3. The Types of Error
To know more about error, the writer tries to write the types of error from some sources. According to Corder, errors fall into four main categories: omission of same required element, addition
of some unnecessary or incorrect element, selection of an incorrect element, and misordering of element.
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a. Omission
Certain linguistic forms may be omitted by the learner because of their complexity in production. Omission also occurs in morphology. Learners often leave out the third person singular
morpheme –s, the plural marker –s and the past tense inflection –ed. A learner could say, for example: A strange thing happen to me yesterday. In stead of: “a strange thing happened to me yesterday”.
b. Addition
Learners not only omit elements which they regard as redundant but they also add redundant element.
For example: - I thinks -
The books is here Instead of “I think” and “the books is here”.
c. Selection
Learners commit errors in pronunciation, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary due to the selection of the wrong phoneme, morpheme, structure or vocabulary item. For example: My friend is
oldest than me. Instead of: “my friend is older than me”.
d. Ordering
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Nsakala Lengo, What is an Error?, English Teaching Forum, July, 1995, p. 22-24
Misordering can occur in morphological level misordering of bound morpheme in English is perhaps less frequent, given their limited number; but in the example “he is get upping now, the learner
attaches the inflection –ing to the particle of the two word verb get up. Nicos N. Michaelides distinguish the type of error of students’ error includes: errors of
performance and errors of competence.
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a. Errors of performance are unsystematic and not very serious, because the students themselves
can be correct them when their attention is drawn to them. These errors are included to carelessness, lapse of memory ill, emotional state, etc; and these errors should not worry us.
b. Errors of competence are persistent and systematic and in consequence serious, and their
treatment calls for careful analysis to discover their cause. These errors represent the learner traditional competence.
From the explanation above, it means that errors of performance are not serious as errors competence and that proper analysis of students can be invaluable to language teaching.
B. Writing
In the curriculum based competence there are four language skills that should be taught to the learner. The four language skills are listening, speaking, reading and writing. Writing is one of the
language skills, it has many subject matters. Some definitions are given by linguist about writing. According to Marianne C. Murcia, writing
is “the ability to express one’s ideas in written form in a second or foreign language”
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. It means that writing is an activity to express our ideas in written forms.
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Nicos N. Michaelides, Error Analysis : An Aid to Teaching English Teaching Forum: October, 1990 VXXVIII,N4, p.28
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Marianne C. Murcia, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers, 1991, p. 233
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