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Norrish defines error is a systematic deviation from the accepted system of the target language. Mistake is non-systematic deviation from the
accepted system of a language being learned and it usually due to human limitation such as tiredness, nervousness, and fatigue.
6
It means that errors may occur because of human factors in mastering the target language such as the
limitation of memory, psychological problem and lack of comprehension of the material of subject, as well as unaware of making errors.
From the definition above, the writer summarizes that error is a part of second language acquisition that happens systematically and consistently
learners and it’s caused by lack of comprehending the linguistic competence.
On the other hand, making errors are part of learning process and no one can learn language without hisher first making errors.
2. Causes of Error
Learner’s error in the target language becomes one of the topics to be discussed among researchers. They talked about why error in the target
language occurs. Error occurs for many reasons. One of the strategies to prevent the learners from making same error again is by looking at the causes
of error itself. Hubbard, et al., said that there are three major causes of errors, they
are mother tongue interference, overgeneralization, and errors encouraged by teaching material or method.
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a. Mother-tongue interference
Mother tongue interference is the result of language transfer caused by learners’ first language or the transfer of grammatical elements from
learners’ mother tongue to the target language such as at morphological
level; Indonesian students tend to omit the plural suffix at the end of the word. For example, two student instead of two students
6
Norrish, Jhon, Language Learner and Their Errors.London: Macmillan 1983,p.7
7
Peter Hubbard. et al.A Training Course for TEFL,New York: Oxford University. Press,1983,p. 140
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b. Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization is the result of faulty or partial learning of the target language. In other words, it happens because learner creating a
deviant structure based on his own experience of other structure in target language. The learners tend to use two tense makers at the same time in
one sentence since they do not mastered the language yet. For example, He is comes here. The use of is is not correct in the sentence. is is used if the
senten ce does not have verb „comes’. The sentence should be ‘he comes
here. Another example, She drinked all the lemonade yesterday. Drinked is not the correct verb form for past tense. The correct one is drank. So, the
sentence should be „She drank all the lemonade yesterday
c. Error encouraged by teaching material or method
The teaching material or method can also contribute to the students errors. Unfortunately, these errors are much more difficult to classify. If the
material is well chosen and presented with meticulous care, there won’t be
any error made by the student. Error can appear to be induced by teaching process itself. In other
words, it is called as teacher-induced errors. For that, Hubbard et al., said, “Error is an evidence of failure of ineffective teaching or lack control. If
material is well chosen, graded, and presented with meticulous care, there should never be error”.
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The errors are difficult to classify without studying the teaching material and teaching technique or method. Corder in A Training Course
for TEFL by Hubbard, et al., admitted, “It is however, not easy to identify such error except in
conjunction with a close study of the material and teaching technique to which the learner has been exposed. This is
probably why so little is known about them. ”
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8
Ibid.,p. 142.
9
Ibid.
