Overgeneralization

Overgeneralization,

or

the

regularizing

of

rules,

as

termed

in

language

two,

is

usually

considered

the

most

common

cause

of

problem

in

language

learning.

Richards(1971)

identifies

this

phenomenon

as

those

¨

errors

caused

by

extensions

of

the

target

language

rules

to

inappropriate

contexts.¨

Zobl

admits

¨

it

is

a

commonplace

that

learners

overgeneralize,¨

although he does not place a high priority on the analysis

of

overgeneralizations(Davies,

et

al.

87).

Examples

of

such

false

application of rules can be seen in the frequent morphological production

by

ESL

students

of

¨

womans¨

or

¨

mans¨

for

the

plural

of

¨

woman¨

and ¨

man¨

, or ¨

bringed¨

in place of ¨

brought.¨

Example in spanish, would

be

the

construction

of

¨

estó

¨

o

¨

deció

¨

in

place

of

the

irregular

forms

¨

estuvo¨

and

¨

dijo.¨

In

an

attempt

to

apply

pluralization

and

past-tense

marking

rules

in

a

second

language,

students

may

overgeneralize

and

erroneously

inject

exceptions

into

the

rule

system.

This

is

also

a

normal

occurrence

in

first-language

acquisition

as

the

learner

tends

to

create

a

hypothesis

regarding

the

rule

system

based

on

generalizations.

These

overgeneralizations

are

usually

perceived

as

especially deviant and inappropriate in the target language and, therefore,

are particularly prone to immediate correction. However, these errors are

valuable clues that show the learning strategies employed by the student.

Overgeneralizations

demonstrate

a

positive

progression

in

the

learner

toward the target language and, therefore, should be considered welcome

products in the acquisition process.

¨

Induced

error¨

is

classified

by

Stenson

(1974)

as

another

type

of

intralinguistic error. This type of error is represented by the errors derived

from

sequencing

and

presentation

of

target

language

items.

Syntactic

error

is

anticipated

in

language

and

the

language

learning

process.

Nuances

of

word

order

can

vary

greatly

in

different

language

systems.

The

¨

subject- verb-object¨

pattern

in

English

compared

to

the

flexible

order of spanish can create confusion in production and comprehension.

A familiar problem facing native speakers of English learning Spanish is

the

mistaking

of

subject

for

object.

In

a

sentence

proposed

by

VanPatten,

¨

Juan

les

da

dinero

a

ellos,¨

english

speakers

will

tend

to

correctly identify ¨

Juan¨

as the subject and ¨

ellos¨

as the indirect object.

However, if the order were modified to, ¨

A ellos les da dinero Juan,¨

the

learner may misinterpret ¨

ellos¨

as the subject based on interference from

his

mother

tongue.

Dulay,

Burt,

and

Krashen(1982)

give

examples

in

french, german, and english of what they call ¨

misordering¨

; ¨

Le chien a

mangé

les;¨

¨

Ich bin glucklich sein hier,¨

¨

He is all the time late¨

(162-3).

Direct translation from the mother tongue is the most common cause of

such

error,

but

this

can

not

explain

all

syntactic

misorderings.

In

the

process of learning new rules of syntax, learners will test hypotheses by

experimenting

with

different

word

orders.

In

many

cases,

overgeneralizations are made in the target language. Take for example the

case of the positioning of objects in spanish. Once a student has learned

that objects must be attached to an affirmative imperative, such as, ¨

Dime

la

verdad,¨

a

learner

may

erroneously

apply

this

rule

to

negative

imperatives o single conjugated verbs creating, ¨

No digasme la verdad.,¨

or ¨

Yo digola.¨

This would be an example of the difficulty in EA resulting

from

the

possibility

of

an

overlap

in

categories(induced

error

and

overgeneralization in this case).

A

final

area

that

fits

under

the

canopy

of

intralanguage

error

is

that

of

overproduction.

Schachter

and

Rutherford(1979)

isolate

this

group

as

target-language features produced correctly but used too frequently. This

category

is

related to

the

appropriateness of

an utterance

rather

than

its

grammaticality according to L2 rules. It is common for students learning

spanish to repeat the subject of the sentence several times while telling a

story. The lack of fluency of a learner in a ¨

pronoun-drop¨

language such

as spanish can frequently be recognized by the overproduction of subject

pronouns

that

results

in

a

simplified

and sometimes ¨

child-like¨

dialect.

For

example,

students

will

tend

to

use

the

subject

pronoun

¨

yo¨

with

a

first- person verb form in all situations. In spanish a first-person verb form

such

as

¨

hablo¨

has

the

same

meaning

as

¨

yo

hablo,¨

therefore

native

speakers

and

more

advanced

learners

will

frequently

omit

the

pronoun

due to its redundancy.

Corder

(1981)

distinguishes

between

overt

and

covert

errors;

those

utterances

that

are

overtly

erroneous

are

superficially

incorrect,

while

covertly erroneous formations appear acceptable, but are problematic in

some

other

way,

or

are

correct

by

chance

(42).

This

distinction

is

important to EA in the sense that a covertly erroneous error may slip by

unnoticed

without

a

careful

consideration

of

context

surrounding

the

utterance.

Errors

of

overproduction

are

covert

errors

that

tend

to

verify

the

¨

foreignness¨

of

a

learner?

s

IL.

The

tendency

for

second

language

learners to repeat lexicon is likely the result of his impoverished IL. This

factor entices the learner to be as creative as possible with a limited body

of

knowledge.

The

product

of

this

creativity

is

the

implementation

of

learner strategies.

1.5 Strategies of Communication

The use of strategies of communication by second language learners was

introduced

by

Selinker

in

1972.

A

certain

type

of

error

was

thought

to

derived from the processes undertaken by all learners in the development

of

an

IL.

Corder

(1981)

states

that

¨

these

errors

were

regarded

as

a

by-product

of

the

attempt

of

the

learner

to

express

his

meaning

in

spontaneous speech (and writing) with an inadequate grasp of the target

language system¨

(103). Faerch and Kasper (1983) define communication

strategies as ¨

potentially conscious plans for solving what to an individual

presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal¨

(Brown

118).

These

strategies

differ

from

¨

learner

strategies¨

in

that