Classifying Language Learning Errors

1983

Proceedings of CoNLL, 2020

We present a method for classifying syntactic errors in learner language, namely errors whose correction alters the morphosyntactic structure of a sentence. The methodology builds on the established Universal Dependencies syntactic representation scheme, and provides complementary information to other error-classification systems. Unlike existing error classification methods, our method is applicable across languages, which we showcase by producing a detailed picture of syntactic errors in learner English and learner Russian. We further demonstrate the utility of the methodology for analyzing the outputs of leading Grammatical Error Correction (GEC) systems.

Attitudes towards errors in language learning are changing as a result of recent contributions coming from the field of pedagogical grammar, which take into consideration notions of error analysis, contrastive analysis and the study of interlanguage. Errors, we argue, should be considered as opportunities to develop learners' language awareness to further their learning, and as instances for teachers to design more effective remedial work. Through the analysis of a learner's written assignment,

2012

There is a growing concern in Flanders about the deterioration of native (written) language proficiency amongst youngsters. In this paper, we will outline a study of the errors in texts written in Dutch by bachelor students. We will pinpoint the most acute and most frequent errors in order to develop adapted language material to bridge the gap between the actual and the desired level of proficiency. An error coding scheme was designed that, in line with learner corpus research, combines linguistic information (spelling; lexicon; syntax; textual structure) and error information (erroneous use; omission; redundancy). The most widespread and recurrent errors belong to the categories textual grammar (especially referential coherence), syntax, punctuation and lexical use. Those errors typically cause interpretative problems which interrupt the reading process. The results are the starting point of a usage-based remediation process of the students' written language proficiency by creating a growing awareness of correct formal language use.

Official Journal of the Spanish Society for Corpus Linguistics, 2013

Errors should be viewed as a key feature of language learning and language use. In this paper, we focus on the identification and classification of errors that are related to students’ grammar acquisition and pragmatic competence. Our objectives are, first, to propose the tagging of grammatical errors and pragmatic errors according to the competences of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and, second, to determine where there is a correspondence between the different types of error. In order to meet these objectives, we designed a grid to tag the pragmatic errors produced by students with a B1 level of proficiency. It was based on the errors found in a corpus of written texts produced by undergraduate students at the Universitat Politècnica de València. Students wrote specific assignments based on the proposals specified in the CEFR for the development of pragmatic and grammatical competences. The texts were corrected and tagged manually by raters, who classified the errors using the grids and considered whether the errors were grammatical or pragmatic. Finally, the conclusions of our study were that some grammatical and pragmatic errors coincided and that this correspondence should be taken into account by language teachers.

Everyone tends to make mistakes in the process of language learning and use, especially for FL learners. This paper makes a tentative effort to describe and diagnose learners' errors in language learning and use in the hope of helping FL learners' have a better understanding of the errors they made.

by numerous studies, which concluded that negative transfer was the cause of a relatively small proportion of errors in language learning. Learners' first languages are no longer believed to interfere with their attempts to acquire a second language grammar, and language teachers no longer need to create special grammar lessons for students from each language background.

2017

This research background that is in the BIPA learning process, Indonesian language errors can not be avoided by a foreign learner. BIPA student competence with knowledge of the rules, Indonesian vocabulary, and culture is limited can be a error factors. Thailand learners often face difficulties when they have to write in Indonesian, especially in forming sentence structures that raw and acceptable. This study aimed to describe the linguistic taxonomy seen through the study of syntax to find syntax errors in Thailand learners writing, find errors that are most dominant, and describe the factors that caused the error. Data collected from essay writing narrative of Thailand students studying in Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Study Program Language a nd Literature Indonesia, University of Muhammadiyah Jember. This study uses descriptive qualitative method, describe the state of naturals regarding the errors use of syntactic structure on a narrative essay Thailand students. Da...

Proceedings of the 2014 International C* Conference on Computer Science & Software Engineering - C3S2E '14, 2008

