ERROR ANALYSIS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING.   Term Paper ID:20958 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Definitions, types, correction, linguistics, learning theories, grammar translation, interference, meaning vs. form, feedback. Outline. Paper Introduction: Outline I. Error Analysis and Error Correction Defined A. Error analysis. B. Error correction. C. Transitional competence. D. Interlanguage. E. Fossilization. F. Intralanguage. G. Inter/intra/developmental errors. II. Is error-making a sin or a learning device? A. From behaviorist to communicative methodologies. B. Audio-lingualism. C. Structural linguistics. D. Contrastive analysis. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. G. C. The question is how, when, and by whom? Lightbrown, "Great Expectations: Second Language AcquisitionResearch and Classroom Teaching," Applied Linguistics 6,2: 178.D. . Considering all that has been learned thus far, one can concludethat: < "There are few widely accepted linguistic criteria of grammaticaland lexical correction in foreign language teaching."[xxvi] < "Much of what has been published on error correction isspeculative, and needs to be validated by a great deal of empiricalexperimentation."[xxvii] < "'Accuracy-based' tests should be complemented with 'fluency-based'test items in order to provide a better assessment of the total languagecompetence of the learner."[xxviii] < The locus of learning is in the learner. First of all, CA is relevant only in those language learningsituations where the students all speak the same native language. Finally, certain kinds of difference betweentwo languages seem to cause greater difficulty than others; this in turnhas prompted the concept of 'hierarchy of difficulty'."[xii] Richards had already taken a non-contrastive approach to erroranalysis by seeing errors as traceable to transferand interference. Thematic vs paradigmatic teaching. Woods, "Error Correction and the Improvement of LanguageForm," TESL Canada Journal/Revue TESL du Canada (March 1989):69.P. < Communicative approaches to language learning should combine withstructural approaches, so as to allow meaning to be expressed with at leastfair accuracy through form. "Language Learners' Errors: A Russian Example." Collected Papers in Teaching English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education: Themes, Practices, Viewpoints. A Descriptive-comparative Study Predicting Interferencefor Japanese in Learning English Non-head Modification Patterns. . The structural linguists have maintained that descriptive- comparative studies of two given languages will enable us to locate the exact points of similarity and difference between these two languages, so that we can predict with much better than chance results the points at which a person with language background A will experience interference (or possibly facilitation) in learning language B. Pronunciation. Error analysis and error correction A. Another problem which has received but scant attention is whether theL2 learner thinks in L1 to translate his thoughts into L2, or whether he iscapable to think directly in L2. ERROR ANALYSIS IN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING Error analysis and error correction defined In applied linguistics, error analysis is "the study of patterns oferrors. . Pit Corder inthe U.K. The cause of the trouble . The "Academy" (But there isnone for English!) The usage? B. < Inasmuch as some errors may be caused through neither interferencenor transfer, but through avoidance of making errors (f.i. . Contents authenticity. < Although interference should be minimized, resistance tointerference should likewise be minimized, inasmuch as it also interfereswith learning. . < Inasmuch as the teacher and the institution are accountable to theofficial authority and to the parents (hopefully!) for the end-product ofschool instruction, it is the teacher and the institution which setstandards of acceptable errors in language learning output. . . Los Angeles, CA: AmericanLanguage Institute, University of Southern California, 1974.Weinreich, Uriel. If error analysis analyzes the patterns of errors, error correctionaims at rectifying what the arbitrator deems incorrect. It was grounded in humanism rather than inthe mechanism of behaviorism. Interlanguage. One also wonders whether making errors significantly impedescommunication. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 199 .Kleinjans, E. Thus, whereas many alinguist believes that awareness of form tends to improve form, othersbelieve that awareness of form not only interrupts the flow of thinking andproduction but emphasizes form over negotiation of meaning. "Error Correction and the Improvement of Language Form." TESLCanada Journal/Revue TESL du Canada (March 1989): 69.-----------------------Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 378.Pit S. Compounding the problems of conceptualization and translation,cognitive strategies may lead to errors produced by both articulatorymechanisms. H. Richards, "A Non-contrastive Approach to ErrorAnalysis," English Language Teaching, 25-3 (1971): 212.R. Structural linguists proposed contrastive analysis as a diagnosticmethod on the assumption that it is the first language which causes errorsin the second. Phonological and other errors. B. Not only is this true for the phonological structures of the languages in question, but also for the grammar.