of the second language learning made by learner, and it is carried out to get information on common difficulties faced by learner which in turns helps teachers
to correct the students‟ errors, and improves the effectiveness of their teaching.
2. Distinction between Error and Mistake
Corder defines “mistake is a random performance caused by fatigue,
excitement, etc. and therefore can be readily self-corrected, while error is systematic deviation made by learners who have not yet mastered the rules of the
target language. Consequently, learners cannot self correct an error because it is a product reflective of the learners‟ stage of target language development or
underlying competence ”.
9
Meanwhile, James differentiates between errors and mistakes. He defines “errors as a systematic mistakes due to lack of language competence, while
mistakes refer to performance errors because of a random guess or slip. Error cannot be self-corrected; mistakes can be self-corrected if the deviation is pointed
out to the speaker ”.
10
Furthermore, Edge offers simpler definitions which are especially important for classroom teachers to keep in mind. He states that
“a slip or mistake is what a learner can self-correct, and error is what a learner cannot self-correct
”.
11
In addition Ellis stated that “errors reflect gaps in a learner‟s knowledge;
they occur because the learner does not know what is correct. Then mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they occur because, in a particular
instance, the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows ”.
12
There is an example of an apparent „mistake‟ in student‟s speech, in the narrative he says:
- The big of them contained a snake
9
Diane – Larsen Freeman, and Michael H. Long, An Introduction to Second Language
Acquisition Research, New York: Longman, 1991, p. 59-60.
10
H. Douglas Brown, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, 4
th
edition, New York: Longman, 2000 p. 217.
11
Ibid.,
p. 217.
12
Rod Ellis, Second Language Acquisition, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 17.
