Definiton of Error and Error Analysis

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 Definiton of Error and Error Analysis

According to Crystal 1980 : 134 – 135 : “Error is a term used in psycholinguistics referring to mistakes in spontaneous speaking or writing attributable to a malfunctioning of the neuromuscular commands from the brain. It is thus distinct from the traditional notion of error, which was based on the language user’s ability to conform a set of real or imagined standards of expression.” Whereas, for the error analysis, he defines as follows : “In language teaching and learning, error analysis is techique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the mistakes made by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and procedures provided by linguistics.” Based on that understandings, I assume that doing or having an error is related with whether each of human has good understanding or not of knowledge in their mind and knowledge is an important thing in language learning. Therefore, the study of error is a part of the investigation of the process of language learning. It provides us with a picture of the linguistic development of a learner and may give us the indications as to the learner strategies to understand the second language. Second Langauge Acquisition SLA stands in contrast to first language acquisiton It is the study of how learners learn an additional language after they have acquired their mother tongue. The study of language - learner’s language began with the study of first language L1 acquisition. The process of language learning is similar to other process of human learning as Brown sites 1980 : 164 in Puspita’s thesis 2004 : 17 as follows : Universitas Sumatera Utara “Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes. Mistakes, misjudgements, miscalculations, and erroneous assumptions form an important aspect of learning virtually any skill or acquiring information. You learn to swim by first jumping into the water and flailing arms and legs until you discover that there is a combination of movements that succeeds in keeping you afloat and propelling you through the water. The first mistakes of learning to swim are giant ones, gradually diminishing as you learn from making those mistakes. By using mistakes to obtain feedback from the environment and with that feedback to make new attempts which successfully more closely approximate desired goals.” If a child learns his first language, he will make countless “mistakes” from the point of view of adult grammatical language. Many of these mistakes are logical in the limited linguistic system within which the child operates, but by carefully processing feedback from others the child slowly but surely learns to produce what is acceptable spech in his native language. One of the factors which influence how succesful a person in learning a second language is the person’s ability to learn, notably intelligence and a set of more specific language – learning abilities. Here the ability concerns with : a. the ability to discriminate sounds to store auditory data over something longer than a few seconds. b. the ability to recognize the grammatical functions of words and sentences. c. the ability to memorize materials, whether meaningful or meaningless. d. the ability to infer linguistic patterns from new linguistic contexts. Native speaker very frequently produce ill – produced utterances. By definitions, these cannot be the result of an imperfect knowledge of the language or an imperfect competence. The characteristic of native speaker’s errors is that when noticed by speaker or hearer they are usually readily correctable by the Universitas Sumatera Utara speaker. Such error can be classified as transpositions, or substitutions or additions of a speech sound or morpheme, word or complete phrase, or some sort of blend of these. Some ill – formed utterance appear to be false false starts or restructurings of what the speaker want to say. Errors are the important source of information about Second Language Acquisition SLA because errors demonstrate conclusively that learners do not simply memorize target language rules and then reproduce them in their own utterances. Errors of appropriateness may however, be generally classified into : a. referential errors, where the speaker use a term with the intention of referring to some feature of the world to which it is conventionally inacapplicable, for example : when he calls a hat  a cap b. registers errors, where for example in naval context the speaker refers to a naval ship  a boat c. social errors, where the speaker selects form which are inappropriate to his or her social relations with his hearer, as when a pupil greets his teacher with : well, how are we today, old man ? d. textual errors, when the speaker does not select the structurally correct form to show the intended relation between two sentences in a discourse, as for example in answer to the question : who is the man over there ? Jhon is Error analysis is the investigation of learner errors whcih are not systematic in any simple way. Error analysis indicate that learners construct their own rules on the basis of input data, and that in some instances at least these rules differ from Universitas Sumatera Utara those of the target language. Ellis 1985 : 9 remarks that it is rare that a learner produces the same error in all contexts of use . It is much more likely that a learner produces an error in some context but not in others. So, error analysis is the fact that the learners do make errors and these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal something of the system operating within the learner, led to a surge of study of learner’s errors. 