The UNIVERSITY OF AZAD JAMMU AMD KASHMIR

MUZAFFARABAD KING ABDULLAH CAMPUS

Group no: 06

Group members:

Syed ahmed ali bukhari (50)

Syed wajid ali gillani (04)

Kashif idrees (10)

Sohraab hafeez (14)

Abrar butt (31)

Rehan ali (27)

Abdul moiz (39)

Samiq ijaz (35)

Wasi haider kazmi (41)

Semester: 8th

Assignment:

1. Error analysis

2. Influence of first and target language

3. Error and types of error

4. Error analysis methodology

Subject: Applied linguistics

Submitted to: Ma’am Nikhat Walayat

Error Analysis:
Error analysis is an activity to reveal errors committed by students both in writing
and speaking.

Richards et.al (1985:96) states:

“Error analysis is the study of errors made by the second and foreign language
learners.”

Brown (1980:166) defines error analysis as:

“The process to observe, analyze, and classify the deviations of the rules of the
second language and then to reveal the systems operated by learner.”

Crystal (1987:112) comments :

“Error analysis is a technique for identifying, classifying and systematically

interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someone learning a foreign
language, using any of the principles and procedures provided by linguistics.”

Considering above definitions, we can say that- error analysis is an activity to

identify, describe, interpret,evaluate and prevent the errors made by the learners.

Background:

Error analysis emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as a reaction to behaviorist approaches
in language teaching. Scholars, such as Corder and James, argued that errors were not
random or simply a result of inadequate practice, but rather a systematic reflection of
the learner's inter-language system. It was proposed in the reaction of contrastive
analysis approach.

Contrastive Analysis (CA), the primary approach used to study L1 interference.

Contrastive Analysis emphasized the native language as the main factor affecting
second language learners’ errors and the principal barrier to second language
acquisition. It ignored the importance and influence of target language on language
acquisition.

Influence of L1 and L2 on language acquisition:

The influence of error analysis can be both positive and negative, depending on how it is
used and applied. On the positive side, error analysis can provide valuable insights into
the types of errors that learners make and the underlying cognitive processes involved
in language learning.

However, there are also potential negative influences of error analysis. One potential
problem is that teachers and researchers may focus too much on errors and not enough
on positive aspects of language learning, such as fluency, creativity, and communicative
competence. This can create a negative learning environment that is focused on
correcting errors rather than on developing learners' overall language skills. Additionally,
error analysis can sometimes lead to oversimplification of the complex processes
involved in language learning, and may not always accurately reflect the realities of real-
world language use.

Another potential negative influence of error analysis is that it may reinforce the idea
that there is a "correct" way to use language, and that learners who deviate from this
norm are making errors. This can create a rigid and inflexible approach to language
learning that does not take into account the diversity of language use and the ways in
which language evolves over time. Additionally, error analysis can sometimes be used
to reinforce stereotypes and biases about certain groups of language learners, which
can be harmful and counterproductive.

The nature of errors made by language learners can have different effects on their first
language (L1) and second language (L2) acquisition. There are two possible ways this
can occur.

First, errors made in the L1 can influence the acquisition of the L2. For example, if a
learner makes a certain type of error frequently in their L1, they may transfer this error
to their L2. This is known as negative transfer or interference. Alternatively, if a learner
has a strong command of their L1, they may be able to use this knowledge to help them
learn their L2 more quickly and effectively. This is known as positive transfer or
facilitation.

Second, errors made in the L2 can also influence the acquisition of the L1. This is
known as reverse transfer or retroactive interference. For example, if a learner becomes
accustomed to using a certain grammatical structure in their L2, they may start to use
this structure in their L1 as well, even if it is not correct.

Overall, the nature of errors made by language learners can have complex and varied
effects on their L1 and L2 acquisition, depending on a variety of factors such as the
learner's proficiency level, the linguistic distance between the L1 and L2, and the context
in which the languages are being learned and used.

Definition of Error:
The present researcher uses the term "error" to refer to a systematic deviation from a
selected norm or a set of norms of a target language.

However, the experts present various definitions of the single term “error”. Basically
those definitions contain the same meaning while the difference lies only on the ways
they formulate them.

Norrish defines the term,

“Error is a systematic deviation, when a learner has not learnt something and
consistently gets it wrong”

Cunningworth remarks:

“Errors are systematic deviations from the norms of the language being learned.”

