The Importance of Thought Patterns in English Teaching

Abstract： In English teaching， during the communication， students arrange languages to express their ides according to their own thought patterns and they could understand other people's language simultaneously to form a kind of thought pattern similar to other people's thought patterns. This paper compares English thought pattern with Chinese thought pattern， and provides some suggestion for English teaching of syntax and translation.

Key Words： thought pattern English teaching

ⅠThe comparison of English thought pattern and Chinese thought pattern in detail

To be exact， English-speaking people show favoritism to logic， while Chinese people show favoritism to imagination. The former are partial to analytic thought， and the latter are partial to synthetic thought. The former stress on \"straight line\"thought， but the latter stress on \"curvilinear\"thought.

For this reason， the study on how different thought patterns come is worth exploring. In English teaching and learning， two languages and， indeed， two thought patterns come into contact. Only by understanding the differences of two thought patterns and increasing our awareness can we reduce communicative problems in our interaction with native English speakers. Thus it is necessary to compare thought patterns in order to identify differences. This comparison of thought patterns with English being taught will open great vistas for our current English teaching and learning. Language learners developing a better understanding of distinctions in communication and increasingtheir awarenesscanmake our foreign language teaching and learning more successful. As we all know， in the communications between people with different thought patterns， the greatest barrier lies not only in the differences of languages， but also in those of thought patterns. Moreover， the main goal of language teaching is to developthe students’meaning potential and foster their abilities of using language according to different contexts.

ⅡThe great influence of thought patterns on English teaching

1.The importance of training English thought patterns for Englishlearners in China

The people who have received different cultural education must have distinction of individual characters that brings obstacles into communication of people in different countries. According to the observation of psychologists， people tend to accept anything that coincides with their own thought pattern and they consider the thing that does not coincide with their own thought pattern doesn't accord with logic.

For this reason， the study on how different thought patterns come is worth exploring. In English teaching and learning， two languages and， indeed， two thought patterns come into contact. Only by understanding the differences of two thought patterns and increasing our awareness can we reduce communicative problems in our interaction with native English speakers. It is necessary to compare thought patterns in order to identify differences. This comparison of thought patterns with English being taught will open great vistas for our current English teaching and learning. Language learners developing a better understanding of distinctions in communication and increasingtheir awarenesscanmake our foreign language teaching and learning more successful. As we all know， in the communications between people with different thought patterns， the greatest barrier lies not only in the differences of languages， but also in those of thought patterns. Moreover， the main goal of language teaching is to developthe students'meaning potential and foster their abilities of using language according to different contexts.

2.The influence of thought patterns on teaching of syntax

Mr. Needham ever pointed out， \"the thought pattern of Chinese people is probably related to Chinese characters.\"Most of Chinese characters are pictograph. Always we first pay attention to the whole picture， then the details. So this is called global precedence recognizing activity； and it can also be called concrete thought pattern. Linguist Nelson regarded the Chinese students he taught as global learners； that is to say， their thought pattern is global. He pointed out that， \"the students in English-speaking countries are analytic learners. They always begin with the separate part and piece， then together to make a whole.”

We can often find such sentences. For example， in Chinese we say， “教室里有一個學(xué)生”（first global second global）. But in English， we should say， “There is a student in the classroom”（first partial second global）. These bring out that Chinese people pay attention to global precedence， to express the sentence “這個學(xué)校有三千個學(xué)生”. Because of the influence of Chinese thought pattern， Chinese students would probably say the wrong sentence， “The school has three thousand students”（First global then partial）， but do not say \"There are three thousand students in the school\"（First partial second global）. From the example above， we can know that different thought patterns reflect the basic structures of different languages. The native people can spontaneously use their own thought pattern to organize the language materials in order to express the interior relationship of language. But to an English learner， he will always confuse these two thought patterns and make mistakes unconsciously. So we must pay attention to this kind of skill training.

3.The influence of thought patterns on teaching of translation

Translation between two languages is something difficult and at times even impossible， because of lexical gaps， diversity of grammatical structures and limited cultural overlap. Different languages may have different kinship systems， color systems and address systems. Some languages have less color， kinship or address terms， and these terms may vary in range of meaning from culture to culture.

To a Chinese article， if we translate it into English according to Chinese thought pattern， from English point of view， the translated test is loosely organize， and it has no logicality. It has no obvious and outstanding semantics. It makes readers feel confused so that they can't get the main points. But， if according to English-speaking people's thought pattern， first we should point out viewpoint， then explain all the details one by one， so the translated text will have striking emphasis and well-knit structure. It should be coherent and smooth， coinciding with the language expression habit of speaking-speaking people. To an English article， if we translate it into Chinese according to English-speaking people's thought pattern， it will be needless duplication. So it doesn't coincide with Chinese expression habit and makes the reader obscured. If we can understand the exact meaning of the English words and recognizethe article according to Chinese thought patterns， not only it is true to original text， but also the gradation is very distinct， and the focal point is clear-cut. It conforms to Chinese student’s thought patterns and expression habit. It has no Europeanized trace and achieves to be alike in spirit with Chinese.

References：

[1]Liu Yanping.Impact of Intercultural Communication on Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

[2]Ji Jing.The Cultivation of Cross-Cultural Awareness in the English Teaching of Secondary School.

[3]Zhu Xiaohong.A Study of Developing College Students'Intercultural Communication Competence in College English Reading Courses.

[4]Weili.Pragmatic Competence and Culture Teaching.

[5]Zhang liyu.How to Improve the Minority English Major Students’ Communicative Competence.

[6]Chen Weijuan.Cultivating Intercultural Communicative Competence for Non-English Majors.