ERROR ANALYSIS

The researchers and teachers of second

languages came to realize that the
mistakes a person made in the process
of constructing a new system of
language needed to be analyzed
carefully, for they possibly held in them
some of the keys to the understanding
of the process of second language
acquisition .

Mistake and Errors

Maithaa Awwad AlQurashi

A mistake refers to a performance error

that is either a random guess or a slip
in that it is a failure to utilize a known
system correctly ..
Mistakes , when attention is called to
them ,can be self corrected .These
lapses occur in native and second
languages

:Error

But

Error s are direct manifestation of a system

within which a learner is operating. They
reflect the competence of the learner .

E.g. Does John can sing?

:Exercise

What is the difference between

mistakes and errors ??
An error cannot be self corrected,
while mistakes can be self-corrected
when attention is drawn to them.

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 learners errors, called error
analysis

Errors in error analysis

Bashayer Al-Mutawakkil

Introduction
Errors indeed reveal a
system at work . The
classroom language teacher
can become so preoccupied
with noticing errors that the
correct utterances in the
second language go
.
unnoticed

Shortcomings of Error
:Analysis
we must beware of placing too-1
much attention on errors and not lose
sight of the value of positive
reinforcement of clear , free
.communication
An overemphasis is placed on-2
production data though
comprehension is as important as
. production

3- Error analysis fails to account

for the strategy of avoidance..
4-Error analysis keep us focused
on specific languages rather
than viewing universal aspects
of language

: Performance Analysis
In the analysis of learners errors, we
engage in performance analysis or
interlanguage analysis, a less
restrictive concept that places a
healthy investigation of errors within
the larger perspective of the learner's
total language performance. Let us
nevertheless remember that
production errors are only a subset of
the overall performance of the
learner ..

Identifying and Describing

Errors
By: Shrorooq AlHarbi

One of the common difficulties in

understanding the linguistic systems of
both first and second language learners is
the fact that systems cannot be directly
observed.
They may be inferred by means of
analyzing production and comprehension
.data
.

What makes the task even thornier Is the

instability of learners systems. Systems
are in a constant state of flux as new
information flows in, and through the
process of subsumption , causes
existing structures to be revised . In
undertaking the task of performance
analysis , the teacher and researcher
are called upon to infer order and logic
in this unstable and variable system .

The first step in the process of analysis

is the identification and description of
errors. Corder provided a model for
that. According to his model , any
sentence uttered by the learner and
subsequently transcribed can be
analyzed for idiosyncrasies. A major
distinction is made between overt and
covert errors. Overtly erroneous
utterances are obviously
ungrammatical at the sentence level.

Covertly erroneous utterances are

grammatically well-formed at the
sentence level but are not interpretable
within the context of communication.
Covert errors in other words ,are not
really covert at all if you attend to
surrounding discourse.
for example: I am fine, thank you is a
grammatically correct at the sentence
level ,
but as a response to who are you? It
is obviously an error.

2- Description of errors

By Amani Aman Ali

A number of different categories

for description of errors have
been identified in research on
learner language:
The most generalized_ 1
breakdown can be made by
identifying errors of addition,
omission, substitution, and
. ordering

Within each category, levels of language_2

can be considered :
Phonology or orthography, lexicon,
grammar and discourse.
3_ Errors may also be viewed as either
global
:or local Global errors hinder communication
For example well , it is a great hurry
around
Local errors do not prevent the message
.from being heard

4_ Finally, Lennon suggests that two related

dimensions of error, domain and extent should be
considered in any error analysis.

Definitions :Domain: is the rank of linguistic unit(from

phoneme to discourse) that must be taken as
context in order for the error to become apparent.
Extent: is the rank of linguistic unit that would
have to be deleted, replaced, supplied, or
reordered in order to repair the sentence.

3- Sources of Error
Arwa Salih AlZahrani

The third step (which is

final in the analysis of
erroneous learner speech)
is determining the source
of error.
Why are certain errors made?

The fourth step

By trying to identify sources we
can take another step toward
understanding how the learners
cognitive and affective processes
relate to the linguistic system
and to formulate an integrated
understanding of the process of
.second language acquisition

Interlingual transfer
Shorooq
Al-Sulami

There are four sources of errors. Interlingual

transfer is the significant source of errors for all
. learners
The beginning stages of learning a second
language are especially vulnerable to interlingual
transfer from the native language, or
.interference
In these early stages, the native language is the
only previous linguistic system upon which the
.learner can draw

E.g. we have all heard English

learners say sheep for ship,
or the book of Jack instead of
Jacks book and so forth.
All these errors are attributable to
negative interlingual transfer.
Many such errors are detectable
in learners speech.

The learning of a third language provides

an interesting context for research
because there will be varying degrees
of interlingual interference from both
the first and second languages to the
third language, especially if the second
and third languages are closely
related , or if the learner is attempting
a third language shortly after beginning
.a second language

Intralingual Transfer

Intralingual transfer )within the

language itself) is a major factor in
second language learning. Early stages
of language learning are characterized
by a predominance of interference
(interlingual transfer), but once learners
have begun to acquire parts of the new
system, more and more intralingual
transfer-generalization within the target
language- is manifested.

The analysis of intralingual

errors in a corpus of production
data can become quite complex.
For example, in Barry Taylor's
analysis of English sentences
produced by ESL learner, just
the class of error in producing
the main verb following an
auxiliary yielded nine different
types of errors:

past-tense form of verb following a model -1

present-tense - s on a verb following a 2
modal
ing on a verb following a modal - - 3
are ( for be ) following will 4
past-tense form of verb following do 5
present-tense - s on a verb following do 6
ing on a verb following do - -7
past-tense form of a verb following be 8
(inserted to replace a modal or do)
present-tense s on a verb following be 9
( inserted to replace a modal or do)

Context of
learning
The third major source of errors is
Tahani Ahmad Khayyat

.the context of learning

Context refers to, for example, the

classroom with its teacher and its
materials in the case of school learning
or the social situation in the case of
untutored second language learning .

In the classroom, students often make

:errors because of
misleading explanation from the teacher - 1
faulty presentation of a structure or word in a - 2
textbook
a pattern that was rotely memorized in a drill - 3
but improperly contextualized
two vocabulary items presented contiguously, - 4
. e.g
Pointed at and pointed out- might in later recall
be confused simply because of the contiguity
.of presentation
or a teacher may provide incorrect- 5
information by way of misleading definition,
word , or grammatical
. generalization

Another manifestation of language learned

in classroom context is the occasional
tendency on the part of learners to give
uncontracted and inappropriately formal
forms of language .we have all experienced
foreign learners whose bookish "language
give them away as classroom language
. learners
The sociolinguistic context of natural
untutored language acquisition can give rise
to certain dialect acquisition that may itself
be a source of error . For example, a
Japanese learner who lived in a MexicanAmerican area in U.S.A. produced an
interesting language that is a blend of
Mexican-American and Standard English

Communication strategies

The fourth source of errors is

communication strategies. They are
related to learning styles . learners use
production strategies in order to enhance
getting their messages across but at times
these techniques can themselves become a
.source of error