Here the phrase ‘systematic deviation’ means “the deviation which happens
repeatedly”.

Difference between Error and Mistake:

SWO.Krin 1960s, provided the difference between errors and mistake. Errors:

• Errors:

These are systematic grammatical deviations which occur due to lack of

competence or knowledge of learner. Errors cannot be self -corrected. It is corrected by
instructor.

Example:

If a speaker of Urdu language starts learning English language and while making
sentence, he writes object after subject instead of verb due to lack of grammatical
knowledge. This is an error.

If a learner of English language uses goal as a second form of eat instead of ate. This is
an error because he uses this form because he is un aware of second form of eat and
he thinks that all the verbs form their second form by adding -ed morpheme.

Mistake:

Mistakes are the random deviation of grammatical rules where the learners have
knowledge about grammatical unit and occur due external factors/ non- linguistic
factors such as fatigue, anxiety, lack of concentration and interest, carelessness,
memory limitations /lapses. It can be self -corrected without the assistance of
instructor.
Examples

 Slips of the tongue as in "you have hissed all my mystery lectures "instead of "
you have missed all my history lectures"

 Slips of the ear as in" great ape" instead of "grey tape".

Classifications of errors:

The classification of errors into categories is an important step in conducting an error

analysis. Various classifications of errors have been proposed.

James and Tono study error taxonomies and classify errors into two types.

1. Process Based Errors.

2. Linguistics Based Errors

Linguistics Based Errors:

Orthographic errors are linguistic based errors consisting of the substitution of a

deviant spelling for a correct one when the writer simply doesn't know the correct
spelling of a particular word or forgot it or misconceived it.

Here are some examples of common orthographic errors:

1. Incorrect use of homophones:

 "Their" instead of "there" or "they're"

 "Your" instead of "you're"

 "Its" instead of "it's"

2. Misspelling of common words:

 "Definitely" spelled as "definately"

 "Separate" spelled as "Seperate"

 "Accommodation" spelled as "accomodation"

3. Mixing up vowels and consonants:

 "Recieve" instead of "receive"

 "Thier" instead of "their"

 "Becuase" instead of "because"

4. Incorrect use of double letters:

 "Occurence" instead of "occurrence"

 "Dissapointment" instead of "disappointment"

 "Reccommend" instead of "recommend"

5. Apostrophe errors:

 "It's" instead of "its" (possessive form)

 "Apostrophe's" instead of "apostrophes" (plural form)

 "I'm" instead of "its" (contraction of "I am"

6. Incorrect capitalization:

 "america" instead of "America"

 "tuesday" instead of "Tuesday"

- "paris" instead of "Paris"

7. Confusion between similar-looking letters or combinations:

 "Flower" spelled as "flour"

 "Weather" spelled as "whether"

 "Stationary" spelled as "stationery"

8. Missing or misplaced letters:

 "Definitly" instead of "definitely"

 "Relevent" instead of "relevant"

 "Recieve" instead of "receive"

These examples highlight some common orthographic errors.

Phonological errors:

Phonological errors are errors related to the correct pronunciation or sound of words.

Here are some examples of common phonological errors:

1. Consonant cluster reduction:

  "Spoon" pronounced as "poon"

 "Street" pronounced as "sreet"

 "Flag" pronounced as "fla"

2. Voicing errors:

 "Cat" pronounced as "gat"

 "Bus" pronounced as "vus"

 "Rice" pronounced as "ryce"

3. Deletion of syllables:

 "Computer" pronounced as "puter"

 "Chocolate" pronounced as "colate"

 "Important" pronounced as "impornt"

4. Substitution of sounds:

 "Ship" pronounced as "sip"

 "Think" pronounced as "fink"

 "Tree" pronounced as "dree"

5. Assimilation errors:

 "Cupcake" pronounced as "cubcake"

 "Handbag" pronounced as "hanbag"

 "Blackboard" pronounced as "blagboard"

6. Vowel errors:

 "Sheet" pronounced as "shoot"

 "Boat" pronounced as "beat"

 "Bird" pronounced as "bard"

7. Stress errors:

 "Photograph" pronounced as "photoGRAPH"

  "Chocolate" pronounced as "CHOCOlate"

 "Banana" pronounced as "baNAna"

8. Intonation errors:

 Incorrect rising or falling intonation patterns in questions or statements.

