Error Analysis

Error Analysis
 Which one is correct?
a. I want to stay with her.

b. I want stay with her
c. I want staying with her
 I am is Tiffani. I am is from Bantul.
 The student is enjoyable to learn English.
 A movement from behaviorism to mentalism
 CA has its basis in behaviourist learning

Theory
 EA (Dulay and Burt) is pervaded by
Chomskyan ideas (mentalist)
 Chomsky’s LAD---- internal sylabus for FL
acquisition
 “A program in the learner’s head”
 Why is CAH problematic?
A number of SLA research studies show that
 Errors are not always “bi-directional” when
differences between L1 and L2 exist.
 Learners have intuitions that certain features of their
L1 are less likely to be transferable than others. For
example, they believe that idiomatic or metaphorical
expressions cannot simply be translated word for
word.
6
 During the 1970s:
 The research goal was to discover what learners really know
about the TL. Their errors reflect their current understanding
of the rules and patterns of the TL.
 Error analysis replaced contrastive analysis. It did not set out
to predict L2 learners’ errors; rather, it aims to discover and
describe different kinds of errors in an effort to understand
how learners process the L2.
 Error analysis is based on the assumption that L2 learner
language is a system in its own right – one which is rule-
governed and predictable.
7
 Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the
making of mistakes.
 They form an important aspect of learning virtually any skill or
acquiring information.
 Language learning is like any other human learning.
 L2 learning is a process that is clearly not unlike L1 learning in its
trial-and-error nature. Inevitably, learners will make mistakes in
the process of acquisition, and that process will be impeded if they
do not commit errors and then benefit from various forms of
feedback on those errors.
 Corder (1967) noted: “a learner’s errors are significant in that they
provide to the researcher evidence of how language is learned or
acquired, what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in
the discovery of the language.”
1. A corpus language is selected
2. The errors in the corpus are identified
3. The errors are classified
4 The errors are explained
5. The errors are evaluated
(Corder: 1974)
 2 kinds of information about interlanguage:
1. Linguistic type of errors produced by L2
learners
2. Psycholinguistic type of errors produced by
L2 learners
 Although there are considerable problems
about coding errors in terms of categories
(such as developmental or interference), a
study of errors reveal conclusively that there
is no single or prime cause of errors (as
claimed by CAH)
 EA also provides clues about the kinds of
strategies learners employ to simplify the
tasks of learning L2
 Richard (1974) identifies various strategies
associated with developmental or intralingual
errors
A device used when the items do not carry any
obvious contrast for the learners
E.g.: -ed----yesterday (explicitly)

Did she wanted the red apple?
 It” includes where the learner creates a
deviant structure on the basis of his
experience of other structure in the TL”
e.g.
*He can sings
(The learner know He sings, He wants, etc)
 Occurs when rules are extended to contexts
where in TL usage do not apply. This can be
resulted from the rote learning of rules.
 “failure to observe the restrictions of existing
structure”
 E.g. *I made him to do it.

 Involves a failure to learn the more complex
types of structure because the learner finds
he can achieve effective communication by
using relatively simple rules.
 “The occurrence of structures whose devaicy

represent the degree of development of the
rules required to produced acceptable
uttances”
 E.G. spoken utterances:
*You want to eat?

*You speak English?
 Errors derived from faulty understanding of
TL distinctions
e.g. He is speaks Bahasa Indonesia (‘is’ may be

treated as general marker of present tense)
* One day it was happened….

 Errors derived from the learner’s need to
exploit the redundancy of language by
omitting elements that are non essential for
the communication of meaning.
 George and Richards implicitly argued that at
least some of the causes of the errors are
universal.
 Errors analysis can be used to investigate
various processes that contribute to
interlanguage development
 It takes apart in the reassessment of CAH
 It is successful in elevating the status of errors
from undesirability to that of guide to inner
workings of language learning process
As a result of interlanguage theory and the
evidence accumulated from EA, errors were
no longer seen as unwanted forms but as
evidence of learner’s active contribution to
SLA.
SLA, like L1 acquisition, was universal in nature

---there was a natural route of development
 In order to analyze learner language in an appropriate
perspective, it is crucial to make a distinction between
mistakes and errors, technically two very different
phenomena.
 Mistake –refers to a performance error that is either a
random guess or a “slip”, in that is a failure to utilize a known
system correctly. Native speakers make mistakes.When
attention is called to them, they can be self-corrected.
 Error –a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a
native speaker, reflects the competence of the learner (Does
John can sing?)
 The fact that learners do make errors, and
these errors can be analyzed, led to a surge of
study of learners’ errors, called error analysis.
 Error analysis became distinguished from
contrastive analysis by its examination of
errors attributable to all possible sources, not
just those resulting from negative transfer of
the native language.
 Errors reflect gaps in a learner's knowledge ;
learner does not know what is correct
 Mistakes reflect occasional lapses in
performance, they occur because in particular
instance, the learner is unable to perform
what she/he knows.
 Check for the consistency of learner’s
performance
 Occurs in most language learner and cannot
be remedied by further instruction
 Fossilized structures can be realized as errors
or correct TL forms.
 If, when fossilization occurs, the learner has
reached a stage of development in which
feature x in his interlangugae has assumed
the same form as in the TL, the fossilization
of the correct form will occur.
 If, however, the learner has reached a stage in
which feature y still does not have the same
form as the TL, the fossilization manifest
itself as error.
 Fossilized structure is not persistent
----may succeed in producing TL
----may “backslide” toward his true
interlanguage form (e.g. if the focus is on
meaning or deals with difficult subjects)
It occurs because he learners believe that they
do not need to develop their interlanguage
any further in order to communicate
effectively whatever they want to
Or
It can occurs because of changes in the neural
structure of their brain as a result of age
restrict the operation of the hypothesis-
testing mechanism.
 Should errors be treated? How they should be
treated? When?
 Vigil and Oller (1976) provided feedback about
these questions with the following model:
 Fossilization may be the result of too many
green lights when there should have been
some yellow or red lights.
Does John can sing?
red (-) abort(X) recycle

Message yellow (0)
green (+) continue continue
affective cognitive
feedback feedback
 Affective  Cognitive
1. (pos.) I understand
1. (positive) Keep your message; it’s
talking; I’m listening clear.
2. (neutral ) I’m not sure I 2. (neutral) I’m not sure if
want to continue this I correctly understand
conversation. you or not.
3. (negative) This 3. I don’t understand
conversation is over what you are saying;
it’s not clear.
 BASIC OPTIONS  POSSIBLE FEATURES
1. To treat or to ignore 1. Fact or error indicated
2. To treat immediately or delay 2. Location indicated
3. To transfer treatment (other 3. Opportunity for new attempt given
learners) or not 4. Model provided
4. To transfer to another individual, 5. Error type indicated
subgroup or the whole class 6. Remedy indicated
5. To return , or not, to original error 7. Improvement indicated
maker after treatment 8. Praise indicated
6. To allow other learners to initiate
treatment
7. To test for efficacy of the
treatment

Error Analysis

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Error Analysis

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Error Analysis

 Which one is correct?

a. I want to stay with her.

 CA has its basis in behaviourist learning

E.g.: -ed----yesterday (explicitly)

 E.g. *I made him to do it.

 “The occurrence of structures whose devaicy

*You want to eat?

e.g. He is speaks Bahasa Indonesia (‘is’ may be

* One day it was happened….

SLA, like L1 acquisition, was universal in nature

red (-) abort(X) recycle

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