The Types of Error

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. 18

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