1 Non-linguistics performance 2 Samples of learner language
3 Reports from learners
Ellis and Barkhuizen discuss three types of data collected from learners, one of which is learner reports. Verbal reports are used to investigate different aspects
of L2 acquisition. First of all, it provides samples of learner language, tokens we all like to use in our research. Within the broad category of Verbal Reports, Ellis and
Barkhuizen discuss self-reports, self observation, self revelations, and self assessment.
Corder distinguished two kinds of elicitation: Clinical and Experimental elicitation. Clinical elicitation involves getting the informant to produce data of any
sort, for example by means of general interview or writing a composition. Experimental elicitation involves the use of special instrument to elicit data
containing the linguistic features such as a series of pictures which had been designed to elicit specific features.
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Furthermore, based on those explanations above, the researcher uses the experimental and clinical elicitation language data to analyze learners’ errors. In
other words, the writer use some questions, especially in using present perfect and present perfect continuous tense, to investig
ate or analyze learner’s error.
b. Identification of Errors
The important thing in identification of error is the writer should compare what the learner said with what he intended to express. In other words, we compare
his erroneous utterance with what a native speaker would have said to express that meaning. The researcher have to identify error by comparing original utterances
with what I shall call reconstructed utterances.
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Correct utterances having the meaning intended by the learner. Corder suggests solutions depending on whether we have access to the learners or not.
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Ibid, p. 46
10
Corder, Op.cit., p. 37
Firstly, if the learners present we can ask them what they intended to say to make authoritative reconstruction, it called authoritative interpretation. Then, if the
learners are not available for consultant, we have to attempt an interpretation of their utterances base on its form and its linguistic and situational context.
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Identifying errors is one of the steps of error analysis. To identify errors we have to compare the sentences produced by the learner with the corresponding
sentences native speakers are likely to produce to express the same meanings. This is not always straight forward. Sometimes it is not clear whether a deviation is a
slip of the tongue or a systematic error. Corder distinguished errors from mistakes. Errors reflect gaps in a learners
knowledge of the target language. The learner does not know what is correct. Mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance. The learner knows the correct
form but slips due to nervousness, carelessness or tiredness. For example, many Chinese learners of English, even advanced learners, use he to refer to a female
person in conversations. This is a mistake, not an error, as they know what the correct form is. Learners may correct themselves once they have the time to monitor
their own speech or writing. Based on explanation about identification above, the writer assumes that
identification of errors is not as easy as assumed. It is of importance to both researchers and teachers. For researchers, it is important to collect the right data.
For teachers, it is necessary to treat mistakes and errors differently in their instruction.
c. Description of Errors
To describe the types of error, Dulay, Burt, and Krashen said that there are four types of errors:
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11
Ibid, pp. 37-38
12
Heidi Dulay, Marina Burt, and Stephen Krashen, Language Two, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 154-162