[xix] Elliott was concerned with the conceptual framework differencesbetween languages and how they affect error-making: Just as with lexis and morphology, there are differences in the conceptual framework of Chinese and English. From linguistic it becomescultural and philosophical--an approach which has found little interestheretofore, and yet which may be fundamental. F. D. F. Analysts have proposed six kinds of error, arising from inaccuratelearning, inaccurate teaching, wrong guessing, poor memory, the influenceof the mother tongue, and the process of learning."[i] S. Clearly, the nature of errors is going tobe different according to the production strategy. The trouble was that a plethoraof studies concluded that, even though interference might constitute amajor source of phonological errors, such interference was but one of theroadblocks found in learning the lexicon, syntax, morphology, andorthography of the second language. . Light, "Language Learners' Errors: A Russian Example,"Collected Papers in Teaching English as a Second Language andBilingual Education: Themes, Practices, Viewpoints (New York:New York State English to Speakers of Other Languages andBilingual Education Association, 1978).C. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1992.Newmark, L. The Development of Modern Language Skills: Theoryto Practice. Feedback.III. This derivation would seem tobe best achieved through the inductive process, or, deductively, as areaction to negative communicative feedback. How errors should be corrected.V. dichotomized between error (a failure in competence, a systemicfault) and mistake (a flaw in performance in a casual breakdown in speechor writing). . E. Structural linguistics. < Errors in L2 learning and acquisition are unavoidable. Because many learners cease to develop beyond acertain point, their interlanguages are said to fossilize at variousstages."[iii] Uriel Weinreich defined interference in linguistics and languageteaching, as the effect of one language on another producing "instances ofdeviation from the norms of either language."[iv] Note that he, as mostother linguists, did not consider the interference of L2 on L1, howeverfrequent this phenomenon had been observed to be. The syntax of Chinese is vastly different from that of English. Operationally, onecannot separate analysis from correction, if only because to test thehypotheses derived from analysis one must obtain the feedback ofcorrection. New York: Harcourt, Brace &World, 196 .Chastain, Kenneth. Richards, "A Non-contrastive Approach to ErrorAnalysis," English Language Teaching, 25-3 (1971): 2 4-219.Robert Lado, Linguistics Across Cultures (Ann Arbor: Universityof Michigan Press, 1957).Jack C. Chastain, speakingof the classroom pedagogical climate, was of the opinion that "Moreimportant than error-free speech is the creation of an atmosphere in whichthe student wants to talk."[vii] Error-making is natural when one learns(Also when one is supposed to have learned!) and may be an indicator thatthe learning process is taking place. Adams, English Speech Rhythms and the Foreign Learner (TheHague: Mouton Publishers, 1979), 191.E. < The best way to improve form is to focus on authentic communicativeconsequences of inaccuracy, placing the responsibility on the learner formonitoring his own forms, and teaching strategies for attending to formwhen listening or reading. .. OutlineI. This view implies thatlearners need to get communicative feedback, and become sensitized tospecific causes of misunderstandings."[xxv] Should error-analysis beconcerned with misunderstandings as well as with errors? . . Tokyo:Teishukan Publishing Company Limited, 1959.Lado, Robert. Endnotes BibliographyAdams, C. Contrastive analysis. F. He classified errors as being interlingual, intralingual,and developmental.[xiii] Way before Richards, Lado had come to theconclusion that interlingual errors were inevitable and resulted frominterference.[xiv] Richards, however, pointed out that errors are due notsolely to interference, but to the structure of English, which is new tothe learner, and to the strategies used to teach and to learn.[xv] Richardsand others equated intralingual errors with developmental errors, i.e.errors which "illustrate the learner attempting to build up hypothesesabout the English language."[xvi] Light drew our attention to the fact thattraditionally all errors had been considered interlingual, whereas the newperspective was on the structure of the English language and on thestrategies by which a second language is acquired and taught, as much as onthe interference of the native language.[xvii] Adams, studying speech rhythms in foreign language learners, remarkedthat: [F]oreign accent is due primarily to faulty speech rhythm. . Holistic approach. . "It is dangerous to indulge in the illusion thatungrammatical speech and errors in the application of certain forms andconstructions invariably jeopardizes communication. C. Ann Arbor: University ofMichigan Press, 1957.Light, R. Lightbrown remarked that "isolatedexplicit error correction is usually ineffective in changing languagebehaviour."