 Inappropriate emphasis or stress on certain words or syllables.

These examples demonstrate some common phonological errors that may occur in
speech. It's important to note that the specific errors can vary depending on a person's
native language or speech pattern. Working with a speech therapist or practicing
pronunciation exercises can help address and correct phonological errors.

Lexico-semantic errors:

Lexico-semantic errors refer to mistakes related to the meaning or usage of words.

Here are some examples of common lexico-semantic errors:

1. Incorrect word choice:

 "I borrowed a book from the library" instead of "I lent a book from the library."

 "I'm going to buy a new mobile" instead of "I'm going to buy a new cellphone."

2. Confusion between similar words:

 "Accept" instead of "except": "I like all fruits accept bananas."

 "Effect" instead of "affect": "The medicine had a positive effect on her health."

3. Incorrect use of idioms or expressions:

 "The cat took my tongue" instead of "The cat got my tongue."

 "He kicked the bucket" instead of "He passed away."

4. Incorrect use of verb tenses:

 "I will go to the party yesterday" instead of "I went to the party yesterday."

 "She has been studied all night" instead of "She has been studying all night."

5. Inaccurate use of modifiers:

 "He's very shorter than me" instead of "He's shorter than me."
  "The test was too difficult for solving" instead of "The test was too difficult to
solve."

6. Semantic shifts:

 Using a word with an outdated or incorrect meaning: "Gay" meaning "happy"

instead of referring to sexual orientation.

 Using a word in a context where its meaning has changed: "Awful" meaning "full
of awe" instead of "bad or terrible."

These examples illustrate some common lexico-semantic errors that can occur in
speech or writing. It's important to carefully choose words and understand their
meanings to effectively convey intended messages.

Morphologicalo-syntactic errors:

Morphologicalo-syntactic errors involve errors in the formation of words or the

arrangement of words in a sentence. Here are some examples of common
morphological and syntactic errors:

1. Incorrect verb conjugation:

 "He goed to the store" instead of "He went to the store."

 "They eated lunch" instead of "They ate lunch."

2. Misuse of plurals:

 "Sheeps" instead of "Sheep"

 "Mouses" instead of "Mice"

 "Foots" instead of "Feet"

3. Incorrect use of verb tense:

 "I will see the movie yesterday" instead of "I saw the movie yesterday."

 "She has go to the store" instead of "She went to the store."

4. Lack of subject-verb agreement:

 "The book were on the table" instead of "The books were on the table."

 "He play soccer every day" instead of "He plays soccer every day."
5. Incorrect use of articles:

 "I want an apple" instead of "I want a apple."

 "She is teacher" instead of "She is a teacher."

6. Omission of prepositions:

 "I'm going school" instead of "I'm going to school."

 "He is sitting chair" instead of "He is sitting on the chair."

7. Incorrect word order:

 "She told him the story interesting" instead of "She told him the interesting story."

 "He to the party went" instead of "He went to the party."

These examples illustrate some common morphologicalo-syntactic errors that can

occur in writing or speech. It's important to understand the rules of grammar and syntax
to effectively communicate and convey meaning in sentences.

Processed based Errors:

. Errors can occur because of change in surface structure in specific and systematic
ways. Based on The surface structure taxonomy, there are four ways in which learners
“modify” target forms in specific and systematic ways:

1) Omission

Omission refers to the act of leaving out or not including a required element in a
sentence or utterance. It occurs when something essential is missing, such as a
word, phrase, or grammatical marker, which can affect the clarity or
completeness of the message.

Example:

Original Sentence: "I went to the store and bought bread, milk, and eggs."

Omitted Sentence: "I went to the store and bought bread, milk."

In this example, the word "eggs" is omitted from the sentence. As a result, the
listener or reader may not have a complete understanding of what was
purchased at the store.

2) Addition:
 Addition refers to the act of including or adding extra elements to a sentence or
utterance that are not necessary or appropriate. It involves including additional
words, phrases, or grammatical markers that can alter the meaning or structure
of the intended message.

Example:

Original Sentence: "I have a cat."

Added Sentence: "I have a big, black cat."

In this example, the addition of "big" and "black" modifies the original sentence by
providing additional descriptive information about the cat. While the addition of
these words may not necessarily be incorrect, it changes the specificity of the
statement and adds more details that were not originally present.

