L1 Transfer and Unlearning in the Development of Interlanguage

Abstract

By doing an empirical research based on a students’ English test corpus and a Chinese test corpus of a vocational college to discuss L1 transfer and unlearning in the development of interlanguage, it is figured out that there is a significant correlation between the ability of subjects’ Chinese writing and that of their English writing, and a marked correlation between the ability of English writing and English comprehensive ability. With the previous longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, further evidence is provided for the positive transfer of L1 Chinese in L2 English. It further proves that the proficiency of native language has great influence on the proficiency of the development of the target language. As well, native language can be unlearned gradually in the development of interlanguage.