4. The Definition of Error Analysis
Error analysis is a way to reveal errors which are found in speaking or writing. According to James, error analysis is the process of determining the
incidence, nature, cause and consequences of unsuccessful language.
11
Another concept of error analysis is given by
Gass and Selinker “a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learner make.”
12
Two definitions above clarify that error analysis is an activity or process to observe, analyze, classify the errors
which are always made by students either in speaking or writing and also it brings information about student
s’ difficulties either in speaking or writing in English.
Error analysis can be used to analyze the errors that are made by the students. The errors can help the teacher in teaching and learning process because
the teacher can observe the reason or background why the students do the errors.
5. The Stages of Error Analysis
In analyzing learner s’ errors, there are some steps to be followed. Many
linguists have already di scussed how to analyze students’ errors in their book.
Corder in Ellis’ book, he suggests five steps in analyzing students’ errors, they
are:collection of sample of learner language, identification of errors, description of errors, explanation of errors and evaluation of errors.
13
1 Collection of Sample of Learner Language
The first step of analyzing errors which suggested by Corder is collection of sample. In this step, the researcher must decide a number of
11
Carl James, Errors in Language Learning and Use, New York: Wesley Longman Inc., 1998, p. 205
12
Susan M. Gass and Larry Selinker, Second Language Acquisition An Introductory Course Third Edition, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 2008, p. 102
13
Ellis, Op Cit.,p.46
students which is being sample for the research. Then, they will be given regular examination in order to get data.
14
2 Identification of errors
In this step the researcher must identify error from the data collection. For identifying the error, the researcher must compare the sentence that
was produced by students to the correct sentence in the target language.
15
For examples: yesterday I went to Bandung with my mom but
he
didn’t look enjoy there.The correct form in target language isyesterday I
went to Bandung with my mom but she
didn’t look enjoy there. By comparing two sentences it can be seen that the student produced
an error in constructing subject sentence where she wroteheto refermy mom.
3 Description of Errors
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
thetypes of errors. In description of error James introduces a table to make it easy. This table can be seen as below:
16
14
Ibid,.p. 47
15
Ibid., p. 48
16
NamikoSakoda, Error Analysis within Newspaper Reporting Written by Japanese Secondary Students, p. 45
Table 2.1 Description of Errors
LEVEL MODIFICATION
SUBSTANCE TEXT
DISCOURSE GRAMMAR
LEXIS Graphology
RANK: Clause-Phrase-Word-
Morpheme CLASS:
Noun,Verb,Adjective, Adverb,Preposition,
Conjunction,etc. SENSE
RELATION COLOCATIONS
COHESION COHERENCE
GENDER- FIDELITY
FELICITY
OMISSION ADDITION
SELECTION ORDERING
Adapted from Carl James : 1998
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. 4
Explanation of Errors This step will explain why errors occur. This explanation concerned on
the sources of errors.
17
From example above, the researcher may consider that the student above does an error in using subject pronoun instead of using
pronoun whether because of interlingual transferovergeneralization, ignorance of the rule restriction, incomplete application of rules, or false
concept hypothesis.
17
Ellis, Op. Cit., p. 53
5 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 distinguish which errors will be corrected.
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6. The Pronouns
1. The Definition of Pronouns
The researcher will gives some definition of pronouns. Firstthe definition of pronoun according to Payne in his book Understanding English
Grammar A Linguistic Introduction, he wrote pronouns are a word that can be shorted to be noun phrase.
19
In addition, Quirk and friends said on their book “Pronouns share several characteristics, most of which are absent from
nouns.”
20
According to some definitions above, it can be concluded that pronouns are a word that can replace a noun.
2. The Kinds of Pronouns
Pronouns have some different types that can people use in daily activity. There are “I”, “them”, “us” etc that can people usually use. Thus, too many
people only know the word of pronoun whereas words of pronoun have a category.
18
Ibid., p. 56
19
Thomas E. Payne, Understanding English Grammar A Linguistic Introduction, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011, p. 122
20
Randolph Quirk, et al, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, New York: Longman Inc, 1985, p. 335