LING4113

MODULE 4
Contrastive Analysis & Error Analysis
Approaches to Studying Learners’ Errors

Two major approaches to the study of learners' errors are:

• Contrastive Analysis (CA)
• Error Analysis (EA)*

* Error Analysis emerged on account of the shortcomings of Contrastive Analysis

which was the favored way of describing learners' language in the 1950s and 1960s.

Keshavarz (1999)
Contrastive Analysis (CA)

The process involved in CA is the comparison of learners' mother tongue and

the target language to describe differences and similarities of L1 and L2.

Based on the similarities or differences between two languages, predictions

were made on errors, known as interlingual, that learners would be likely or
disposed to make.

By early 1970s, CA lost its favor because of the inaccurate or uninformative

predictions of learners’ errors; errors did not occur where predicted, but
instead errors showed up where CA had not predicted.

Being questioned about the reliability of the CA research, it yielded to EA in

1970, developed by Pit Corder.

Kim
(2001)
Error Analysis (EA)

EA attempts to describe learners' interlanguage (i.e. learners' version of the

target language) independently and objectively.

The most distinct feature of EA is that the mother tongue is not supposed to
be mentioned for comparison. Instead, errors occur as a result of L2
complexities, and are known as intralingual. Hence, the studies in EA have
for the most part dealt with linguistic aspects of learners' errors.

EA is a procedure used by both researchers and teachers which involves:

o collecting samples of learner language
o identifying the errors in the sample
o describing these errors
o classifying them according to their nature and causes
o evaluating their seriousness
Corder
(1973)
Error vs. Mistake

Errors and mistakes are technically two different phenomena.

Mistake: Random deviation or performance error/slip, which is readily self-

corrected, and could occur due to carelessness.

Error: Systematic deviation indicating the learner’s lack of mastery over the
rules as well as his/her attempt to figure out the L2 system. Errors are
difficult to be self-corrected.

Corder
(1973)
Interlingual vs. Intralingual Errors

Interlingual Errors: Also known as Interference Errors caused by L1.

• errors resulting from the use of elements from one language (L1)
while speaking/writing another (L2).
• errors that occur due to the negative influence that L1 has on
performance in L2 (negative transfer).

Examples:
– Phonological error as in bubil instead of pupil (/b/ vs /p/) or in sheep vs. ship
(shorting of long vowel)
– Syntactic error as in Huda good student.
– Semantic error (literal translation) as in You fall from my eye.

Corder
(1973)
Interlingual vs. Intralingual Errors

Intralingual Errors:
• errors reflecting general characteristics of the rule learning such as
faulty generalization, incomplete application of rules and failure to
learn conditions under which rules apply.

Examples:
– Phonological error as in count vs. country.
– Syntactic error as in The letter sent to Ahmed.
– Semantic error (idiomatic expression) as in What’s up Abdullah!
– Lexical error as in key car instead of car key (inappropriate ordering).
– Morphological error as in get upping instead of getting up (inappropriate
prefix or suffix).

Corder
(1973)
STEPS IN ERROR ANALYSIS

Corder (1973) proposes five steps in error analysis. These steps are:
• Collection of a sample of learner language
• Identification of errors
• Description of errors
• Explanation of errors
• Evaluation of errors

Corder
(1973)
STEP 1: Collection of a Sample of Learner Language

The first point in error analysis is the collection of a sample of learner language.

Researchers have identified three broad types of error analysis according to the size
of the sample. These types are:
• Massive samples
• Involves collecting several samples of language use from a large number of learners in order
to compile a comprehensive list of errors, representative of the entire population.
• Specific samples
• Consists of one sample of language used, collected from a limited number of learners.
• Incidental samples
• Uses only one sample of language provided by a single learner.

In practice, the most common samples used by researchers are specific and
incidental in order to avoid the difficult task of processing, organizing and evaluating
the large quantities of samples taken in a massive sample collection.
Corder
(1973)
STEP 2: Identification of Errors

Once a corpus of learner language has been collected, the errors have to be
identified. Indeed, the identification of errors depends on three crucial questions.

The first question is to set up what target language should be used as the point of
evaluation for the study.

The second is related to the differences between ‘errors’ and ‘mistakes or slips’ (See
slide # 5).

The third question is about interpretation. There are two kinds of interpretation:
• Overt interpretation
• A clear deviation in form as in ‘She selled her car’ or in ‘I is angry’.
• Covert interpretation
• Utterances that are syntactically and semantically well-formed but pragmatically
odd as in ‘Where do you go?’

Corder
(1973)
STEP 3: Description of Errors

There is a descriptive taxonomy of errors called surface strategy.

Surface strategy taxonomy highlights the ways in which surface structures are altered
by means of such operations as:
• Omission
• The absence of an item that should appear in a well-formed utterance as in ‘He cooking’.
• Addition
• The presence of an item that should not appear in well-formed utterance as in ‘She doesn't
works at hospital’.
• Misinformation
• The use of the wrong form of the morpheme or structure as in ‘The chair was maked by the
carpenter’.
• Misordering
• The incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance as in ‘What
is doing my mother?’.

Corder
(1973)
STEP 4: Explanation of Errors

See slides #6-7.

STEP 5: Evaluation of Errors

Error evaluation are based on three basic categories:

• Comprehensibility
• Seriousness
• Naturalness of the grammar and the lexis

In evaluation process, evaluators have to keep in mind that there are two kinds of
errors:
• Global
• The error which affects overall sentence organization as in ‘My house beautiful red’.
• Local
• The error which affects single elements in a sentence as in ‘I want an hot dog’.

The evaluation of learner’s error poses a great number of problems. It is not clear
what criteria evaluators have used when asked to assess the categories of an error.
Indeed, error evaluation is influenced by the context in which the errors occurred.

Corder
(1973)
ERRORS TO CONSIDER

• Developmental errors: the errors that might very well be made by children
acquiring their L1 (e.g., ‘a cowboy go’).
• Overgeneralization errors: the errors that are caused by trying to use a rule in a
context where it does not belong (e.g., ‘They plays toys in the bar’, ‘She buyed a
dress’).
• Simplification errors: the errors that are caused by simplifying or leaving out
some elements (e.g., all verbs have the same form regardless of person, number
or tense).
• Misuse of formulaic expressions: (e.g., ‘Santa Claus ride a one horse open sleigh
to sent present for children’).
• Interference errors (transfer from L1): (e.g., ‘On the back of his body has big
packet’  在他身體背後有個大背包 )

Corder
(1973)
Reference
Corder, S. P. (1973). Introducing applied linguistics. Middlesex: Penguin.

Keshavarz, M. D. (1999). Contrastive analysis and error analysis. Tehran: Rahnama Press.

Kim, S. (2001). An Error Analysis of college students' writing: Is that really Konglish? Studies in
Modern Grammar, 25, 159-174.