make errors because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or a word in a textbook, or even because of a
pattern that was rarely memorized in a drill but improperly contextualized. Two vocabulary items presented contiguously- e.g. look
up and look at- might in later recall be confused simply because of the contiguity of presentation. Or a teacher may provide incorrect
information- not an uncommon occurrence- by way of a misleading definition, word, or grammatical generalization. Another manifestation of
language learned in classroom contexts is the occasional tendency on the part of learners to give unconstructed and inappropriately formal forms
of language. We have all experienced foreign learners whose “bookish” language gives them away as classroom language learners.
Based on Pit Corder in Hubbard, 1983, there are three major causes of errors, which he labels „transfer errors‟, „analogical errors,‟ and
„teaching-induced errors‟.
a. Transfer Errors
The beginning stages of learning a second language are characterized by a predominance of interference of learner‟s native language. In
this early stages, before the system of the second language is a familiar, the native language is only linguistic system in previous
experience upon which the learner can draw.
b. Analogical errors
Although when the learners have discovered a correct rule of the target language, they may still continue to make errors, because they have
not discovered yet the precise set of categories to which the rule applies. Errors which result from this strategy are called analogical
errors.
c. Teaching Induced Errors
Errors in second language learning may appear to be induced by the teaching process itself. In this term the method and the material that
used by the teachers can lead learners to make faulty hypothesis about the language.
While Hubbard proposed slightly different names:
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a. Mother-tongue interference
Although young children appear to be able to learn a foreign language quite easily and to reproduce new sound 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 lead to a “foreign” pronunciation, faulty grammatical patterns and,
occasionally, to the wrong choice of vocabulary.
b. 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 processes 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.
c. Context of learning
A third major source of error, through is overlaps both types of transfer, is the context of learn
ing. “Context” refers to the classroom with the teacher and the material in the case of
school learning or the social situation. In a classroom context, the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner to make faulty
hypothesis about the language what Rich ards called “False
concept” and what Stenson termed “Induced errors.” Students often make errors because of a misleading explanation from
the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in the
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Peter Hubbard et. al., A Training Course for TEFL, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983, pp. 140-143.
textbook, or even because of a pattern, that was rote memorized in a drill but not properly contextualized.
5. The Ways How to Analyze the Errors