[xxiv] In the 199 s, with our stress on communicativecompetence, explicit correction puts a brake on learning, if only becauseit interrupts the flow of language production. Audio-lingualism. . Crookes and Chaudron think so: "Even in the mostlearner-centered instruction, learners need feedback in order todifferentiate between acceptable and unacceptable target language use. < No stress should be placed on error correction, while tactfullycorrecting major or repetitive errors. "A Non-contrastive Approach to Error Analysis." EnglishLanguage Teaching 25-3 (1971): 212.Richards, Jack C. or a learning device? One wonders, then,whether the Richards and Selinker finding that errors show a remarkableuniformity irrespective of mother tongue holds true irrespective ofdistance. Corder, "The Significance of Learner's Error,"International Review of Applied Linguistics (5-1973): 161-17 .Larry Selinker, "Language Transfer," General Linguistics (9-1972): 67.Uriel Weinreich, Languages in Contact (New York: Freedom Press,1953), 49.Wolfgang Klein, Second Language Acquisition (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 199 ), 171.John Hendrickson, "Error Correction in Foreign LanguageTeaching: Recent Theory, Research, and Practice," Methodology inTESOL: A Book of Readings (Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers,1987): 355.Kenneth Chastain, The Development of Modern Language Skills:Theory to Practice (Philadelphia: Center for CurriculumDevelopment, Inc., 1971), 249.N. . It affects allaspects of language production: pronunciation, accent, syntax, morphology,vocabulary, idiom. Linguistics Across Cultures. In the interpretationof a study of Farsi-speaking and Arabic-speaking students, he found thatthe speakers felt comfortable using the fairly similar restrictive clauseconstruction and used it with about the same frequency as English speakers,while making errors due to their not having learned to observe some minorways in which the English construction differed from their own. Philadelphia: Center for Curriculum Development, Inc., 1971.Corder, Pit S. .Misunderstandings are different from errors in that they cannot becorrected objectively by an outside person such as a teacher (although Ihave argued that errors cannot either) . To his concern about conceptualization, Elliott adds that; "ifthe EL2 user conceptualizes in Chinese, he may find it an involved anddifficult process to identify and produce an articulation of his concept inEnglish."[xxii] And to further handicap the travails of L2 learners, onemust consider phonological difficulties, as those, for example, identifiedby Elliott : "For the person with Chinese as first language, thearticulation of clusters of consonants such as occur in English isdifficult; and this difficulty is compounded . Schachterconcluded that both Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis were able toidentify and explain certain data--yet not all data.[x] A more militant stance had been adopted before by Newmark who hadvoiced the opinion that CA was irrelevant and unnecessary; that errorswhich seemed to be caused by interference from L1 merely represented a gapin the learner's knowledge of the target language. Second,its results are more reliable on the phonological level than on thesyntactic or lexical level. From a teacher'sand learner's point of view, one goes with the other. Students were notpermitted to discover and correct their own errors.[vi] These commandmentswere of course not gratuitous. G. . And this difference can be a factor leading to error.[xx] In this viewpoint, error analysis is no longer fragmentary butholistic. Woods is of the opinion that "errors are to a structural approachwhat misunderstandings are to a communicative approach. Thematic teaching, for example, beats paradigmatic teaching in theeyes of most learners, not only because it avoids the boredom of rote-learning, but because it focuses on meaningful communicative skills. C. . Error correction. < Learners should be motivated to go beyond their acquisition of aninterlanguage and beyond their first language strategies, lest either orboth processes become fossilized. Errors and misunderstandings. The provision of feedback, or even 'corrections', does not mean that theinformation provided must be stated in formalized grammatical or otherdescriptive terms."[ix] The analysis of errors In a paper presented at the American Language Institute, Universityof Southern California, Paul Schachter argued that, whereas syntacticcontrastive analysis had emphasized differences between L1 and L2, oneought not to overlook similarities between languages. Formal? As Elliott points out:"The order in which the CL1 writer may have assembled his thought will haveto be changed as he presents it in English."[xxi] We are back at thegrammar-translation vs direct natural language controversy, but at thecognitive rather than pedagogical level. . A. Second Language Acquisition. Richards, "The Context for Error Analysis," NewDirections in Second Language Learning, Teaching, and BilingualEducation (Washington, D.C.: TESOL Organization, 1975).Jack C. Theproduction of formally correct language gives way to the production ofcommunicative negotiation--even if formally incorrect. Should error-analysis be concerned with substance as well as with form? Inter/intra/developmental errors.II. Newmark, "How not to Interfere with Language Learning," IJAL(1966): 77-83.Marianne Celce-Murcia, "Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysisin Perspective," An Introduction to the Teaching of English as aSecond Language (Los Angeles, CA: University of California,1974), 78.Jack C. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 1987.Klein, Wolfgang. Robinson, "Oral Expression Tests: 2," English LanguageTeaching Journal, 25: 266.James Hendrickson, "Error Correction in Foreign LanguageTeaching: Recent Theory, Research, and Practice," Methodology inTESOL: A Book of Readings (Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers,1987), 17.M. Error Analysis and Error Correction Defined A. Indeed, the greater the distance, the lesser the interference.Moreover, distance is as much conceptual as mechanical. If both teacher andlearner need feedback, the one to support analysis, the other to supportcorrection, then it is obvious that errors and misunderstandings need becorrected. < Undercorrecting, like underlearning, leads to flawed structural andcommunicative production. G. . Fluency vs accuracy. English? Ghadessy, "The Role of Developmental Errors in AssessingLanguage Competence," ELT Journal 39-4: 262.----------------------- 1 Interruptions of the flow of thoughts and utterances can onlyhave negative psychological and learning consequences. < Errors ought to be corrected to the extent that they will tend tofossilize interlanguage. Singapore: Singapore University Press,National University of Singapore, 1983.Ghadessy, M. The purpose of language isto communicate meaning rather than form, advocates of the communicativeschool argue. . One other problem, clearly, is to determine the authority forlanguage correctness: The teacher? The analysis of errors A. The learner made up forthis deficiency by substituting forms he already knew from L1, therebyproducing incorrect structures in L2.[xi] A less extreme position was taken by Celce-Murcia who argued thatthere were "a number of shortcomings and limitations in the CA hypothesis.. Age, then, would seem to affect thenature of errors (assuming one accepts the theory that pre-adolescentslearn differently from post-adolescents). Fossilization. (American? D. "Guidelines for Classroom LanguageTeaching." Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Mutual interference is anatural occurrence among bi- and multilingual speakers. . Even if the one-to- one lexical translation is available, and even if the concept is supra- linguistic and identical, the syntactical form in which a statement will be made may be very different in the two languages. "Oral Expression Tests: 2." English Language TeachingJournal 25: 266.Schachter, Paul. < Positive transfer is to be fostered to the extent that it does nothelp reliance on first language forms. . "The Significance of Learner's Error." InternationalReview of Applied Linguistics 5 (1973): 161- 17 .Crookes, Graham & Chaudron, Craig. The 196 s brought us the transformational-generative grammar andcognitive psychology outlook. Error analysis. Conclusions A. Language-distance may actually be inversely proportional to secondlanguage difficulty--contrarily to what Lado and Mackay, for example,sustained. D. < Overcorrecting, like overlearning, detracts from its intent. was associated with the stressing of the syllables which mark the rhythmic impulse in English and with the disjuncture normally used to separate rhythm units in the stream of connected speech. New York: Freedom Press, 1953.Woods, D. Intralanguage. The fact is that theyare frequently not even noticed"[v] Is error-making a sin . The Hague:Mouton Publishers, 1979.Brooks, N. C. Brooks, Language and Language Learning (New York: Harcourt,Brace & World, 196 ), 58.Graham Crookes & Craig Chaudron, "Guidelines for ClassroomLanguage Teaching," Teaching English as a Second or ForeignLanguage (Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 1991), 61.Paul Schachter, An Error in Error Analysis (Los Angeles, CA:American Language Institute, University of Southern California,1974).L. < Every learner has his or her individual learning style andcapacity. . Linguistic differences and similarities in analysis. . E. Language distance. An Error in Error Analysis. Elliott, Errors in English (Singapore: Singapore UniversityPress, National University of Singapore, 1983), 116.Ibid., 32.Ibid., 4 .Ibid., 5 .P. E. In this perspective, errors are part of the learner'stransitional competence.[ii] Larry Selinker in the U.S.A coined the terminterlanguage for an intermediate linguistic or communicative competence."A person's interlanguage develops through successive approximations to thetarget, starting with the dominance of the mother tongue and ideally endingin native-like fluency. New York: New York State English to Speakers of Other Languages and Bilingual Education Association, 1978.Lightbrown, P. when the consonantalcluster occurs at the end of the word."