BASIC IDEA OF ERROR ANALYSIS IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

1. “GENERAL LINGUISTICS”
ASSIGNED BY: DR.ADNAN TAHIR
PRESENTED BY: MR.SHAUKAT HAYAT
M.PHIL.LINGUISTICS
IST SEMESTER

2. BASIC TERMINOLOGY
1: EA:ERROR ANALYSIS
2: CA:CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS
3. L1:LANGUAGE OF LEARNER
4. L2:LANGUAGE TO BE LEARNT
5. SLA:SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

3. DIACHRONIC JOURNEY OF THE CONCEPT:
TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT CORDER(1967):
1.ERROR COMMITMENT IS LINKED WITH TEACHING METHOD
• IF TEACHING METHOD WAS ADEQUATE,THE ERRORS WOULD NOT BE COMMITTED
2.WE LIVE IN AN IMPERFECT WORLD AND ERROR CORRECTION IS SOMETHING REAL
• APPLIED LINGUIST CANNOT DO WITHOUT IT NO MATTER WHAT TEACHING APPROACH THEY MAY USE.
• CHOMSKY’S EXPLANATION OF COMPETENCE AND PERFORMANCE A BASIS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF
MISTAKES AND ERRORS.
• ERRORS ARE INDICATION OF AN INCOMPLETE LEARNING
• COMPETENCE OF SPEAKER IS JUDGED BY MEANS OF ERROR
• IT GIVES A MEASURE OF THE LINGUISTIC DATA HE/SHE HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO
• PERFORMANCE DOES NOT REPRESENT THE LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE THAT THE SPEAKER HAS
• J.RICHARD ET AL(2002)PEOPLE MAY HAVE THE COMPETENCE TO PRODUCE AN INFINITLY LONG
SENTENCE BUT IN ATTEMPT TO USE THIS KNOWLEDGE THERE ARE MANY REASONS WHY THEY RESTRICT
THE NUMBER OF ADJECTIVES,ADVERBS AND CLAUSES

5. Error Analysis
What is EA?
EA is a technique which aims to
describe and explain the systematic
nature of deviations or errors
generated in the learner’s language.

6. Error Analysis
 The importance of EA?
2. EA helps to understand the
process of SLA.
3. EA shows statistically the
troublesome linguistic areas or
errors that L2 learners encounter
in learning.

7. Error Analysis
1. The errors give valuable feedback
to both teachers and learners
regarding learner strategies and
progress.
2. The errors also provide
researchers with insights into the
nature of SLA process.

8. EAAssumptions
1.EA is not restricted to errors
caused by negative transfer
from the L1, it covers all types
of errors.

9. EAAssumptions
1.EA, unlike CA, provides data
on real problems and this may
lead to right solutions in the L2
teaching.

10. EAAssumptions
1.EA is not confronted with
problems such as accurate and
explicit descriptions of
languages, compatibility,
knowing the two languages,
etc.

11. EA Methodology
1. Collection of errors
2. Identification of errors
3. Classification of error types

12. 6. Determination of
EA Methodology
4. Statement of relative
frequency of error types
5. Identification of the areas
of difficulty in the L2
the source of errors

13. EA Methodology
7. Determination of
the seriousness of the error
8. Remedy by the teacher
in the classroom

14. Classification of Errors
Interlingual Errors Intralingual Errors
Or Or
Transfer Errors, Overgeneralization
i.e. Errors due to Errors, i.e. Errors
the effect from due to the effect
L1. from L2.

15. /b/ for /p/ Semantic
Classification of Errors
Interlingual Errors Intralingual Errors
Phonological
Syntactic
*Huda good student
Literal translation:
*You fall from my eye

16. Count vs. Country
Semantic
Classification of Errors
Interlingual Errors Intralingual Errors
Phonological
Syntactic
*The letter sent to Ali
Idiomatic expressions:
*What’s up Mike!!

17. EA Critics
• Errors may be wrongly
classified between language
tasks. The same error may be
classified as interlingual and
intralingual:
*He intelligent.

18. EA Critics
1.EA stresses only on what the
learner cannot do at a given
point in time. It doesn’t give
any insights into the course of
SLA process.

19. EA Critics
1.Difficulty of error identification
which is mainly due to the
different usages of the L2
norms:
formal vs. informal context
spoken vs. written language

20. EA Critics
• Learners some times adopt the
avoidance strategy not commit
errors. In this case certain types
of errors don’t appear in the L2
learner’s performance.

21. SOME KINDS OF ERRORS:
• DEVELOPMENT ERRORS:A PART OF OVERGENERALIZATIONS
• D.E ARE RESULT OF NORMAL PATTERN OF DEVELOPMENT,SUC
AS(COME=COMED,BREAK=BREAKED)
• IT INDICATES LEARNER HAS STARTED DEVELOPING THEIR LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
AND FAIL TO REPRODUCE THE RULES THEY HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO IN TARGET
LANGUAGE LEARNING
• INDUCED ERRORS:
• ERRORS LINKED WITH TRANSFER OF TRAINING,CAUSED BY MISLEADING TEACHING
EXAMPLES(SOMETIMES ,TEACHERS EXPLAIN A RULE WITHOUT HIGHLIGHTING THE
EXCEPTIONS OR THE INTENDED MESSAGE THEY WOULD WANT TO CONVEY
• THIS KIND OF ERROR SPECIALLY OCCURS IN TEACHING PREPOSITIONS
• ERRORS OF AVOIDANCE:THESE ERRORS OCCUR WHEN THE LEARNER FAIL TO APPLY
CERTAIN TARGET LANGUAGE RULES JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE THOUGHT OF TO BE
TOO DIFFICULT
• ERRORS OF OVERPRODUCTION:
• WHEN FINITE RULES KNOWLEDGE FAILS TO PRODUCE INFINITE NO OF STRUCTURES,MOST OF THE TIME
BIGGINERS OVERPRODUCE
• THEY FREQUENTLY REPEAT A PARTICULAR STRUCTURE

22. THANK YOU