The Significance of the Research

6 on common difficulties in language learning, as an aid in teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials. ” 6 Another concept of error analysis is given by Brown. He defined error analysis as “the process to observe, analyze, and classify the deviations of the rules of the second language and then to reveal the systems operated by learner. ” 7 It seems this concept is similar with the one proposed by Crystal i.e. “error analysis is a technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someone learning a foreign language, using any of the principles and procedures provided by linguistics. ” 8 “Theoretical analysis of errors, mainly deals with the process and strategies of language learning and its similarities with first language acquisition. In other words, it tries to investigate what is going on in the minds of language learners. Secondly, it tries to decode the strategies of learners such as overgeneralization and simplification, and thirdly, to go to a conclusion that regards the universals of language learning process whether there is an internal syllabus for learning a second language. ” 9 Before we go further on explaining about the error and its characteristics, it is necessary to pay our attention to the distinction between an error and a mistake as what some linguists call them two different phenomena. According to Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, “a learner makes a mistake when writing or speaking because of lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other aspects of performance. Mistake can be self- corrected when attention is called. Whereas, an error is the use of linguistic item in a way that a fluent or native speaker of the language regards it as showing faulty or incomplete learning, In other words, it occurs because the learner does 6 Richards, J.C., ed, Error Analysis, 1985, London: Longman, p.96 7 Brown, H.D., Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 1980, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.,p.166 8 Crystal, D., A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 2 nd Edition, 1987, New York: Basil Blackwell Inc., p. 112 9 Vacide Erdogan, Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching, volume 1, Issue 2, December 2005, p.263