-
Error Analysis (EA)
I.
Birth of Error Analysis
(EA)
Error
analysis
is
an
activity
which
is
at
once
ancient
and
new.
It
is
ancient
in
that
since
ancient
times
this
technique
has
been
used
by
teachers
in
an
informal
and
intuitive
way
long
before
the
concept
of
error
analysis
came
into
being.
It
is
new
because
as
a
new
scientific
technique based
on psycholinguistics, it was developed in the late
1960s with the development of
Chomsky
’
s
standard theory. Until then for two decades, the
prevailing technique used in the study
of errors of L2 learners had been
contrastive analysis.
CA stressed the
interfering effects of the L1 on L2 learning and
claimed that L2 learning is
primarily a
process of acquiring whatever items are different
from the first language. It ascribed
most errors to interference of the
first language. But such a narrow view of
interference ignored
the intralingual
effects of language learning among other factors.
During the process of
teaching and learning, teachers have found that
interlingual errors only
constitute a
small portion of L2
learners
’
errors,
and that among many other factors, interlingual
effects
of
language
learning
play
an
important
role.
CA
which
aimed
to
predict
errors
resulting
from L1 interference failed to account
for other types of errors.
Along with
the Chomskyan revolution and the birth of
psycholinguistics, the focus in second
language
teaching
shifted
from
the
view
of
the
teacher
as
the
controller
of
language
learning
process
towards
a
more
learned-centered
view
which
stresses
learners
’
creative
role
in
L2
learning. One major
result of this shift has been the development and
application of error analysis
as a
chief means of both assessing
learners
’
learning in general and of the degree
of compatibility
between their learning
plan and the teachers
’
teaching syllabus.
II.
Definition of EA
In
Longman Dictionary of
Applied Linguistics
, error analysis is
defined as
“
the study and
analysis of the errors made by second
and foreign language
learners
”
(Richards, 1985). According
to Corder (1981), who made the first
arguments for the significance of
learners
’
errors
in 1967,
error analysis is a type of
bilingual comparison, a comparison between
learners
’
interlanguage
and the target
language. It is a
methodology of
describing L2
learners
’
language systems. He
proposes two justifications for the
study of learners
’
errors.
The
first
is
pedagogical,
which
claims
that
a
good
understanding
of
the
nature of
errors
is
necessary before a systematic means of
eradicating them can be found. The second is
theoretical,
which
claims
that
a
study
of
learners
’
errors
is
part
of
the
systematic
study
of
the
learners
’
language, which is itself necessary to
an understanding of the process of SLA.
Error analysis aims to 1) find out how
well the learner knows the second language; 2)
find
out how the learner learns the
second language; 3) obtain information on common
difficulties in
second language
learning; 4) serve as an aid in teaching or in the
preparation and compilation of
teaching
materials.
Error
analysis
is
distinguished
from
CA
by
examining
errors
attributable
to
all
possible
sources not just those, which result
from the interference of the first language.
Although EA and
CA are not mutually
exclusive, the EA can easily supersede the CA. It
is apparent that only some
of the
errors a learner makes are attributable to the
native language. Learners do not actually make
all the errors that contrastive
analysis predicted they should and learners from
different language
backgrounds tend to
make similar errors in learning one target
language.
III.
Basic
Assumptions of EA
In
recent
years,
researchers
and
teachers
have
realized
that
second
language
learning
is
a
creative
process
of
constructing
a
system
in
which
learners
are
consciously
testing
hypotheses
about the target
language from a number of possible sources of
knowledge: limited knowledge of
the
target
language
itself,
knowledge
about
the
native
language,
knowledge
about
the
communicative function of language,
knowledge about language in general, and knowledge
about
life, human beings, and the
universe. The learners, in acting upon the
environment around them,
construct a
legitimate system of language in its on right.
According to Brown (1987),
error analysis is based on the following
assumptions:
?
Human
learning
is
fundamentally
a
process
involving
making
errors,
which
form
an
important aspect of learning any skills
or accepting any knowledge.
?
Language
learning is like any other human learning and in
the course of learning a second
language, learners will produce
ungrammatical or even ill formed utterances if
judged by
the generally accepted rules
of the language they are learning. In this sense,
L2 learning is
trial-and-error
process
in
nature,
hence
errors
are
a
natural
and
unavoidable
part
of
language learning.
?
Errors made by
L2 learners can be observed, analyzed, classified,
and described.
As Corder noted, “A
learner’s errors…are significant in that they
provide to the researcher
evidence of
how language is learned or acquired, what
strategies or procedures the learner is
employing in the discovery of the
language.”
?
In errors made by L2 learners lie some
of the keys to the understanding of the process of
second
language
learning.
Therefore,
L2
learners
are
not
looked upon
as
procedures
of
malformed,
imperfect
language
full
of
mistakes,
but
as
intelligent
and
creative
beings
proceeding through logical, systematic
stages of acquisition.
VI.
Procedures of EA
Identification of Errors
识别错误
Description
of Errors
描述错误
Explanation
of Errors
解释错误
Evaluation of Errors
评估错误
Evaluation of Errors
评估错误
V
.
Implication
and Application of EA
?
Implication of
EA
The creation of EA has indicated a
shift in the pedagogical focus from preventing
errors to
learning from errors.
“
It is noteworthy at the
beginning of the sixties the word
‘
error
’
was
associated with correction, at the end
with learning
”
(George, 1972). Error analysis has
proved to
be a direct, immediate and
effective method of studying the learning process
and examining the
teaching situation as
well. Learner
’
s
errors are by no means an indicator of his
failure. On the
contrary, they are
significant in that they provide evidence of the
system of the language that he is
using
at a particular point in the course (Corder 1967).
The study of the learner
’
s
errors is very
important
and
the
value
of
EA
lies
not
only
in
pedagogical
or
practical
application
but
in
the
theoretical application as well. The
learner
’
s errors are
significant in the following three aspects.
?
EA is useful to
the teacher.
The study of
learner
’
s errors yields
valuable insights into the nature of L2 learning
process,
and
provides
teachers
with
systematic
evaluation
of
students
’
difficulties
and
feedback,
and
guidelines for error treatment in the
classroom. As Corder (1967) noted
“
Errors provide feedback,