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discovery of the language.”
2
In learners’ errors, the teacher will also know which part of the subject matter that most students make error and most
students do not. Concerning the importance of errors, the writer realizes that there should
be a process to analyze the error, which is called error analysis. According to James “Error Analysis is the process of determining the incidence, nature,
causes and consequences of unsuccessful language.”
3
Through the error analysis teacher or researcher expects to know more why students make some
errors and the learners are expected not to do the same errors again in the future.
Based on the statements above, the writer summarizes that error analysis is a procedure that is done by the teacher because of the unacceptable forms
produced by someone who learns a foreign language. It is not only to give a feedback for the learner itself but also for the teacher. The teacher will know
how far the learners acquire the material that is given. To know more about error analysis, how many types of it, and the
differences between error and mistake, complete explanation will be discussed in this following part.
1. The Definition of Error
There are some definitions of error. According to Dulay, “Errors are
flawed side of leaner speech and writing. ”
4
While in his 1967 paper, Corder defined, “Error is a systematic deviation made by learners who have not yet
mastered the rules of the L2. ”
5
According to the statement above it can be seen that error is a part of foreign language learning process and no one can learn language without
2
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994, Third Edition, p. 205
3
Carl James, Errors in Language Learning and Use: Exploring Error Analysis, New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1998, p. 1
4
Heidi Dulay, Language Two …., p. 138
5
Diane Larsen-freeman and Michael H. Long, An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research, New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999, p. 59
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hisher first making error. Besides that, the error which learners made is because their lack of comprehending the L2 rules.
Beside the errors, students also do some mistakes. All students make mistakes at various stage of their language learning. It is part of the natural
process they are going through and occurs for a number of reasons.
6
There are the differences between error and mistake, as Hubbard in his book stated that
“Error caused by lack of knowledge about the target language English or by incorrect hypotheses about it; and unfortunate
mistakes caused by temporary lapses of memory, confusion, slips of the tongue and so on.
”
7
According to Brown , “A mistake refers to a performance error that is
either a random guess or a „slip,’ in that it is a failure to utilize a known
system correctly…an error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner.
”
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Another way to differentiate between error and mistake is error cannot be self-corrected and mistake can be self-corrected.
Based on the definition above it can be concluded that errors and mistakes are different. Errors refer to the failures in using the language
system correctly which are caused by the lack of the students’ competence. Then mistakes refer to the failures in using the language system correctly
that caused by several factors such as memory lapses, carelessness, etc.
2. The Types of Errors
