10 knowledge of the target language. In other words, errors occur when learners do
not master a concept or even misunderstand it p. 17.
On the other hand, Dulay, Burt, Krashen 1982 use the term errors to refer to “any deviation from some selected norm of mature language performance,
no matter what the characteristics or causes of the deviation might be” p. 139. Radford 1997 has proposed another way of defining errors. He states that
misproductions and misinterpretations are performance errors. He defines competence as having tacit knowledge of the grammar of the language; while
performance, which is the reflection of the competence, is the actual use of language in concrete situations p. 2. Similarly, Brown 2000 defines
competence as one’s underlying knowledge of a system, event, or fact whereas performance is the realization of competence p. 30.
Considering that distinguishing errors and mistakes is not simple, this study does not differentiate those two terms. This study drew on the theories of
error proposed by Ellis 1997, Dulay et al. 1982 and Radford 1997. In other words, in this study the term errors refers to any of the students’ misproduction
which shows misunderstanding or failure to perform what the students have already understood about basic noun phrase formation.
b. Error Analysis
According to Richards et al. 1992, error analysis is the study and analysis of the errors made by second language learners. Error analysis may be carried out
for several reasons: in order to identify strategies which learners use in language learning, to try to identify the causes of learner errors, to obtain information on
11 common difficulties in language learning, and as an aid to teaching or in the
preparation of teaching materials p. 127. Dulay et al. 1982 add that error analysis is the study of learners’ error
and closely related to contrastive analysis. They state, based on contrastive analysis, that the differences between the first and the second languages were
thought to account for the majority of a second language learner’s errors p. 140. According to Corder 1967, as cited by Ellis, Rod, Barkhuizen 2005,
error analysis EA is “a set of procedures for identifying, describing, and explaining learner errors.” They add that learner’s errors have three significant
roles in error analysis. They serve a pedagogic purpose by showing teachers what learners have learned and what they have not yet mastered; a research purpose by
providing evidence about how languages are learned; and a learning purpose by acting as devices by which learners can discover the rules of the target language
i.e. by obtaining feedback on their errors p. 51. In brief, error analysis is a study which identifies, describes and explains second language learners’ errors to
provide data analysis and feedback.
c. Types of Errors
Dulay et al. 1982 present the most useful and commonly used bases for the descriptive classification of errors. They are 1 linguistic category; 2 surface
strategy taxonomy; 3 comparative analysis; and 4 communicative effect.
1 Linguistic Category Taxonomy
The linguistic category taxonomy classifies errors “according to either or both the language component or the particular linguistic constituent the error
12 affects.” Language component include phonology pronunciation, syntax and
morphology grammar, semantics and lexicon meaning and vocabulary, and discourse style. Constituents include the elements that comprise each language
component.
2 Surface Strategy Taxonomy
Surface strategy taxonomy highlights the ways surface structures are altered. This taxonomy more concerns with identifying students’ cognitive
process of acquiring a new language. This taxonomy is divided into four sub- classifications, namely omission, addition, misformation, and misordering.
a Omission
Omission errors are characterized by the absence of an item that must appear in a well-formed sentence, for example, Mary president new company
instead of Mary is the president of the new company.
b Addition
Addition errors are characterized by the presence of an item which must not appear in a well-formed sentence. There are three types of addition errors,
namely double marking, regularization, and simple addition. Double marking refers to an error which contains two or more items that are marked for the same
feature e.g. We didn’t went there. Besides, regularization errors that fall under the addition category are those in which a marker that is typically added to a
linguistic item is erroneously added to exceptional items of given class that do not take a marker. For example, sheeps and putted are both regularizations in which
the regular plural and past tense markers –s and –ed, respectively, have been
13 added to items which do not take markers. The last type of addition errors is
simple addition. If an addition error is not a double marking or a regularization, it is called a simple addition.
c Misformation
Misformation errors are characterized by the use of the wrong form of morpheme or structure. While in omission errors the item is not supplied at all, in
misformation errors the learner supplies something, although it is incorrect, for example, the dog eated the chicken. As in the case of addition, misformations are
not random. There are three types of misformations errors, namely regularization errors, archi-forms, and alternating forms.
Regularization errors that fall under the misformation category are those in which a regular marker is used in place of an irregular one, as in runned, gooses
for geese. Archi-forms refer to forms selected by the learners. Dulay et al. 1982 give example, a learner may temporarily select just one of the English
demonstrative adjectives this, that, these, and those, to do the work for several of them, as seen in that dog and that dogs. The last type is alternating forms.
Alternating forms refer to apparently fairly free alternation of various member of a class with each other as seen in those dog and this cats p. 160.
d Misordering
Misordering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morpheme in a well-formed sentence. For example, he is
all the time late instead of he is late all of the time.
14
3 Comparative Analysis Taxonomy
Dulay et al. 1982 state that the classification of errors in a comparative taxonomy is based on comparisons between the structure of second language and
certain other types of constructions p. 163. According to Johnson and Johnson 1999, as cited in Harendita 2009, in comparative taxonomy, the second
language learners’ errors are classified by similarity with the children’s first language learner deviations from target language norms andor similarity with the
errors made by second language speakers from different first language background p. 14.
4 Communicative Effect Taxonomy
The communicative effect taxonomy deals with errors from the perspective of their effect on the listener or reader. It focuses on distinguishing
between errors that seem to cause miscommunication and those that do not.
d. The Causes of errors
