The causes of Chinglish in English writing of the first year non-English major students at a public university in China

Abstract

The study's objective was to determine what causes first-year students to use Chinglish in their English writing. The research adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods. Moreover, the research sample consisted of 40 first-year students from the Information Electronics Technology Faculty at Jiamusi University in China. The researcher used 1) Writing test, 2) Questionnaire, and 3) Interview as research instruments. Descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze the data. The causes of Chinglish in English writing found from the questionnaire and interview were 1) Language culture, 2) English writing habits, and 3) Teacher's teaching methods. Based on the three causes, some suggestions were presented for both the learning and teaching aspects. According to the findings, the researcher identified that: 1) Students should learn more about the Western way of thinking to eliminate the impact of differences in language culture, 2) A good learning habit could reduce the use of Chinglish, and 3) English teachers should continue to pay closer attention to their students with greater care.