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.
He used the past tense of the verb „contain‟ correctly. However, in the final sentence he says:
- The basket contain a snake Making what seems to be a past tense error. But clearly, the student knows what
the past tense of „contain‟ is as he has already used it correctly once. His failure to say „contained‟ in the last sentence, then, might be considered a mistake
The question arises as to how errors and mistakes can be distinguished. One way might be to check the consistency of learners‟ performance. If they
consistently substitute „contain‟ for „contained‟ this would indicate a lack of
knowledge-an error . However, if they sometimes say „contain‟ and sometimes
„contained‟, this would suggest that they possess knowledge of the correct form and are just slipping up- a mistake. Another way might be to ask learners to try to
correct their own deviant utterance. Where they are unable to, the deviations are errors; where they are successful, they are mistakes.
13
Another examples using this as a test, the sample of learner language one
day an Indian gentleman arrived in England by plane …….the man said to the
little boy, when the little boy was speaking with the traveler, the thief took the big suitcase and went out quickly. The policeman was in the corner whistle but it was
too late. This example suggests that the learners failure to use the correct form of the simple past tense for example whistle instead of whistled constitutes a
mistake rather than an error because other forms are correctly marked arrived, said, took, went out. A learner is considered to make mistakes when he or she has
deviation. A better way of determining where a particular deviation is an error or a mistake is to consult the learner, if the learner is able to self-correct the deviant
form, it can be classified as a mistake. From the explanation above, it can be synthesized that errors happened
because of lack of knowledge, constantly occurred, and it cannot be self corrected, while mistakes happened because of carelessness, temporary lapses of memory,
slips of the tongue, or other performance failure, and it can be self corrected.
13
Ibid., p. 17.
