Identification of the Problems
6
transitional step while students are developing the grammatical rules
2
. Mistakes can be self-corrected when the attention is called, but errors cannot be self-
corrected because the learners don’t know what are correct. Errors may also be viewed as Global or Local. As Brown in “Principles of
Language Learning and Teaching Fifth Edition” 2007:263, when the message
cannot be comprehended by the listener or the reader is called Global Errors; they hinder communication. For example, “I buy a pen but he loves pets so she cries
again in the bathroom”, it would be difficult to comprehend that. In contrast, Local Errors
do not hinder communication; the meaning of the message is still able to be comprehended by the listener or the reader. For example, “ if I knew
your house, I will visit you”, although the sentence is grammatically incorrect, but the message is still able to be comprehended.
Corder, in Brown, differentiates errors between Overt and Covert. “Overtly erroneous utterences are unquestionably ungrammatical at the sentence
level. Covertly erroneous utterences are grammatically well-formed at the sentence level but are not interpretable within the context of communication
3
”. While the overt errors are clearly ungrammatical form, the covert errors are
clearly grammatical, but those cannot be interpretable. For example, “i’m fine” this sentence is grammatically correct, but this is covertly error as being the
answer of “who are you?”. Corder also classifies errors on a superficial basis as errors of omission
where some element is omitted which should be present. Errors of addition where some element is present which should not be there. Errors of selection where the
wrong item has been chosen in the place of the right one. Errors of ordering where the elements presented are correct but wrongly sequenced
4
.
2
J. C. Richards, Error Analysis: Perspective on Second Language Acquisition, London: Longman, 1973, p. 25.
3
Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, San Francisco: Pearson Education, 2007, Fifth Edition, p. 260.
4
S. P. Corder, Error Analysis and Interlanguage, New York: Oxford University Press, 1981, p. 36.