[xxiii] If now one would ask aspeech pathologist to further analyze the phonological problem, he wouldeasily point to maturational statuses of the speech-synthesizing andproducing mechanisms of the brain, and to the rarity of a post-adolescentlearner reaching faultless pronunciation and intonation in the foreignlanguage. < Unobtrusive correction, as preconized by the Comprehension methods,leads to optimum correction. Transitional competence. Only idiots and mutes (and teachers?)make no errors in speaking. Languages in Contact. The problem arisesas to how error should be corrected. With regards to maturation, the general view has been that youngchildren learn a second language through a process essentially similar tothe way in which they learned their first language, thereby making similarerrors in L2 learning. . . Error analysis and error-correction We have posited that one cannot operationally dichotomize betweenerror-analysis and error-correction, if only because learner feedback tothe teacher or other arbitrator (such as the learner himself) isfundamental to analysis, to pedagogy, and to learning. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Whether this is true or not, it is clear that post-adolescent learners are burdened--or facilitated--by having an extensivefirst-language system and, therefore, are more likely to suffer--or benefit-- from L1 interference in L2 learning. There is logic to avoiding the embedding ofwrong information in the brain cells, inasmuch as once anchored suchinformation is hard to remove. B. "Error Correction in Foreign Language Teaching:Recent Theory, Research, and Practice." Methodology in TESOL: A Bookof Readings. On the other hand, theexternal arbitrator, such as the teacher, can play a constructive andprescriptive role in the prevention as well as correction of errors. B. Does it really lead to better communication?Does interlanguage not tend to fossilize and prevent the acquisition ofcompetency in appropriate and socially approved language use? Anotherquestion: Do learners not need constant feedback if they are to learncorrect linguistic forms? B. From behaviorist to communicative methodologies. A physiological definition of stress based upon internal intercostal muscular activity is untenable. test anxiety),an open and accepting climate should reign in the classroom. Negative transfer is to be avoidedthrough fostering thinking in L2. Inthematic teaching/learning, linguistic skills are integrated in thecommunicative content, small group discussion challenges members of thegroup, listening and reading are extensive and focus on authentic contentsand purposes, and language skills generally are acquired. Conceptual framework. Colloquial?). Hendrickson remarked that the 195 s' audiolingual behavioristsconsidered errors as cardinal sins. The student as locus of learning. . Goals determine--or ought to determine--standards. The learner? Avoiding them was to be achievedthrough observation and practice of correct models through repetition;overcoming was achieved through shortening the time between incorrectresponse and subsequent presentation of the model. Age as a learning factor.IV. Where do all these aspects of error-making leave the error-analyst? . Contrastive analysis vs error analysis. "Great Expectations: Second Language Acquisition Research and Classroom Teaching." Applied Linguistics 6 (2): 178.McArthur, Tom. . English Speech Rhythms and the Foreign Learner. All a teacher needed was a systematic knowledge of bothlanguages--and thus of their differences--to use error-avoidingteaching/learning methods and techniques. "The Role of Developmental Errors in Assessing LanguageCompetence." ELT Journal 39 (4): 262.Hendrickson, John. Some questions readily come to mind: Is the sacrifice of accuracy tofluency worth the effort? In the field of foreign language learning, activities based on the timing and organization of the sense group are crucial for the acquisition of a native-like English speech rhythm.[xviii] Kleinjans stressed that: Each language is a system unto itself, so that we cannot take the structural categories of one language and impose them on another. Kleinjans, A Descriptive-comparative Study PredictingInterference for Japanese in Learning English Noun-headModification Patterns (Tokyo: Teishukan Publishing CompanyLimited, 1959), 168.H. Boston:Heinle & Heinle Publishers, 1991.Elliott, H. Furthermore, "systematic analyses of errorsprovide useful insights into the processes of language acquisition."[viii] There has been, thus, a fundamental shift from preventing errors toallowing errors and learning from them, and from analyzing errors tobenignly disregarding them. Recommendations. It examined individual learning styles and,above all, stressed the function of language as communication. Errors in English. Is error-making a sin or a learning device? D. Conclusions If the locus of learning is in the learner, correction of errors andmisunderstandings must optimally derive from learner's awareness ofinappropriateness of form to express meaning. < Error analysis should not be carried out without obtaining thefeedback from error correction. From mechanical it becomes conceptual. . "The Context for Error Analysis." New Directions inSecond Language Learning, Teaching, and Bilingual Education.Washington, D.C.: TESOL Organization, 1975.Robinson, P. Language and Language Learning. . "How not to Interfere with Language Learning." IJAL (1966): 77-83.Richards, Jack C. Transfer and interference. . If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.