3) Substitution:

Substitution refers to the act of replacing a correct element in a sentence or

utterance with an incorrect or inappropriate one. It involves using a different
word, phrase, or grammatical structure that alters the intended meaning or
violates the rules of the target language.

Example:

Original Sentence: "I am going to the park."

Substituted Sentence: "I am going to the beach."

In this example, the word "park" is substituted with "beach," resulting in a

different location. The substitution changes the intended meaning of the
sentence and may lead to confusion or miscommunication.

4) Permutation:

Permutation refers to the rearrangement or reordering of elements within a

sentence or utterance, resulting in a different word order or structure than the
intended or correct form. It involves changing the sequence of words, phrases, or
grammatical markers, leading to a violation of the syntactic rules of the target
language.

Example:

Original Sentence: "She went to the store after work."

Permuted Sentence: "After work, she went to the store."

In this example, the original sentence has a standard word order with
the subject ("She") followed by the verb ("went"), and then the prepositional
phrase ("to the store") and time phrase ("after work"). However, in the permuted
sentence, the prepositional phrase and time phrase are swapped, resulting in a
different word order.

Some other types of errors are as follow:

Global errors:

Global errors are major errors that significantly affect the overall
comprehensibility and meaning of the learner's utterance or written text. These
errors can lead to miscommunication and hinder the listener's or reader's
understanding.

Examples of global errors include incorrect word order in a sentence, omission of

essential words or phrases, or the use of inappropriate verb tense.

Local errors:

Local errors are minor errors that occur at the sentence or word level but do not
drastically affect the overall comprehensibility of the learner's communication.
These errors may involve incorrect verb forms, preposition usage, or word choice.
While local errors may not impede understanding, they still reflect areas where
the learner needs improvement.

James states that there are four causes of errors:

1. Inter-lingual errors
2. Intra-lingual errors,

3. communication strategy-based errors,

4. induced errors.

Inter-lingual errors (Mother-tongue influence)

These kinds of errors are influenced by the native languages which interfere with
target language learning. It is seen as a process in which learners use their
knowledge of the first language in learning a second language. Learners translate
word by word idiomatic expressions, vocabulary and even the grammatical rules
of the learners’ first language into the second language.

Some examples are as follow:

Vocabulary Interference:

 "I have 20 years old" instead of "I am 20 years old" (direct translation from
a language where "have" is used instead of "am" to express age).

 "I go to the store by feet" instead of "I go to the store on foot" (literal
translation of a phrase where the preposition is different in the target
language).

Grammar Interference:

 "She is a very good cook, no?" instead of "She is a very good cook, isn't
she?" (using the native language's question tag instead of the target
language's question tag).

 "I have been in Paris last summer" instead of "I was in Paris last summer"
(incorrect use of past perfect tense instead of simple past tense).

Pronunciation Interference:

 Pronouncing English words with the phonetic rules of the native language,
resulting in incorrect sounds or stress patterns.

 Pronouncing the "th" sound as "d" or "t" in English (e.g., saying "dat"
instead of "that").

Cultural Interference:
  Using gestures or body language that are appropriate in the native culture
but may have different meanings or be considered rude in the target
culture.

 Making direct translations of idiomatic expressions from the native

language that don't make sense in the target language

(e.g., "It's raining cats and dogs" translated literally into another language).

2. Intra-lingual errors:

These types of error are caused by the target language (TL) itself. Apart from
recourse to L1 transfer, the learners in ignorance of a TL form on any level and
any class can do either of two things: either they can set about learning the
needed item, engaging their learning strategies, or they can try to fill the gap by
resorting to communication strategies. Learning strategies are used for code
breaking while communication strategies are encoding and decoding strategies.

Errors caused by learning strategies include:

1) False analogy:

Learners assume that the new item B behaves like A: they

know that “boy” (A) has its plural “boys” and assume that “child” (B) behaves

likewise, so pluralizes to “*childs.”

2) Misanalysis:

Learners form a wrong hypothesis. An example of this strategy

occurs in: they are carnivorous plants and *its (ü their) name comes from. The
false

concept in operation here is that it is the s pluralized form of it. A false concept is

the result of the learners misanalysing the TL.

