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Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study
The English relative clause (RC) is one of the most extensively researchedconstructions. It is believed that “during the last four decades, the processing ofrelative clauses has played a prominent role，both in linguistic and psycholinguisticresearch" (Gibson, et al, 2005，p.313). Significantly differing from Chinese relativeclause constructions, English relative clauses pose much difficulty for Chinese learnersof English. Therefore, it is of great importance to study how Chinese learners,especially English majors from teachers' colleges, perceive and turn out Englishrelative clauses.

1.1研究背景
英语关系从句（RC）是最广泛研究的建筑之一。据认为，“在过去的四十年，关系从句的处理中发挥了突出的作用，无论是在语言和心理语言学研究”（吉布森等人，2005，P.313）。明显不同于中国的关系子句结构，中国英语学习者英语关系从句构成太大的困难，因此，它是重视研究中国英语学习者，尤其是师范院校英语专业，如何看待和转出英语关系从句。

1.2 Objectives of the Study
The present study is designed to explore the genuine acquisition of Englishrelative clauses by English majors from Zhaotong Teachers' College (ZZTC) from theperspective of language transfer. It is supposed to achieve the following objectives.
Firstly, the outcomes of language transfer include positive transfer, negativetransfer, different lengths of acquisition，overproduction and underproduction. Positivetransfer is an aspect which has been less frequently paid attention to in the previousstudy of the acquisition of English relative clauses. The author will include positivetransfer in this thesis，since the current study is designed to get some specific ideasabout the influence of language transfer on the acquisition of English relative clausesby English majors in teachers' colleges.
Secondly, it is generally acknowledged that language transfer is one of the factorswhich influence the acquisition of English relative clauses. However, it is assumed thatits impact on comprehension differs from that on production. The present studyattempts to explore this issue from these two opposite aspects.
Thirdly, a great number of previous studies prove that “avoidance” or“underproduction” exists in the acquisition of English relative clauses. Overproductionsometimes is just the consequence of underproduction. So when we mentionunderproduction, we will have to talk about overproduction. The current study is aimed at revealing what English majors in the teachers' college prefer in producing Englishrelative clauses.
Last but not least，the findings of this study are expected to have somepedagogical significance. The teachers are expected to be informed in what aspectssuch learners are still weak and thus adjust their teaching approaches correspondinglyto achieve the greatest efficiency and effectiveness.

1.3 Significance of the Study
The significance of the research is threefold.Firstly, the present study is an attempt to study the acquisition of English relativeclauses by English majors in the teachers' college from the perspective of languagetransfers including positive transfer and production errors, on the basis of similaritiesand differences between English and Chinese relative clauses.Secondly, a great number of previous researches ignored nonrestrictive relativeclauses (NRC) for some reasons; so as an attempt to fill the gap, the present studyexplores the comprehension of NRCs as well as the production of them.Thirdly, the present research is expected to be helpfu本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。