This document discusses the nature of learner language. It defines learner language as the written or spoken language produced by language learners. It explores errors that learners make and how to identify, describe, explain, and evaluate different types of errors. It also examines developmental patterns in learner language including the order of acquisition and sequence of acquisition as learners progress toward mastery of the target language. Finally, it discusses sources of variability in learner language based on linguistic context, situational context, and availability of planning time.

1. Group Members :
Pandu D. Prakoso 2201410087
Kasanah 2201411035
Dian Ayu Titisari 2201411037
Solekah 2201411041
THE NATURE OF LEARNER
LANGUAGE

2. Learner Language
Learner language is the written or spoken
language produced by a learner. It is also the
main type of data used in second-language
acquisition research. Much research in second-
language acquisition is concerned with the
internal representations of a language in the mind
of the learner, and in how those representations
change over time.

3. Errors and error analysis
There are some reason for focusing on error:
1. They are a conspicious.
2. It is useful for teacher to know what error
learners make.
3. Paradoxically = making error help the learner to
learn.

4. Identifying errors
How to analysing learner errors?
 To identify errors we have to compare the sentence
learners produce with what seem to be the normal
or ‘correct’ sentences in the target language with
correspondent with them.

5. Example:
 A man and a little boy was watching him.
The correct sentence should be:
 A man and a little boy were watching him.

6. Describing Error
Errors that have been identified can be described and
classified into some types.
1. To classify errors into grammatical categories by
gathering all the errors relating to verb and then
identifying error in our sample.
2. Try to identifying general ways in which the
‘learners’ utterance differ from the the
reconstructed target-language utterances.
3. Include ‘ommision’ (i.e. Leaving out an item that
is required for an utterances to be considered
grammatical.

7. 4. Misordering (i.e. Putting the words in an
utterance in the wrong order).
5. Misinformation (i.e. Using one grammatical form
in place of another grammatical form)

8. Explaining Error
 Errors are systematicity
Jean’s verb errors described above do not involve
haphazard substitutions of past tense verb. This
systematicity suggests that Jean has constructed
some kind of rule, albeit a rule different from that
of the target language.
 Errors are universal
The kind of past tense error found in Jean’s
speech has been attested in the speech of many
learners where they substitute the simple form of
the verb for the past tense form.

9. Errors can have different sources :
 Omission
They leave out the articles ‘a’ and ‘the’ and leave the
–s of plural nouns.
 Overgeneralization error
The use of ‘eated’ in place of ‘ate’
 Transfer error
Learners are to be seen as actively involved in
shaping the ‘grammars’ they are learning. They
‘create’ their own rules.

10. Error Evaluation
 Global error
The policeman was in this corner whistle . . .
Which is difficult to understand because the basic
stucture of the sentence is wrong.
 Local error
affect only a single constituent in the sentence
(for example, the verb).

11. Developmental patterns
The early stages of L2 acquisition
 Some L2 learners, particularly if they are
children, undergo a silent period.
 When learners do begin to speak in the L2
their speech is likely to manifest two particular
characteristics.
1. The kind of formulaic chunks
2. Proposional simplification

12. The order of acquisition
To investigate the order of acquisition:
1. Researchers choose a number of grammatical
structure to study
2. They collect samples of learner language and
identify how accurately each feature is used by
different learners.
3. They rank the features according to how
accurately each feature is used by the learners.

13. Sequence of acquisition
 A process involving transitional construction.
 Learners acquire a grammatical structure
gradually, moving through a series of stages en
route to acquiring the native speaker rule.
Some implications
 The discovery of common patterns in the way in
which learner language changes over time is one
of the most important findings of SLA. It provides
further support for the conclusions reached from
the study of learner errors.

14. •Learner vary in their use of second languafe(L2)
according to;
1) Linguistic Context
2) situational context
3) psycholinguistic context/the availability of
planning time
Variability in Learner Language

15. 1. Linguistic Context
• In one context the learners use one form while in
other contexts they use alternate forms.
For exmple:
• the choice of past tense marker is created by the
verb itself.
• Depending on whether or not an adverb of
frequency.
2. Situational Context
Learners are no different
from native speakers

16. 3. Psycholinguistic context/the availability of planning
time
•learners have the opportunity to plan their
production.
•Learners do build variable systems by
trying to map particular forms on to
particular function
•Particular form-function mapping not always
conform in the target language.

17. References
 Ellis, Rod.2003.Second Language
Acquisition.Hong Kong:Oxford University Press.

18. Thank you