is no number for pronouns agreement in the primary I saw many yellow flowers. language. It was pretty. omission of subject pronouns Korean, Russian, Subject pronouns may be Michael isn’t here. Is in school. Spanish dropped in the primary language and the verb ending supplies informa- tion on number and/or gender. omission of object pronouns Korean, Vietnamese Direct objects are That man is very rude, frequently dropped in the so nobody likes. primary language. omission of pronouns in clauses Cantonese, Vietnamese A subordinate clause at If not have jobs, they will the beginning of a not have food. sentence does not require a subject in the primary language. use of pronouns with Hmong, Vietnamese This type of redundant subject nouns structure reflects the This car, it runs very fast. popular “topic-comment” approach used in the Your friend, he seems so nice. primary language: The 6e by Michael F. Opitz, Dorothy Rubin, and James A. Erekson. All rights reserved. My parents, they live in Vietnam. speaker mentions a topic and then makes a comment on it. avoidance of pronouns Korean, Vietnamese It is common in the by repetition of nouns primary language to Sara visits her grandfather repeat nouns rather than every Sunday, and Sara makes to use pronouns. a meal. Pronoun one omission of the pronoun one Russian, Spanish, Adjectives can be used I saw two nice cars, and Tagalog on their own in the primary I like the small. language, whereas English Reading Diagnosis and Improvement, often requires a noun or one. Possessive confusion of possessive forms Cantonese, Hmong, Cantonese and Hmong forms The book is my. Vietnamese speakers tend to omit final n, creating confusion between my and mine. © 2011. Pearson. For C-4 Appendix C Teacher’s Resource Guide of Language Transfer Issues for English Language Learners ADJECTIVES Grammar Type of Transfer Language Cause of Transfer Point Error in English Background Difficulty position of adjectives after Haitian Creole, Adjectives commonly nouns Hmong, Khmer, come after nouns in the I read a book interesting. Spanish, primary language. Vietnamese position of adjectives Cantonese, Korean Adjectives always come before certain pronouns before words they modify This is interesting something. in the primary language. Comparison omission of markers for Khmer Since there are no comparison suffixes or inflections in She is smart than me. Khmer, the tendency is to omit them in English. avoidance of -er and -est Hmong, Khmer, Comparative and superla- endings Korean, Spanish tive are usually formed I am more old than my brother. with separate words in the primary language, the equivalent of more and most in English. Confusion of -ing confusion of -ing and -ed forms Cantonese, Khmer, The adjective forms in the and -ed forms The movie was bored. Korean, Spanish primary language that correspond to the ones in I am very interesting in sports. English do not have active and passive meanings. In Korean, for many adjec- tives, the same form is used for both active and passive meanings boring versus bored. 6e by Michael F. Opitz, Dorothy Rubin, and James A. Erekson. All rights reserved. VERBS Grammar Type of Transfer Language Cause of Transfer Point Error in English Background Difficulty Present tense Omission of s in present Cantonese, Haitian There is no verb tense, third person Creole, Hmong, agreement in the primary agreement Khmer, Korean, language. She go to school every day. Tagalog, Vietnamese problems with irregular Cantonese, Hmong, Verbs forms do not subject-verb agreement Khmer, Korean, change to indicate the Sue and Ed has a new house. Tagalog number of the subject in Reading Diagnosis and Improvement, the primary language. Past tense omission of tense markers Cantonese, Haitian Verbs in the primary I study English yesterday. Creole, Hmong, language do not change Khmer, Korean, form to express tense. I give it to him yesterday. Tagalog, Vietnamese © 2011. Pearson. For Appendix C Teacher’s Resource Guide of Language Transfer Issues for English Language Learners C-5 VERBS (continued) Grammar Type of Transfer Language Cause of Transfer Point Error in English Background Difficulty confusion of present form Cantonese, Spanish Speakers of the primary and simple past of regular verbs language have difficulty I give it to him yesterday. recognizing that merely a vowel shift in the middle of the verb, rather than a change in the ending of the verb, is sufficient to produce a change of tense in irregular verbs. incorrect use of present Cantonese, Korean The primary language for the future allows the use of present I come tomorrow. tense for the future. In negative omission of helping verbs Cantonese, Korean, Helping verbs are not statements in negative statements Russian, Spanish, used in negative I no understand. Tagalog statements in the primary language. I not get in university. Perfect tenses avoidance of present perfect Haitian Creole, Russian, The verb form either where it should be used Tagalog, Vietnamese doesn’t exist in the I live here for two years. primary language or has a different function. use of present perfect where Khmer, Korean In the primary language, past perfect should be used a past marker, e.g., Yesterday I have done that. yesterday, is inserted to indicate a completed action and no other change is necessary. In English, when a past marker is used, the verb form must change to past perfect instead of 6e by Michael F. Opitz, Dorothy Rubin, and James A.