Types of Error Error Analysis

5. Types of Error

There are three main types of errors. They are lexical errors, grammatical errors, and phonological error. 11 According to Muhammad S. Haded in his book The Merit of Exploiting Error Analysis in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, “ types of error are divided into five:” 12 a. The Omission of Auxiliary This type of error is likely caused by mother tongue interference. The error that figured prominently in the stud ents’ answer, either in the progressive or perfect structure. Example: Mary eaten while Rosale do washing up Please wait till w finished our work b. Incorrect verb forms Includes the wrong formation of past tense of finite verbs and verb. Phrases that have the participle past auxiliary. The error that appeared to be a systematic is the over-generalization of pas tense form. Example: When we arrived to the city, We all feeled tired They leaved just now. The students sometimes have problem with past participle formation. This fault could be attributed to intra-lingual confusion since in some cases the subjects applied the past tense marked” –ed” of regular form to irregular ones. c. Unmarked third person singular verb The students are also sometimes fail to mark the third person singular verb in the simple present tense. Example : He wash his clothes by himself Most of children like candy. 11 Valentino Rido Rasmodjo, Types of Correction Supporting the Learner-Centered Learning … 12 Moh S. Haded, The Merits of Exploiting Error Analysis in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning, RELC. Journal, vol.29, Singapore: SEAMEO Regional language Center, 1998, pp. 60-63 Haded think that errors is not a case of mother tongue interference but it can be attributed to intra lingual difficulty. He also says it make be a consequence of the influence of teaching technique in the sense that Error = in the speech or writing of a second or foreign language learners they use of linguistic item e.g. a word, a grammatical item, a language regards as showing faulty or incomplete learning. Distinction is sometimes made between errors which result from incomplete knowledge and mistake made by a learner when writing or speaking and which is caused by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other aspect performance. 13 As an addition Carl James states that an error arises only when there is no attention to commit one. He also draws distinction between error and mistake, he says, “the learner is inclined and able to correct a fault in his her out put, it is assumed that the form he she selected was not the one intended, and we shall say that the fault is mistake. If, on the other hand, the learner is unable or in anyway disinclined to make the correction, we assume that the form the learner used was one it intended and that is an error.” 14 On the other hand, Corder defi nes, “an err or Is a breach of the language’s code, resulting in an unacceptable utterance: with L2 learners occur because the learners have not yet internalized the information rules of the code. While mistakes or lapses are the result of some failure of performance. They occur when the language user makes a slip such as false star or a confusion of structure. 15 For this paper the writer adopts the definition of error as a noticeable deviation resulting from incomplete knowledge which reveals a portion of learners’ competence in the target language. While a mistake refers to performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip”, in that it is a 13 Jack Ricard, et al, Longaman Dictionary of Language Teaching and applied Linguistic, London: Longman, 1992, p. 127 14 Carl James, Error in language learning and use: Exploring Error Analysis, New York: Addision Wesley Longman limited, 1998, p.78 15 Keith Johnson and Helen Johnson, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistic London: Black Well Publisher inc,. 1999, p.111 failure to utilize a known system correctly. Classroom drills of the form do not make sufficient distinction between marked and marked forms. d. Wrong tense sequence In this case, the wrong tense sequence is coordinate structure. Many students often make wrong tense application. Example: He does not go to school yesterday Rebecca has always been a good girl before she got married. This type of error is not mother tongue inference but mostly due to ignorance of target language restriction on tense sequence. e. Miscellaneous Another type of errors gathered from the study demonstrate a systematic use, for example the use of “be+ infinitive” in: 1 Honey bee are attack people who approach their lives. 2 Almost every child is like ice cream. Betty Azar in her book understanding and using English grammar give guidance for correcting writing errors. In the book, the types of error are explained more details. The errors are classified as: Singular-plural, word form, word choice, verb tense, add a word, omit the word, word order, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, article and meaning not clear, in complete sentence, and run-on sentence. 16 Nicos N. Michaelides also draws the types of error. According to him the types of error are: 1. Error of performance Performance is what actually occurs in practice. Errors performance are errors that occurs in speaker’s performance. This types of error is the result of the mistake language use and manifest themselves as: a. Repeat, for example; they asked me to keep to keep the bottle away. b. Anticipation, for example; on Wednesday he always buys two loaves of bread. 16 Betty S. Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New Jersey: Prentice hall, Inc, 1989, p.29 c. A correlation and repeated, for example; they wanted they said they wanted to leave. 17 These error are unsystematic and not very serious problem because the student themselves can correct. These errors are attributed to carelessness, lapse of memory, sick or emotion state. 2. Error of competence Competence is knowing what is grammatically right. Errors of competence are the result of application rules by the learners of the language that do not yet correspond to the foreign language norm. these errors are persistent and systematic and in consequence serious and their treatment calls for careful analysis to discover their causes.

6. Procedures of Error Analysis