Student Journals with common ESL errors. Students are L2 learners, some have learning disabilities.

1. ENG 212 Contrastive Analysis of English & Spanish
Professor Cristina Guerra
Presentation date: Tuesday, November 29, 2011
By: Jossette Taveras & Vanessa Sánchez-Negrón

2. Purpose of this presentation
Discuss and present examples of common ESL errors from
student journals in a real setting.
 Language Arts class, fifth grade students with various
learning disabilities within an inclusive (heterogeneous)
classroom
 General definition of learning disabilities

3. Learning Disabilities
A general term that describes specific kinds of
learning problems.
 Causes a student to have trouble learning and using
certain skills.
 The skills most often affected are:
 reading
 writing
 listening
 speaking
 reasoning
 math

4. Learning Disabilities (cont.)
 Vary from person to person
 Researchers think that learning disabilities are caused
by differences in how a person's brain works and how
it processes information.
 Children with learning disabilities are not "dumb" or
"lazy." In fact, they usually have average or above
average intelligence. Their brains just process
information differently.

5. Objectives
Define language
Define phonology, morphology
and syntax
Identify and explain common ESL
errors

6. What is language?
 Language is a complex and dynamic system which connects
certain groups of sounds and meanings. This system
contains at least two kinds of units, words and
sentences, plus a group of rules which tell us how to
combine the smaller units into larger units. Every language
has a different set of rules for combining the units that
make up the language.
The essential purpose of
language is communication.

7. Phonological System
 Phonology is the sound system of a
language.
 Each language makes use of only a small
number of the wide range of possible sounds
that human beings are capable of uttering
and discerning.

8. Morphological System
 The system of how words are built. Morphemes are
meaningful units, which can sometimes stand alone as
words; but often appear in combination with other
morphemes.
 It is important to know that words are built
systematically.
 Can be defined as a branch of linguistics concerned
with analyzing the structure of words. The
morphology of a given word is its structure or form.

9. Syntax
 Syntax refers to the structure or architecture of sentences.

11. Common ESL Errors
Performance Errors
 indicates that the error is not due to the speaker’s
ignorance of the grammatical rules
 a processing mistake that occurs while a language
learner or native speaker is in the act of speaking or
writing
 EXAMPLE: a lack of subject-verb agreement in a sentence
 * No matter where you live, the great taste of your favorite
Lays flavors are just around the corner.

12. Common ESL Errors
Imperfect Learning
 Learners have not internalized the rule and/or the
restrictions that apply to that rule
Overgeneralization
 Occurs when the learner applies a grammar rule to
forms that do not take it
Influence of the Native Language
 Many ungrammatical sentences that English language
learners produce result from the transferring of grammar rule
from their native language to English

14. Student Journals

15. Student Journals

16. Let’s identify the
common errors!

18. Food for Thought
Teachers need to provide learners with
opportunities to write about topics that
are relevant to their lives, to participate in
various writing activities, and to feel that
their writing has value. By integrating
writing with content at every level of
instruction, teachers help learners find
their own voices in their new language and
develop the ability to communicate
effectively in different contexts and
with different audiences.

19. You can teach a student a lesson for a
day; but if you can teach him to learn by
creating curiosity, he will continue the
learning process as long as he lives.
~Clay P. Bedford

20. Questions/ Comments

21. References
Cowan, R. (2007). Teaching Grammar. The teacher's
grammar of English: a course book and reference
guide, with answers (pp. 28-59). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Learning Disabilities. (n.d.). www.medicinenet.com.
Retrieved November 22, 2011, from
www.medicinenet.com/learning_disability/article.ht
m
Peregoy, S. F., & Boyle, O. (2005). Second Language
Acquisition. Reading, writing, and learning in ESL: a
resource book for K-12 teachers (4th ed., pp. 2-71).
Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.