The grammatical structure of natural language shapes and defines nearly every mode of communication, especially in the digital and written form; the misuse of grammar is a common and natural nuisance, and a strategy for automatically detecting mistakes in grammatical syntax presents a challenge worth solving. This thesis research seeks to address the challenge, and in doing so, defines and implements a unique approach that combines machine-learning and statistical natural language processing techniques. Several important methods are established by this research: (1) the automated and systematic generation of grammatical errors and parallel error corpora; (2) the definition and extraction of over 150 features of a sentence; and (3) the application of various machine-learning classification algorithms on extracted feature data, in order to classify and predict the grammaticality of a sentence. v I express my greatest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Eric Harley, for introducing and piquing my interest in the topic; I am humbled and grateful for his enduring assistance, tireless patience, and thoughtful encouragement. He has provided advice and direction, especially where I have encountered pause or hesitation, and has inspired new ideas and avenues for exploration within this research. I am thankful for his endless support. I also extend thanks to the members of my thesis dissertation committee, Dr. Alex Ferworn, Dr. Cherie Ding, and Dr. Isaac Woungang, for their time and effort in reviewing my work. Their valuable feedback and insights have served to improve the relevancy and composition of this thesis, as well as my academic mettle. Lastly, I wish to convey my appreciation to the Department of Computer Science at Ryerson University, the faculty and staff, who have instructed and encouraged me to pursue my academic goals along the way.

Error correction and its importance in the foreign language classroom have received considerable attention during the past decades. According to Corder (1967), correcting learners' errors is substantial in three different ways: First, they tell the teacher about the progress of the learner, and therefore what remains to be learnt. Second, they supply evidence of how a language is acquired and what strategies the learner employs in learning a language. Thirdly, they are indisputable to the learning process because making errors is regarded as a device the learner uses in order to learn. The present paper aims at highlighting fundamental background studies done in the field of Error Analysis. It also tries to help EFL teachers and educators to become familiar with the most frequent errors committed by EFL learners and lead language practicioners to consider some very imporatant issues about understanding the significance of Error Correction in the process of second language acquisition such as: how much correction should be made, at what phases the teacher should correct the error and how the teacher can correct the learner without de-motivating him/her. I. Introduction: Error correction is seen as a form of feedback given to learners on their language use. No teacher can deny the fact that correcting the errors made by students when they speak or write is one of the most difficult tasks in language acquisition.Thus, every language practicioner or teachr should consider some the following issues about error correction: the difference between a mistake and an error, how much correction should be made, at what phases the teacher should correct the error and how the teacher can correct the learner without de-motivating him/her. One crucial point in the field of Error Correction is to know the nature of learning a foreign or second language, i.e, how do we learn a second language? We have to investigate what happens in the mind of human beings through mental process to learn a language. In this respect, two phenomena have been distinguished by the American linguist Krashen (1987) when he clearly distinguished between: first language acquisition and second language learning. Different schools appeared in linguistics and psycholinguistics whose aim was to analyse learners' errors and to decipher their sources.Among those schools, we find the structural behaviouristic school and the transformational generative grammarians. Contrastive analysis (CA) and error analysis (EA) have been regarded as the two main pillars in the domain of second and foreign language learning. Generally, as Keshavarz (1999, p. 11) stated, "…there have been two major approaches to the study of learners' errors, namely Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis." He further discussed that, "Error Analysis emerged on account of the shortcomings of Contrastive Analysis which was the favored way of describing learners' language in the 1950s and 1960s" (p. 42). The process involved in CA is the comparison of learners' mother tongue and the target language. Based on the similarities or differences between two languages, predictions were made on errors that learners would be likely or disposed to make as a result (Kim, 2001). Unlike CA which tries to describe differences and similarities of L1 and L2, James (1998 cited in Kim, 2001) stated that, EA attempts to describe learners' interlanguage (i.e. learners' version of the target language) independently and objectively. He believed that the most distinct feature of EA is that the mother tongue is not supposed to be mentioned for comparison. The purpose of Error Analysis is, in fact, to find " what the learner knows and does not know" and to " ultimately enable the teacher to supply him not just with the information that his hypothesis is wrong, but also, importantly, with the right sort of information or data for him to form a more adequate concept of a rule in the target language" (Corder, 1974, p. 170). The primary concern of this study is to explore the kinds of errors made by a group of Algerian EFL learners at university level in their written and oral expressions. More specifically, the study seeks to answer the following question: What are the most common errors that Algerian students commit in their written and oral expressions? 2. Lietrature Review: 2.1. First Language Acquisition versus Second Language Learning: Applied linguistics is the attempt to put the insights resulting from lingusic reseach to practical uses. These include first and second language teaching (Such as: lexicography, translation….etc). Our focus of linguistic application is the field of language teaching which focuses in turn on the learner and the language learning process. How is this language which is the object of study of the linguist being learnt? We have to investigate what happens in the mind of human beings through mental processes to learn a language. In this respect, two phenomena have been distinguished Krashen (1987) when he talked about: first language acquisition and second language learning First language acquisition: The term acquistion is ued to reffer to subconscious learning which is not influenced by explicit instruction about the L2 system or about errors against the L2 rule system. It takes place in a natural environment. Language data is not arranged as in a language teaching situation. The infant is exposd to an