Influences-of-Thinking-Differences-Between-English

ISSN1927-0232[Print]ISSN1927-0240[Online]:10.3968/j.hess.1927024020130501.10076Copyright©CanadianResearch&DevelopmentCenterofSciencesandCulturesInfluencesofThinkingDifferencesBetweenEnglishandChinesePeopleonEnglishWritingJINPengsun[a],*;HEAimiao[b][a]Professor,thetutorofpostgraduates.DepartmentofEnglish,SchoolofForeignLanguagesinNorthChinaElectricPowerUniversity,Beijing,China.Researchareaisthesecondlanguageacquisition.[b]DepartmentofEnglish,NorthChinaElectricPowerUniversity,Beijing,China.PostgraduateofSchoolofForeignLanguagesinNorthChinaElectricPowerUniversity.*Correspondingauthor.Received22January2013;accepted3May2013AbstractThereexistdistinctdifferencesbetweenEnglishandChinesemodesofthinking.ThesedifferencesmakenegativeinfluencestoChineselearnerswholearnEnglishasaforeignlanguageintheirEnglishwriting.ThispaperpointsoutthesedifferencesaffectingEnglishwritingattheleveloftheword,sentenceanddiscoursefromdifferentthinkingmodes:Suchaslinearvs.spiralthinking,analyticvs.syntheticthinking,abstractvs.concretethinking.ItaimstohelpChineselearnershaveabetterunderstandingofinfluencesofthinkingdifferencesbetweenEnglishandChineseonEnglishwritingandthustofindoutcorrespondingwaystogetridofthesenegativeinfluencestotheminimum.Keywords:Influence;Thinkingdifference;English;Chinese;WritingJINPengsun,HEAimiao(2013).InfluencesofThinkingDifferencesBetweenEnglishandChinesePeopleonEnglishWriting.HigherEducationofSocialScience,5(1),6-10.Availablefrom:URL::“asystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication”(Liu&Wen,2006,p.8).ItisnaturalthatEnglishpeoplewithanEnglishwayofthinkinguseEnglishtoexpressthemselvesandthatChinesepeoplewithaChinesewayofthinkinguseChinesetocommunicate.WiththewidespreaduseofEnglishintheworld,writingabilitybecomesoneofthemosthighlyrequiredskills.Eitherthroughteachingorresearches,manyscholarshavefoundthattheChinesewayofthinkinginevitablyaffectsEnglishwritingofChineselearners.ThispapermainlyfocusesonhoweachofthesethinkingdifferencesaffectsEnglishwritingattheleveloftheword,sentenceanddiscourse,inwhichwaystheycanprovideChineselearnersaclearerinstructiononEnglishwritingandexploresomeusefulwaystoreducethesenegativeinfluences.1.LINEARVS.SPIRALTHINKINGANDENGLISHWRITINGThesayingoflinearandspiralthinkingpatternwasfirstputforwardbyAmericanlinguistRobertB.Kaplan(1966).Themaindifferencesbetweenlinearandspiralthinkingconsistinthedirectness,whichmeanshowdirectlyitreferstotheobject.Thisdistinctioniscausedbydifferentculturebackgrounds.ChineseculturehasbeenlargelyinfluencedbyConfucianism,TaoismandBuddhism,sothinkingactivitymostlydevelopsinaspiralway.Inlanguageexpressions,sometimes,thedevelopmentofChinesediscoursetendstoadoptaroundaboutway,ratherthanstatesthesubjectdirectly.Whereas,EnglishlinearthinkingmodeistheresultofEuropeanculturalpatternswhichisalsocalledtheAristotle’slinearmode.InancientGreece,peoplesetupalogicsystem,whichbasedontheAristotle’slogicalargumentation.Aristotlesummedupthediscourseofthespeechintofourparts:tostatethe7Copyright©CanadianResearch&DevelopmentCenterofSciencesandCulturesJINPengsun;HEAimiao(2013).HigherEducationofSocialScience,5(1),6-10introducrion,raiseaquestion,analysisthequestionandgettoaconclusion,thisformofdevelopmentisalinearsequence.Inaword,linearthinkingleadstodirectnesswhilespiralthinkingbringsaboutcircuitousness.InEnglishwritingthisdifferenceshowsasthefollowingaspects.1.1InfluenceattheLeveloftheWord:DirectnessofNounsThedifferencesbetweentheEnglishlinearthinkingandChinesespiralthinkinghaveinfluenceonthedegreeofdirectnessofsomenouns.Herethedegreeofdirectnessofnounsreferstohoweachnounisformedtoconveyitsmeaning.Bycomparison,theauthorfindsthatsomeEnglishnounsaremoredirecttoexpressitsmeaningwhereasthecorrespondingChinesenounsoftenmorecomplicated.Forexample,inChinese,peopleuse“图书馆”torefertoabuildinginwhichcollectionofbooks,anditincludestwofactors:“图书”(books)and“馆”(building);WhileinEnglish,peopleuse“library”,justonesinglewordtorepresentthesamething.Fromthisaspect,EnglishnounsaremoredirectthantheircorrespondingChinesenouns.Suchexamplesareenormous,“wardrobe”&“衣橱”,“floor”&“地板”,etc.ThisdifferenceaffectssomeChineselearnerswhentheychoosewordsinEnglishwriting.Forinstance,whenadictionaryisnothandybuttheyhavetousesuchanounwhichtheyhaveneverseenbefore,someofthemmaychoosesomeotherwordstoreplacethisword.Atthismoment,Chinesespiralthinkingislikelytoprevailandcausetheimpropernessinwording.Forexample,“wildmeal”,insteadof“picnic”,maybeusedtoreferto“野餐”;“fastcar”,ratherthan“express”,maybeusedtosay“快车”.1.2InfluenceattheLevelofSentences:SentencePatternHereasent