2.1.2 Error, Mistake, and Lapse There are many differences between mistake and error. The mistake 1973 : 280 refer to a performance error that is a failure to utilize a known system correctly by the native speakers; resulting from memory mistakes, physical condition, such as tiredness and psychological condition, such as strong emotion. Mistake is also characterized as unsystematic deviation or inconsistent deviation. In this case the learner has been taught the right form of the language, sometimes the learner ‘gets it right’ but sometimes he makes a mistake and uses the wrong form. Tarigan and tarigan 1995 : 75 – 76 support and add Corder’s thoery of error and mistake as follows : Istilah kesalahan error dan kekeliruan mistake dalam pengajaran bahasa dibedakan yakni penyimpangan dalam pemakaian bahasa. Kekeliruan pada umumnya disebabkan oleh faktor performansi. Keterbatasan dalam mengingat sesuatu atau kelupaan menyebabkan kekeliruan dalam melafalkan bunyi bahasa, kata, urutan kata, tekanan kata atau kalimat, dan sebagainya. Kekeliruan ini bersifat acak, artinya dapat terjadi pada setiap tataran linguistik. Kekeliruan ini biasanya dapat diperbaiki oleh para siswa sendiri bila yang bersangkutan lebih mawas diri, lebih sadar, atau memusatkan perhatian. Siswa sebenarnya sudah mengetahui sistem linguistik bahasa yang digunakannya, namun karena sesuatu hal dia lupa akan sistem tersebut. Kelupaan ini Universitas Sumatera Utara biasanya tidak lama, karena itu pula, kekeliruan tiu sendiri tidak bersifat lama. Sebaliknya, kesalahan disebabkan oleh faktor performansi. Artinya, siswa memang belum memahami sistem linguitik bahasa yang digunakannya. Kesalahan bahasa biasanya terjadi secara konsisten, jadi, secara sistematis. Kesalahan itu dapat berlangsung lama apabila tidak diperbaiki. Perbaikan biasanya dilakukan oleh guru, misalnya melalui pengajaran remedial, latihan, praktek, dan sebagainya. Sering dikatakan bahwa kesalahan merupakan gambaran terhadap pemahaman siswa akan sistem bahasa yang sedang dipelajarinya. Bila tahap pemahaman siswa akan sistem bahasa yang sedang dipelajarinya ternyata kurang maka kesalahan sering terjadi, dan kesalahan akan berkurang apabila tahap pemahaman semkain meningkat. An English learner who have been taught the use of English verb and make an overgeneralization as to the auxiliary verb such as may. He says, Bob mays go, She will come, etc indicating that the learner has not distinguished modals from other verbs, we may indicate this feature as error of the student. However, in one or two occasions, he says, Bob mays go, but on another occasions says Bob may go, we may indicate that the learner committing a mistake. Error which refers to error of competence or systematic error is a systematic deviation, when a leatner has not learnt something and consistently “gets it wrong”, as an error. For instance, a child acquiring his own language sometimes make the same error, in the same way when a learner of English makes an error. Systematically, it because he has not learnt the correct form until he has been told otherwise, or until he notices that the native speakers of the language that he is learning do not produce this form, he will produce this quite consistenly as the native speakers do. Acording to Corder 1973 : 257 – 258, lapses or native speaker’ slips of the tongue are a field of reserch at the present time since it is believed that they Universitas Sumatera Utara will yield important evidence about how utterances are planned or executed. This is part of the psycho – linguistic and neuro – linguistic research into language performance. Native speakers, then, frequently make slips or false starts or confusions of structure. These slips aspeaker makes are of several sorts; one is changes of plan, when he starts an utterance, breaks off, and starts another one with a different structure. For example : It’s a bit – it hasn’t – I mean, I wouldn’t really care to have one just like that . . . He may convert one structure into another withour breaking off. These mistakes have been called ‘syntactic blends’. Here is an example from a ‘Letter to the editor’ : One wonders . . . why this country should support foreigners in our already overcrowded prisons . . . for the non – payment of fines of which they had no opportunity to pay. The redundant of appears to arise from a confusion of two constructions : . . . no opportunity of paying . . . no opportunity to pay Then, there are ‘slips of the tongue’ or ‘slips of the pen’. These are the subject of investigation at the present time by linguists interested in language performance. Typical of such slips are the substitution, transposition or omission of some segment of an utterance, such as speecg sound, a morpheme, a word or even a phrase. Here are some examples : It didn’t bother me in the sleast . . . slightest But those frunds . . . funds have been frozen . . . of Peester Ustinov The object of these investigations is to discover the patterns of regularity in these lips, what the ‘rules’ for making slips are. Universitas Sumatera Utara Since many of these lapses seem to increase in frequency under conditions of stress, indecision and fatigue, it is to be presumed that the second language learner will demonstrate similar lapses in performance, where all these conditions are likely to be more pronounced. It may not always be easy to distinguish such lapses, slips and mistakes of performance from errors arising from an imperfect competence in the target language.

