its examination of errors attributable of all possible sources, not just those resulting from negative transfers of the native language.
22
Studying learners’ errors serves two major purposes: 1 It provides data from which inferences about the nature of the language learning process
can be made; 2 It indicates to teachers and curriculum developers which part of the target language students have most difficulty producing correctly and
which error types detract most from a learner’s ability to communicate effectively.
23
3. Model for Error Analysis
In the process, error analysis will require researchers to use certain methodology. Corder identified a model for error analysis which includes three
stages: 1
Data collection: recognition of idiosyncrasy 2
Description: accounting for idiosyncratic dialect 3
Explanation the ultimate object of error analysis.
24
Hubbard gave practical advice and provided clear examples of how to identify and analyze learners’ errors. The initial step requires the selection of a
corpus of language followed by the identification of errors. The errors then
22
ibid., p.218
23
Dulay 1982, op.cit., p.138
24
http:abisamrat03.tripod.comnadalanguageacq-erroranalysis.htmltheo. Accessed on December 7, 2007.
classified. The next step, after giving a grammatical analysis of each error, demands an explanation of different types of errors.
25
Moreover, Gass Selinker identified 6 steps followed in conducting an error analysis: collecting data, identifying errors, classifying errors,
quantifying errors, analyzing source of errors, and remediating for errors.
26
4. Sources of Error
The final step in the analysis of erroneous learner production is that of determining the source of error. By trying to understand sources we can take
another step toward understanding how the learner’s cognitive and affective processes relate to the linguistic system and to formulate an integrated
understanding of the process of the second language acquisition.
27
Errors -overt manifestation of learner’s system- arise from possible general sources: interlingual errors within the target language, the
sociolinguistic context of communication, psycholinguistic or cognitive strategies, and countless affective variables.
28
Pit Corder in Hubbard, 1983 claims that there are three major causes of error, which he labels ‘transfer errors’, ‘analogical errors’, and
‘teaching-induced errors’. While Hubbard proposed a slightly different names;
25
Hubbard 1983, op.cit., p.135-141
26
http:abisamrat03.tripod.comnadalanguageacq-erroranalysis.htmltheo. Accessed on December 7, 2007.
27
Brown 1987, op.cit., p.233
28
ibid., p.218
1 Mother-tongue interference
Although young children appear to be able to learn a foreign language quite easily and to reproduce new sounds very effectively, older
learners experience considerable difficulty. The sound system phonology and the grammar of the first language impose themselves on the new language and
this leads to a “foreign” pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns and, occasionally, to the wrong choice of vocabulary.
2 Overgeneralization
The mentalist theory claims that errors are inevitable because they reflect various stages in the language development of the learner. It claims that
the learner proceeds new language data in his mind and produces rules for its production, based on the evidence. Where the data are inadequate, or the
evidence only partial, such rules may produce incorrect pattern. 3
Errors encouraged by teaching material or method The teaching material or method can also contribute to the students
errors. Unfortunately, these errors are much more difficult to classify, as Pit Corder admits this: “It is, however, now easy to identify such errors except in
conjunction with a close study of the materials and teaching techniques to which the learner has been exposed. This is probably why so little is known
about them.”
29
B. Verb ‘Be’
