example errors can useful for students, teacher and syllabus designer to make a good education in the future.
2. Errors versus Mistakes
At this point, Corder introduces an important distinction between ―errors‖ and ―mistakes‖.
Mistakes are deviations due to performance factors such as memory limitations eg mistakes in the sequence of tenses and agreement in long
sentences, spelling pronunciation, fatigue, emotional strain, etc. On the other hand, Errors are systematic, consistent deviances characteristics of
the learner’s linguistic system at a given stage of learning.
7
According to James that ―if the students is inlined and able to correct a fault in his or her output, it is assumed that the form he or she selected was not
the one intended, and it shall say that the fault is a mistake. On the other hand, if the students is unable or in any way disinclined to make the correction, it
assume the form the students used was the one intended, and that it is an error.‖
8
From explanation above, it is clear that error and mistake are exactly different. When students make error, they do not know what is correct and
occurs repeatedly. Meanwhile, mistake can occur because of slips of the tongue, and students can correct by themselves because they know what is
correct. For examples of the errors, My brother is more smarter than My sister,
My brother is more smart than My sister, exectera. It is called error because it occurs repeatedly when the students do exercises. However, the teacher has
taught the students. The students still do incorrect in their exercise. In other side, for examples of the mistakes, My brother is smarter My sister, My brother
is smarter than My sister. It is called mistake because the students only do incorrect sentence in the first statement. But in the next statement, the students
have known to make correct sentence.
7
Jacek Fisiak. Contrastive Linguistics and Language Teacher, New York:Oxford Pergamon Press,1981, p. 224.
8
Carl James, Errors in Language Learning and Use, New York:Wesley Longman,1998, pp. 77
—78.
3. The Definition of Error Analysis
To know errors which are made by students, the teachers must do error analysis. Brown stated that
―Error analysis is a branch of applied linguistics where the teacher can observe, analyze and classify errors that students made
to reveal something of the system operating within the learner, led to a surge of study of learners’ errors.‖
9
Then, Ellis also argued that ―Error Analysis EA was one of the first
method used to investigate learner language. It achieved considerable popularity in the 1970s, replacing contrastive analysis.
‖
10
Based on the statements above, when a teacher wants t o know students’
error in language learning, he or she must do an analysis. This analysis can be useful for the teacher what errors which are made by students. By knowing
errors, the teachers can improve their teaching quality in order that the errors can be minimized.
4. The Steps of Error Analysis
When the teachers know some errors is made by their students, Error analysis should be realized to know what is a problem. Therefore, the teachers
should know some steps in error analysis. Based on Fisiak, he said that ―the steps of error analysis are collection of data, identification of errors,
classification into error types, statement of relative frequency of error types, identification of the areas of difficulty in the target language, therapy or
remedial.‖
11
Collection of data by students from examination answers which the teachers give the exercise. Then, identification of errors which is labeling with
varying degrees of precision depending on the linguistic sophistication brought to bear on the tasks by respecting to the exact nature of the deviation, dangling
preposition, sequencing of tenses.
9
H. Douglas Brown, Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, New York:Pearson Longman, 2007, p. 259.
10
Rod Ellis, The Study of Second Language Acquisition, New York:Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 68.
11
Fisiak, op. cit, p. 222.
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