2.1.3 Errors in Writing

Writing is an important aspect of English language learning. Having writing skills are useful for human being to make good and smooth communication. Communication that involves writing skill consists two forms, they are, informal written communications, like emails, notes on dairy, privacy letters, etc, and formal written communication, such as, business letter writing, professional report writing, academica writing, scientific writing, etc. For each of these forms, there are certain convention to make it far away from some kinds of errors. People should know the use of the appropriate style and language and structure their writing so as to organize effectively and link their ideas. For instance, in professional report writing or business letter writing, writing a good business document is a craft, not an art. It requires skill, not just talent, and skills can be learnt. Any report written carries the company’s name on the front sheet. Therefore, the standard of writing within the report is a reflection on the company’s reputation. The report may also contain recommendations. To give weight to these, a polished writing style need to be developed. Besides that, it is Universitas Sumatera Utara important utilize letter writing conventions such as standard layout and accepted openings and closings. Recent development in English Language teaching has seen a shift in focus from teaching individual components such as reading, writing, speaking, and grammar toward teaching these components integratively as they are being used in daily communication. This change in methodological approach subsequently affects the way teachers perceive learners errors in writing. Teachers no longer view errors only as those which affect discreet grammatical, lexical, or structural items but also as errors that affect a written text. In other words, teachers today are also concerned about a particular piece of writing communicating effectively and meaningfully by means of its unity coherence and its conforming to the expectations of its prospective readers. Pilus’ experience in teaching writing to pre-university students and undergraduates at the International Islamic University, Malaysia from shttp:exchanges.state.govforumvolsvol34no3p44.htm shows that incoherence is a recurring problem in the students writing and can be a major obstacle to their success in writing classes. She finds that there are just two of the comments written on students papers, they are, I cannot follow your argument and I dont understand what you are saying to indicate the inability of the papers to be understood by their teachers. Unfortunately, unlike grammatical errors which can be easily corrected, errors in coherence are often more difficult to handle as they involve a chunk of units, such as a series of sentences or paragraphs. Because of the difficulties in correcting errors, students sometimes do not get sufficient Universitas Sumatera Utara insights into their errors. Teachers find it impractical to correct the whole erroneous section. 2.1.4 Errors in Students’ Writing Students’s writing at the graduate level need to master specific writing tasks, such as summarizing, paraphrasing, and critiquing the work of others. These tasks are designed to help students understand and execute such tasks since they play an important role in a variety of wriitng projects, from short papers to theses. These tasks that require good skills are the continuation of the previous learning of writing subject that students take from their school such as from their senior high school. From senior high school, students need to demonstrate their skills in such forms of writing for creative and imaginative texts such as essays, short stories, poetry, and drama and for persuasive and informative texts such as reports, proposal, memoranda, and so on. Students are expected to apply effectively the conventions of usage and the mechanics of written English in order that they are able to set and develop their ideas in their mind to produce good writing. Talking about the students’ error in writing, according to Swales and Feak from www. sgs. utoronto. ca english coursedescriptions. asphtt the most common errors that the students make are grammatical errors, such as lack of maintaining subject – verb agreement, lack of mastering the use of verb tenses, using article errors, using relative clauses incorrectly, using direct and indirect questions ineffectively, using incorrect or vague pronoun references, and paying no atention to avoid punctuation errors, and so on. Universitas Sumatera Utara To support Swales’ and Feak’s idea, I will insert the examples of students’ errors in writing that are sited by Oshima and Hogue 1999 : 260 – 261 as follow : The use of Incorrect Error Correct Punctuation I live. And go to school here. Where do you work. I live and go to school here. Where do you work ? Word missing I working in a restaurant. I am working in a restaurant. Capitalization It is located at main and baker streets in the City. It is located at Main and Baker Streets in the city. verb tense I never work as a cashier until I get a job there. I had never worked as a cashier until I got a job there. subject – verb agreement The manager work hard. There is five employees. The manager works hard. There are five employees. make one word or sentence Every one works hard. We work together. So we have become friends. Everyone works hard. We work together, so we have become friends. Spelling The maneger is a woman. The manager is a woman. Plural She treats her employees like slave. She treats her employees like slaves. unnecessary word My boss she watches everyone all the time. My boss watches everyone all the time. Universitas Sumatera Utara wrong word form Her voice is irritated. Her voice is irritating. wrong word The food is delicious. Besides, the restaurant is always crowded. The food is delicious. Therefore, the restaurant is always crowded. pronoun reference error The restaurant’s specialty is fish. They are always fresh. The food is delicious. Therefore, it always crowded. The restaurant’s specialty is fish. It is always fresh. The food is delicious. Therefore, the restaurant is always crowded. wrong word order Friday always is our buisest night. Friday is always our busiest night. run – on Lily was fired she is upset Lily was fired, so she is upset. Lily was fired; therefore, she is upset. comma splice incorrectly joined independent clauses Lily was fired, she is upset. Because Lily was fired, she is upset. Lily is upset because she was fired. fragment incomplete sentence She was fired. Because she was always late. She was fired because she always late. Universitas Sumatera Utara add a transition She was also careless. She frequently spilled coffee on the table. She was also careless. For example, she frequently spilled coffe on the table. Subject Is open from 6:00 P.M. until the last customer leaves. The restaurant is open from 6:00 P.M. until the last customer leaves. Verb The employees on time and work hard. The employees are on time and work hard. Preposition We start serving dinner 6:00 P.M. We start serving dinner at 6:00 P.M. Conjuction The garlic shrimp, fried clams, broiled lobster are the most popular dishes. The garlic shrimp, fried clams, and broiled lobster are the most popular dishes. Article Diners expect glass of water when they first sit down at table. Diners expect a glass of water when they first sit down at the table.

2.2 An Overview of Organization in Writing