Abstract
The mixed use of he/she in oral English is a hot topic in the field of second language acquisition in the past decades and the related study is numerous. However, there are few studies on the misuse of the two pronouns in oral English for English majors in Chinese universities. This study aims to explore the current situation and characteristics of he/she misuse in oral English of Chinese freshmen majoring in English and analyze the factors that cause the misuse, so as to arouse the learners’ awareness of the error. This study focuses on two research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of he/she misuse in spoken English of Chinese freshmen majoring in English? (2) What are the reasons for the misuse? Based on the selected spoken language materials, this study explores the mixing types and error rate of he/she and analyzes the characteristics of the misuse through data. Through the questionnaire, this thesis study investigates the causes of the misuse. It is found that the mixed use of pronoun he/she is serious in the spoken language of English major freshmen, especially the misuse of “she” into “he”. The factors that cause the misuse are complex, involving mother tongue, attention distribution and working memory, pronunciation relationship, transfer of training, and social environment and personal factors, among which the analysis from articulatory phonetics deserves more attention.
Highlights
As the most widely used language in the world, English is bound to become the primary choice for international communication
This study focuses on two research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of he/she misuse in spoken English of Chinese freshmen majoring in English? (2) What are the reasons for the misuse? Based on the selected spoken language materials, this study explores the mixing types and error rate of he/she and analyzes the characteristics of the misuse through data
It is found that the mixed use of pronoun he/she is serious in the spoken language of English major freshmen, especially the misuse of “she” into “he”
Summary
As the most widely used language in the world, English is bound to become the primary choice for international communication. On account of the differences between Chinese and English cultures, language habits, and individual thinking, many errors in second language expressions are appearing and inevitable. The most common pronouns are the personal pronouns, which refer to the person or people speaking or writing (first person), the person or people being spoken to (second person), or other people or things (third person). Second-language learners show no consistency in the mixed use of he/she in spoken language. Chan and Wong (2001) demonstrate that in the conversion of Malaysian and English, people frequently mix third-person pronouns. What’s more, Chen (2013) points out Korean speakers tend to take the neutral strategy than to use the specific male or female pronouns due to gender discrimination for third singular pronouns. In Japan, Kamimura and Oi (2001) report that the English learners have difficulty in taking the third-person point of view to write a story compared with taking the first-person point of view
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