The Differences between Errors and Mistakes

c. Context of learning A third major source of error, although it overlaps both types of transfer, it is the context of learning. “Context” refers, for example, to the classroom with its teacher and its material in the case of school learning or the social situation in the case of untutored second language learning. In a classroom context, the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner to make faulty hypotheses about the language. Students often make errors because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook, or even because of a pattern that was rottenly memorized in a drill, but it is improperly contextualized. In addition, teacher may provide incorrect information-not an uncommon occurrence-by way of a misleading definition, word, or grammatical generalization. Another manifestation of language learned in classroom contexts is the occasional tendency on the part of learners to give in contracted and inappropriately formal forms of language. The sociolinguistic context of natural, untutored language acquisition can give rise to certain acquisition that may itself be a source of error. For example, a Japanese immigrant who lived in a predominantly Mexican American area of a US city produced a learner language that was an interesting blend of Mexican American English and the standards English colored by his Japanese accent. d. Communication strategies Communication strategies are a means whereby a learner can express himself in the language he is learning, using some sort of ‘inter language’ as a half-way house between his own and his target language. 9 In conclusion, there are some aspects that may lead errors in learning the target language. The cause of errors may come from the interference of native language to the target one, the lack of competence of the target language, the learning environment, and the personal learning strategies. 9 John Norrish, Language Learners and Their Errors, London: Macmillan, 1983, p. 27.

3. The Classification of Errors

Azar in her book explains that there are thirteen kinds of errors that the students frequently make in their writing, as follows: a. SINGULAR-PLURAL The sentence “He have been here for six months” should be replaced by “He has been here for six months ”. b. WORD FORM The sentence “I saw a beauty picture” should be replaced by “I saw a beautiful picture ”. c. WORD CHOICE The sentence “She got on the taxi” should be replaced by “She got into the taxi. d. VERB TENSE The sentence “He is here since June” should be replaced by “He has been here si nce June”. e. ADD A WORD The sentence “I want __ go to the zoo” should be replaced by “I want to go to the zoo”. f. WORD ORDER The sentence “I saw five times that movie” should be replaced by “I saw that movie five times”. g. INCOMPLETE SENTENCE The sentence “I went to bed. Because I was tired” should be replaced by “I went to bed because I was tired ”. h. SPELLING The s entence “An accident occured” should be replaced by “An accident occurred ”. i. PUNCTUATION The sentence “What did he say.” should be replaced by “What did he say?”