Note: - The underlined word is misfordering - The bold printed sentences are adopted from Dulay, et al.
d. Explanation of Errors
Ellis maintains that explaining the cause of errors is the most important for a research as it involves an attempt to establish the process responsible for second
language acquisition.
22
Hubbard, et al., said that there are three major causes of errors, they are mother tongue interference, overgeneralization,
and errors encouraged by teaching material or method
.
23
a. Mother Tongue Interference
Mother tongue interference is the result of language transfer caused by learners’ first language or the transfer of grammatical elements from learners’
mother tongue to the target language such as at morphological level; Indonesian students tend to omit the plural suffix at the end of the word. For example, two
student instead of two students
b. Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization is the result of faulty or partial learning of the target language. In other words, it is caused by learner creates a deviant structure based
on his own experience of other structure in target language. The learner tended to use two tense markers at the same time in one sentence since they have not
mastered the language yet. For example, When they say He is comes here, it is because the singularity of the third person requires is in present progressive
tense and -s at the end of the main verb in present simple tense. Another
example, she drinked all the lemonade. It is because of the use of suffix -ed for all verbs in forming past tense.
c. Errors Encouraged by Teaching Material or Method
Error can appear to be induced by teaching process itself. In other words, it is called as teacher-induced errors. For that, Hubbard et al., said, “Error is an
22
Ellis, op.cit., p. 53
23
Peter Hubbard, et al., A Training Course for TEFL, New York: Oxford University Press, 1983pp. 140—142.
evidence of failure of ineffective teaching or lack control. If material is well chosen, graded, and presented with meticulous care, there should never be
error”.
24
The errors are difficult to classify without studying the teaching material and teaching technique or method. Corder in A Training Course for TEFL by
Hubbard, et al., admitted, “It is however, not easy to identify such error except in conjunction with a close study of the material and teaching technique to which the
learner has been exposed. This is probably why so little is known about them.”
25
For example,I am go to school every day. It is caused by teacher giving more emphasizing on one tense, present progressive tense, so learners overuse it when
moving on to a new patterns. Furthermore, Richard characterized three sources of errors, they are
interference errors, intralingual errors and developmental errors.
26
1 Interference Errors occur as a result of ‘the use of elements from one language while speaking another’. It is also said that students who learn
English as a second language, and when first language and English come into contact with each other there are often confusions which provoke
errors in a learner’s use of English. Brown called this term as interlingual transfer; he said that in the stage, before the system of the second language
is familiar, the native language is the only linguistic system which the learner can draw. For example, the learner said “the book of Jack” instead
of “Jack’s book”.
27
2 Intralingual Errors are those which reflect the general characteristic of rule learning, such as faulty generalization, incomplete application of
rules, and failure to learn conditions under which rules apply. 3 Developmental Errors occur when the learner attempt to build up
hypothesis about the target language on the basis of limited experience of
24
Ibid., p. 142.
25
Ibid .
26
Richard, op.cit., p. 174.
27
Brown, op.cit., p. 177.
it in the classroom or text book. Brown called this term as “context of learning” instead of developmental errors.
Errors occurred for many reason, still in explaining learners’ errors the researcher uses Brown terms; interlingual transfer, intralingual transfer, and
context of learning. In interlingual errors, a student may make error because heshe assumes that the target language and his native language are similar, in
fact, they are different. Another obvious cause is an incomplete knowledge of the target language and the complexity of target language. The error occurs because
of the difficulty of processing forms that are not yet fully mastered, which is known as intralingual errors and context of learning is also the cause of errors. In
this case, the book or the method being used in teaching learning process do not suit the students, so it may cause the students cannot understand the material
being learn and the students less motivated.
e. Evaluation of Errors
Error evaluation involves a consideration of the effect that errors have on the person s addressed. This effect can be measured either of the addressee’s
comprehension of the students meaning or in terms of the addressee’s affective response to the errors. However, Ellis states that if the addressees are native
speakers, they appear to be more concern with the effect that an error has on their comprehension, while if the addressees is non-native speakers, they are more
influenced by their ideas of what constitute the ‘basic’ rules of the target language.
28
Moreover, error evaluation also involves determining the seriousness of different errors which one receives instruction. In case, the addressee is a non-
native speaker teacher, heshe should give the correction of errors according to nature and significance of errors, priority should be given to errors which may
affect communication and cause misunderstanding. Harmer in Erdogan suggests three steps to be followed by the teacher when errors happened. The teacher first
listens to the students, then identifies the problem, and puts it right in the most
28
Ellis, op.cit., pp. 56-57
efficient way. Except for correcting written work, the teacher should not correct the errors directly but instead, should put marks representing there is something
wrong with that sentence.
f. Common Error in Using Preposition
Martiin Parrot states that many learners often see prepositions as major of problem.
1. There are so many preposition in English many more than in a lot of
other language and learner often have to make choices and distinctions there are not necessary in their own language.
2. Many choices have little or nothing to do with meaning, and are
therefore particularly difficult to remember.
29
The statement above indicates that many students are difficult how to put the correct preposition. Even though some of the students have already known of
preposition, they still can make the wrong pattern in the preposition well. The error can be found in students constructing the context whether in that context
should be used preposition. It also can be happened in choosing others kind of preposition in others situation or context.
Parrot claims that there are some of the factors that may cause learner’s difficulty in learning preposition:
1. Preposition may be very similar in meaning and the learner’s first
language may not make equivalent distinctions. 2.
Verbs, adjectives and nouns with similar or related meanings may require different prepositions.
3. Verbs in the learner’s language may require a particular preposition
whreas a similar verb in English may require no preposition or one which is used in contexts the learner finds surprising.
4. Different part of speech of the same word may require different
preposition.
30 29
Martin parrot, Grammar for English Language Teacher, printed in United Kingdom; Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 83,.
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