The Definition of Error Analysis
b. Identification of errors
In this step the researcher must identify error from data collection. For identifying error, the researcher must compare the sentence that was
produced by students to the correct sentence in the target language. For
examples:
Sari watched TV, and Rudi sleeped in his room. The correct form in target language is
Sari watched TV, and Rudi slept in his room. By comparing two sentences it can be seen that the student
produced an error in constructing simple past tense sentence where she used
–ed after sleep instead of using irregular verb. c.
Description of Errros After identifying errors, the next step is description of errors. In
this step, all errors that have been identified, then they would be classified into the types of errors. In description of error James introduces a table to
make it easy. This table can be seen as below.
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16
Carl James, Error in Language Learning and Use: Exploring Error Analysis, New York: Wesley Longman Inc., 1998, p. 274.
Table 2.1 Description of Errors
LEVEL
MODIFICA TION
SUBSTANCE TEXT
DISCOURSE GRAMMAR
LEXIS Graphology
Spelling RANK:
Clause-Phrase- Word-
Morpheme CLASS:
Noun,Verb,Adjecti ve,
Adverb,Preposition ,
Conjunction,etc. SENSE
RELATION COLOCATI
ON COHESION
COHERENCE GENDER-
FIDELITY FELICITY
Ommision Addition
Selection Ordering
The horizontal columns indicate the levels of errors: substance, text and discourse whereas the vertical columns show the types of errors which
consist of omission, addition, Misformationmisselection, and misorder. d.
Explanation of Errors This step will explain why errors occur. This explanation concerned
on the sources of errors. From example above, the researcher may consider that the student above does an error in using
–ed regular verb instead of using
irregular verb
whether because
of interlingual
transferovergeneralization, ignorance of the rule restriction, incomplete application of rules, or false concept hypothesis.
e. Evaluation of Errors
In this step, the researcher must decide the criteria of errors which will be corrected because some errors can be considered more serious than
other. The aim of evaluating errors is to distinct which errors will be corrected so the learner, which made an error, will not be stress of getting
correction. 3.
Goal of Error Analysis
According to Norrish, “Error analysis can give a picture of the type of difficulty that learners are experiencing. If carried out on a large scale such as
survey, it can be helpful in drawing up a curriculum.”
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Based on this opinion, error analysis can be helpful for syllabus designers because errors found in
language learning can be data for them to determine which materials are important to be included and which ones need to be improved.
While Corder makes a distinction between the theoretical and applied goal of error analysis. They are:
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a. Applied goal aspect is, correcting and eradicating the learners error at the
expense of the more important and logically prior task of evolving an explanatory theory of learners performance. In other word, the applied
goal serves to enable the students to learn more efficiently by exploiting their knowledge.
b. Theoretical goal aspect is as worthy of study in and on itself as is that of
child language acquisition and can, in turn, provide insights into the process of language acquisition in general.
17
John Norrish, Language Learners and their Errors, London: The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1983, p.80
18
Pit Corder in Jacek Ficiak, Contrastive Linguistics and Language Teacher, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1981, p. 225.