Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
English is undoubtedly the most widely used second language in the world. With theincreasing development of economy worldwide, the status of English is becoming particularlyimportant. In addition to the traditional English-speaking countries (USA, UK, Canada,Australia, etc.), there are about twenty countries in which people speak English as a secondlanguage or official language. English is also one of the official working languages in theUnited Nations. Since the 21st century, mankind are stepping into the era of economicglobalization and information technology. As a world language, English is in a high speed ofpropagation.In China, everything is tremendously changing. Continuous expansion of opening up,more opportunities after joining the WTO and the huge success of holding Beijing OlympicGames, indicate that China is marching in the ranks of world super powers. However, there isno doubt that our progress is not just relying on our own ideas and technology, butcooperation with other countries in various fields of technology and economic is crucial.English, as the world's most widely spoken language, plays a crucial role in the cooperationbetween countries. These reasons are why our country launched a community-wide climax onlearning English during the recent years. Regardless of occupation and age, everyone poursout to learn English. In the past few decades, English is seen as the same important subject asChinese and mathematics in Chinese primary and secondary education. In the society, manyEnglish training institutions and school come out to meet the demand of different ages andoccupations. How to learn English well, how to effectively make use of the existing resourcesto acquire English, what learning strategies are available for Chinese English learners andwhat methodologies should be applied in English teaching are the issues Chinese researchershave being explored.
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1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Study
On the basis of the above information of background, conducting a study on social adultis necessary to investigate the relationship between L1 and L2 writing. The present researcherattempts to dig out some significant implications for adult English teaching. The empiricalresults of the study might be helpful theoretically and pedagogically to the studies of L2writing in adult English learning.Theoretically, it enriches relevant researches about the role of L1 in L2 learning and therole of L1 on L2 English writing process to some extent.Pedagogically, because this study mainly put emphasis on social adults in Englishtraining school, the results of the study may have significant influence on English writing andlearning in this community. In addition, it may help English teachers and adult learners tounderstand the function principal of mother-tongue-reliance strategies in L2 writing.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
During the past decades, majority of researchers in the field of second languageacquisition were in the position of devoting themselves to exploring the influence of mothertongue in SLA. This research trend is still active in SLA area till now.As we all know, adults and children are different in learning a foreign language. Adultshave acquired native language well before learning the foreign language and they haveaccumulated a stable thinking model in L1 in their mind, so it is inevitably to be influenced byL1 when they want to learn a foreign language. This study focuses on exploring the case ofmother tongue reliance strategies in English writing written by adults. In this chapter, wemainly review the related literatures in SLA research.
2.1 Previous Studies of Mother-Tongue-Reliance Strategies
Studies of gender difference in the use of language learning strategies were quite limited.Most studies had shown that females were better users of strategy than males (Ehrman &Oxford, 1989; Green & Oxford, 1995; Oxford and Nyikos, 1989).As to the influen
