production, based on the evidence only partial, such us rules may produce incorrect pattern.
c. Errors encouraged by teaching material or method
The teaching material or method can also contribute to the student’s errors. Unfortunately, these errors are much more difficult to classify, as Pit
Corder admits this: ―… it is, however, not easy to identify such errors except in conjunction with a close of the materials and teaching technique to which
the learner has been exposed. This is probably why so little is known about them.‖
15
The writer concludes that there are three sources of error according to Hubbard et.al. They are mother-tongue interference which actually same with
the ―interlingual‖ term from Brown, overgeneralization which caused by the insufficient knowledge of the learners about the rule of their target language,
andthe last source is errors encouraged by teaching material or method which similar with what Brown named ―context of learning.‖
The writer summarizes what some experts have explained above. As a whole, there are three main sources of errors. First, error happens because the
influence of the student’s mother language is called interlingual. Second, error happens because the target language itself is called intralingual. Third, error
happens because the influence of the process in teaching and learning when the teachers explain the language.
4. Differences Between Mistake and Error
Learning a language is fundamentally process that involves making of mistakes or errors. The mistakes include with vocabulary items, grammatical
pattern and sound patterns as well. Based on Corder in Susan and Larry, ―mistakes are akin to slips of the
tongue. That is, they are to recognize it as mistake and correct it if necessary. An error, on the other hand, is systematic. That is, it is likely to occur
15
Peter Hubbard, etal., A Training Course for TEFL,New York: Oxford University press, 1983, pp140
—144.
repeatedly and is not recognized by the learner as an error.‖
16
It means that an error is something that learner do not realize it and always occur, and mistake
is something that learner can correct it if needed because they know where the wrong on their work is.
According to Hubbard et.al, ―Error caused by lack of knowledge about
the target language English or by incorrect hypotheses about it; and mistakes caused by temporary lapses of memory, confusion, slip of the tongue and so
on.‖
17
Based on the statements above, error can appear due to the insufficient knowledge or the inappropriate rule about the language being learned; while
mistake happens because of the learner forget about the rule or their carelessness when do the work.
Furthermore, Brown explains that; A mistake refers to performance error that is either a random guess or a ―slip‖ in that it is a failure to utilize a
knownsystem correctly. All people make mistakes, in both native and second language situation. While error is a noticeable deviation from the adult
grammar of a native speaker, reflects the competence of the learner and an erro
r that reveals of a portion of the learner’s competence in the target language.
18
Corder made a distinction between a mistake and error. Whereas a mistake is a random performance slip caused by fatigue, excitement, etc., and
therefore can be readily self-corrected, an error is systematic deviation made by learners who have not yet mastered the rules of the L2. A learner cannot
self-correct an error because it is a product reflective of his or her current stage of L2 development, or underlying competence.
19
Fi siak distinguished between error and mistake as follows: ―mistakes
are deviations due to performance factors such as memory limitations e.g., mistakes in the sequence of tenses and agreement in long sentences, spelling,
16
Gass and Selingker, loc.cit.
17
Hubbard, loc.cit.
18
Brown, op.cit, 2007, p. 257.
19
Diane Larsen-Freeman and Michael H. Long, An Introduction to Second language Acquisition Research, London: Longman, 1991, p. 59.
pronunciations, fatigue, emotional strain, etc. errors, on the other hand, are system a given stage of learning.‖
20
According to the understanding of mistakes and error above, it can be distinguished the difference between mistakes and errors. Mistakes are
unsystematic of production which the students could correct their own mistakes if their attention in focus and they realize what mistakes that they
had done. In the opposite, students do not understand that they had done and consistently do the same error. They find it so hard to correct the errors they
made. Furthermore, a mistake can be self-corrected by the students but an error cannot be self corrected by the students.
B. Error Analysis
1. Understanding of error analysis
There are many understanding of error analysis that is suggested by some
experts. According to Gass and Selingker, ―Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make.‖
21
It means that error analysis is a kind of linguistic analysis that concentrates on the errors
made by learners. Brown s
tates that ―error analysis is the fact that learners do make errors and that these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to reveal
something of the system operating within the learner, led to a surge of study of learner’s errors.‖
22
It implies that error analysis is a procedure including observing, analyzing and classifying the errors on the second language rules
and disclosing systems controlled by the learners. Meanwhile, according to James, ―error analysis is the process of
determining the incidence, nature, causes and consequences of unsuccessful language.‖
23
In other words, error analysis is the procedure to decide the occurrence, nature, reasons and results of failed-learning of a language.
20
Jack Fisiak, Constractive Linguistics and the Language Teacher, New Jersey: Prentice hall,Inc, 1987, p. 205.
21
Gass and Selingker, op.cit, 2008, p. 102
22
Brown, op,cit, 2007, p.259
23
James, op, cit, 1998, p.1
Based on some definitions above, it can be concluded that error analysis is a type of analysis which includes the process of observing,
analyzing and classifying the errors on the second language rules and disclosing systems controlled by the learners. It also can be said as way to
investigate the error made by students to get some important data about students’ difficulty in learning a language. It is believed by knowing more
detail about problems faced by the students and solve it, the teacher will improve their teaching to avoid their students in making the same error again.
2. The Procedure of Error Analysis
There are five steps in conducting an error analysis, they are: 1.
Collecting of a sample of learner language The type of data collected can have a marked effect on the result of an
error analysis, as a result of the different production processes which they typically involve. For example, Logoco found differences in the number and
type of errors in samples of learner language collected by means of free composition, translation, and picture composition.
24
2. Identification of Errors
The definition of ‘error’ is problematic, as James admits. The difficulty centers on a number of issues. The first is whether grammatically i.e. well-
formedness or acceptability should serve as criterion. An utterance may be gra
mmatically correct but pragmatically unacceptable. ‘I want to read tour newspaper’ addressed a complete stranger is grammatical but pragmatically
unacceptable.
25
3. Description of Errors
24
Rod Ellis, The Study of Second Language Acquisition, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 46
25
Ibid.,pp. 47 —48.