3) Incomplete rule application:

This is the converse of overgeneralization or one might call it

undergeneralization as the learners do not use all the rules. They change or
decrease the complicated rules to simpler rules as they aim at simplification
rather than attempt to get the whole complex structure. An example is seen in
the deviant order of subject and verb ‘be’ in: Nobody knew where* was Barbie
(ü Barbie was). The learners have applied only two components of the
interrogative formation rule: they have selected and fronted a wh-element
(rule components 1 and 2), but have omitted to invert the subject and verb.

4) Exploiting redundancy:

This error occurs by carrying considerable redundancy. This is shown

throughout the system in the form of unnecessary morphology and double
signalling.

5) Overlooking co-occurrence restrictions:

This error is caused by overlooking the exceptional rules.

An example of this is I would enjoy *to learn (ü learning) about America caused
by ignorance of the fact that the verb enjoy should be followed by a gerund
complement.

6) Hypercorrection (monitor overuse):

This results from the learners’ over cautious and strict observance of the
rules. One might say that the learners’ deliberate suppression of a potential
L1 transfer, for fear of being wrong, is another form of hypercorrection: an
example of this is the seventeen year*s old girl.

3. Communication strategy-based errors:

They can be of two types:

1) Holistic strategies or approximation:

The term ‘holistic’ refers to the learners’ assumption that if you can say X in the
L2, then you must be able to say Y. Lacking the required form, it must be all right
to use another near-equivalent L2 item which they have learnt. It takes on a
number of forms, the first of which is to use a synonym; The second is to use an
antonym or opposite: not happy for ü sad. The third is to coin a word. Until you be
unconscious to lose your *sensities. (senses).

2) Analytic strategies or circumlocution:

Analytic strategies express the concept indirectly, by allusion rather than by

direct reference. This kind of error comes from the students’ experience.
James (1994) finds that the learners in the classroom used the L1 transfer
strategy much more than the acquirers. (Acquirers are people who are self-
directed learning, such as a taxi driver, a foreigner’s housekeeper.)

4. Induced Errors:

These errors are the result of being misled by the way in which the teachers
give definitions, examples, explanations and arrange practice opportunities. In
other words, the errors are caused mostly by the teaching and learning
process as follows:

1) Materials-induced errors:

Teaching materials with errors will make the learners confused, and they will
make similar errors again and again.

2) Teacher-talk induced errors:

This kind of error might be caused by both native or non-native teachers if

they do not provide models of the standard TL in class.

3) Exercise-based induced errors:

The learners make errors while doing exercises on sentence combining, for
example, the teacher feeds to the learners the raw ingredients: simple
sentences that the learners must combine.

Conditionals linked by if or unless are examples:

can’t afford a new car combined with I shall win the lottery. should yield I
can’t afford a new car unless I win the lottery.but will also yield at times
from at least one learner forms like
*Unless I can afford a new car I shall win the lottery.

4) Errors induced by pedagogical priorities:

Learners’ achievement tends to match other teacher expectations of what

they will achieve. Some teachers choose to prioritize one of the following:
accuracy, fluency or the idiomatic in teaching communication, thus if fluency
is considered as superior, accuracy would have lower priority or vice versa.

5) Look-up errors:

There have been many learners’ dictionaries and grammar books in recent
years, and these publications usually come with useful guidelines on how to
look up aspects of the L2 about which one is in doubt. But, strangely, learners
do not like to read such user-instruction, and as a result they frequently
misuse these reference aids. In addition, the learners sometimes use the new
words from the dictionary inaccurately or get incorrect references from the
grammar books

Error Analysis methodology:

Gass And Selinker ( 2008) presented Error Analysis methodology. It includes

following steps;

Collection of Data

The first step is collection of date in which data regarding second language is
collected by conducting interviews and from written samples.

Identification of Errors

This step includes identifying the errors and highlighting them ( whether errors in
the collected data occurs in spellings, use of preposition and articles)

Classification of Error

In this step, the errors are classified into different types i.e. process based errors
and linguistic based errors.

Quantifying the Errors

 In this step, the frequency of different kind of errors is analyzed by making
the frequency types of errors table. If frequency of errors is less, it means that
second language learning is easy fir the learner and vice versa.

Identification of Area of Difficulty

In this step, the difficult area of second language learning is identified.

Determination of the source of error

In this step, the source of error is determined. Whrther the error is interlingual or
intra-lingual.

Remedies and Recommendations

In the last step, remedies and recommendations are provided for the teachers
and the learners to reduce errors in second language learning.