20 are preparing themselves to practice teaching in the real schools. It means that
they should be able to use correct and proper English phrasal verbs in order to be the good model for their students.
2. Brief Review on Language Errors
This section deals with the errors the students committed in their test. This theory is useful for the data analysis presented in chapter four. There are two
major points. The first is the definitions of errors and the second is the discussion on causes of errors.
a. Definitions of Errors
There are many definitions of errors proposed by linguists. One of them is proposed by
Dulay, Bart, and Krashen in their book Language Two 1982: 138. Dulay et al. define errors as the flawed side of learners’ speech or writing. “They
are those parts of conversation or composition that deviate from some selected norm of mature language performance” Dulay et al., 1982: 138. In other words,
error is the systematic deviation because the learner is still developing knowledge of the second language rule system. These errors can be in the students’ speech or
writing. People sometimes are confused with the difference between errors and
mistakes. According to Ellis 2003: 17, “errors reflect gaps in learner’s knowledge; they occur because the learner does not know what is correct”. Then,
Ellis 2003:17 states that “mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they
21 occur because, in a particular instance, the learner is unable to perform what he or
she knows.” On the other hand, Brown 1994: 205 defines error and mistake in another
way. Brown 1994: 205 defines a mistake as “a performance error which refers to a failure to utilize a known system correctly.” It means that the person who makes
mistake is not successful in utilizing a known system correctly. In addition,
Brown 1994: 205 defines the mistake as “the imperfection of speech production
such as hesitations and slips of the tongue.” Then, according to Brown 1994: 205, “an error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native
speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner.” Meanwhile, Dulay et al. 1982: 139 prefer to distinguish between “errors
caused by factors such as fatigue and inattention what Chomsky 1965 called performance” factor, and errors resulting from lack of knowledge of the rules of
the language what Chomsky 1965 called “competence”.” It is agreed by Corder 1974: 24-25 who also prefers to distinguish between errors of
performance, which are unsystematic, and errors of competence, which are systematic.
According to Dulay et al. 1982: 139, “in some of second language literature, performance errors have been called “mistakes” while the term “ errors”
was reserved for the systematic deviations due to the learner’s still developing knowledge of the second language rule system.” In other words, what Corder
1974: 24-25 and Chomsky 1965, in Dulay et al.’s book entitled Language Two, mean by errors of performance here is as Ellis 2003: 17 and Brown 1994: 205
22 call mistakes, and the errors of competence is the same as errors in Ellis and
Brown’s definition. Although some linguists have defined the differences of errors and
mistakes, Brown 1994: 206 states that it is not always simple to distinguish
between an error and a mistake. Therefore, this research does not differentiate between errors and mistakes. In this research, the term errors refer to the
explanation proposed by Dulay et al. 1982: 139 which just define the errors because of some factors either because of fatigue or lack of knowledge. In this
study, furthermore, the errors refer to the students’ answers in the test which are inappropriate and deviate from the rule of phrasal verbs patterns without really
considering they are errors or mistakes.
b. Brief Review on the Causes of Errors
