TYPES &

SOURCES OF
ERRORS
(refer to Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 for explanation and examples)
See also: http://www.professorjackrichards.com/error-analysis
 TYPES OF ERRORS
 Interlingual errors (transfer from L1): (e.g., “my mother read on me” his
mother read Qur'anic verses to him

 Intralingual & Developmental errors: the errors that might very well be
made by children acquiring their L1 (e.g., “a cowboy go”). They illustrate
learners’ attempt to build up hypothesis about the language from their limited
experience of it in the classroom or textbook.

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SOME TYPES OF INTRALINGUAL
& DEVELOPMENTAL ERRORS
 OVERGENERALIZATION
 This process refers to extending the use of a form to an inappropriate context
by analogy.

 This is a normal and natural process and both learners of English as a second
language as well as children learning it as a first language often extend the
use of grammatical rules to contexts where they do not occur, as in 
I breaked the vase.
We goes to the beach. 

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OVERGENERALIZATION
 Other examples of overgeneralization are seen in the following:

Under no circumstances we will accept these terms.

They didn’t like it; not I liked it.
She was unhappy at the development: so I was.
 Now I see why did they behave like that.

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 OVERGENERALIZATION
 Sometimes overgeneralization may mean over-using a grammatical form
such as the –ing form, as with these examples:
I don’t know why people always talking me.
Yesterday I didn’t working.

 A common form of overgeneralization is seen when learners attempt to

make irregular verbs fit regular patterns, as with break above and also
with cases such as seened (for saw), ated (for ate) , and wented (for went).

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 SIMPLIFICATION ERRORS
 This occurs when learners reduce a complex aspect of grammar to a much
simpler set of rules and reflects a process that is used when messages need to be
conveyed with limited language resources.

 For example instead of making the distinction between “he” and “she” the
learner may use the masculine pronoun, or instead of distinguishing between
first and third person in verbs (I like, She likes) the learner may use the first
person rule for all persons (I like, He/ She like).

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 SIMPLIFICATION ERRORS
 It is common in the early stages of language learning and particularly
in naturalistic learning situations. Simplification of aspects of
grammar such as questions tags occurs in some varieties of English. In
colloquial Singapore English for example, one encounters:

That was your sister, is it?

You are from the States, is it?

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 CONT.
 Ignorance of rule restriction: Failure to observe the restrictions of existing
structures (e.g. *the man who I saw him; made him to do it)

 Incomplete application of rules: (e.g. using statement structures to ask

questions: *you will go?)

 Misuse of formulaic expressions: (e.g. *Do what you told”)

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 SOURCES OF ERRORS

 Why certain errors are made?

 What cognitive strategies and styles or even personality variables

underlie certain errors?

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 SOURCES OF ERRORS
 Interlingual transfer (interference)

 Intralingual transfer (overgeneralization)

Context of learning: this could refer to the classroom, teacher, materials, or
the social situation which can lead to ‘false concepts’.

 Communication strategies
 CONTEXT OF LEARNING
1. Classroom context: Examples
 Students make errors due to a misleading explanation because a pattern
that was rotely memorized in a drill but not properly contextualized.
 A teacher may (out of ignorance) provide misleading definition,
pronunciation, word etc.
 Learners’ tendency to use formal (bookish) language
 CONTEXT OF LEARNING
2. Social context of language acquisition:
 E.g. a Japanese immigrant lived in a predominantly Mexican-
American area in the States has an interesting blend of Mexican
American and Standard English (he is exposed to in the
University).

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 COMMUNICATION
STRATEGIES
• Conscious employment of verbal and nonverbal mechanisms for
communicating an idea when precise linguistic forms are not present (for
some reason) at that point in communication.

• What learners actually do as they struggle with communicating meaning in the

second language.

• There are good, bad and neutral communication strategies.

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 TYPES COMMUNICATION
STRATEGIES

Source:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320407570_The_Use_of_Communication_Strategie
s_in_English_Language_Education

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 PARAPHRASE
Paraphrase includes three subcategories which are:

(1) Approximation: The use of such native language (L1) vocabulary items
or structures, that the language learner is aware of not being correct, but
which shares certain semantic features with the desired item, thus satisfying
the speaker’s intention (e. g. a big rock instead of boulder, or pipe instead of
water pipe).
(2) Word coinage: The learner is making up a new word – most often on the
spot - in order to communicate a desired concept (e. g. airball for balloon or
smoking leaf for cigar).

(3) Circumlocution: The learner describes the major characteristics or

elements of an object, action or person instead of using the target language
(TL) equivalent (e. g. She is, uh, smoking something. I don’t know what’s its
name. That’s, uh, Cuban, and they smoke it in other countries, too).
 TRANSFER
Transfer has two subcategories that are:

(1) Literal translation: The learner is translating word for word from L1 to L2

(e. g. He invites him to drink. replacing They toast one another.).

(2) Language switch: The learner uses the L1 term without bothering to
translate it into L2 (e. g. léggömb instead of balloon or Verkehrsmittel
replacing means of transport).
APPEAL FOR ASSISTANCE
This refers to the learner asking for the correct term or structure from
an exterior source of information, most likely a teacher or a fellow
student
(e. g. What is this? Or How do you call that in English?).
MIME
Mime is related to the speaker using non-verbal strategies
substituting an expression
(e. g. clapping one’s hands to illustrate applause, or rubbing one’s
eyes to indicate crying or tiredness, boredom).
 AVOIDANCE
(1) Topic avoidance: The language learner is omitting concepts for which
his/her vocabulary is lacking at the time of speaking.

(2) Message abandonment: The language user begins to talk about a

concept but being completely unable to continue doing so due to a lack of
phrases and expressions and thus ends up stopping in the middle of an
utterance.
 L1 INFLUENCE AND LEARNER
LANGUAGE
 Learners’ knowledge of their L1 helps them to learn the parts of the L2
that are similar to the L1.

 The L1 may interact with learners’ developmental sequences of the L2.

 “Avoidance” may be associated with learners’ perception that a feature

in the L2 is distant and different from their L1.

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 L1 INFLUENCE AND LEARNER LANGUAGE

 Learners are usually aware that idiomatic or metaphorical uses of

words are often unique to a particular language; therefore, L1 transfer
of these uses seldom occurs.

 When learners’ interlanguage form does not cause any difficulty in

communicating meaning, they may find it difficult to get rid of it (i.e.,
fossilization).

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 FINAL NOTES (DISCUSSION)

Research have found that

 learners who receive grammar-based instruction still pass through the

same developmental sequences and make the same types of errors as
those who acquire language in natural settings.

 L2 learners from different L1 backgrounds often make the same kinds

of errors when learning the L2.
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 The transfer of patterns from the L1 is only one of the major sources of
errors in learner language; however, there are other causes for errors too,
such as developmental errors, overgeneralization errors, and
simplification errors, which constantly affect interlanguage.

 Therefore, interlanguage errors are evidence of the learners’ efforts to

discover the structure of the TL itself rather than just attempts to
transfer patterns from their L1.

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