ERROR ANALYSIS NATURE, SCOPE AND
METHODOLOGY
Error Analysis ; Nature. Scope and MethodoJOgy
2.1 Pedagogical Significance of Learner's E r r o r
The study of learner's errors is very significant from the pedagogical
point of view. It gives a guideline to the teacher/syllabus designer for
designing a remedial course of the target language. They may evaluate the
effectiveness of the teaching materials and the teaching methods/techniques
they use. Learner's errors pin point their difficulties which give insight to
the teacher in solving the learners problems. Error Analysis also reflects the
process of second language learning. As corder (1981:6-7) says that :
The differences in fir^t and second languages those proposed
by contrastive linguistics do not say anything about the
process that takes place in learning the first and second
language. The new hypothesis, i.e., the study of errors
confirms verification or rejection of new hypothesis with
regard to child language acquisition and its implication to
the learning of the second language.
According to Corder (1981 : 10-11), the learner's errors are
significant in the following different ways:
1. To the researcher they provide evidence of the system of the language
the learner is using at a particular point or in other words we may say as
he acquires or learns a second language and while learning it what sort
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of strategies he employs.
2. To the teacher in that tell him if he undertakes a systematic analysis
as to how far the learner has progressed towards the goal and
consequently what remains him to learn further.
3. They are indispensable to the learner.
Noth (1977:98) considers that errors analysis can contribute to
linguistic theory in two way :
1. It can lead to the discovery of new aspects of language use and also,
2. It can be used as a method for the verifications of hypothesis developed
within the frame-work of a linguistic theory.
2.2 Types of Errors
Corder (1967) distinguishes two types of errors:
1. 'Breach of the code', which involves wrong application of grammatical
rules, resulting in ungrammatical constructions in learner's performance,
and
2. 'Errors in the use of code'. It happens when learner use of the target
language in inappropriate context though the construction may be
perfectly grammatical.
Corder (1974: 145-48) identifies four types of gramatically correct
but inappropriate use of constructions.
a) Refrential errors,
b) Registeral errors,
c) Social errors and
d) Textual errors.
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a) Referential Errors : In referential errors the speaker uses a term with the
intention of refering to some feature of the world to where it is
conventionally inapplicable, i.e., when he calls a hai a cap.
b) Reaisteral Errors : In registeral errors a speaker commits errors in the
use of register, i.e., in a naval context he refers to a naval ship as a boat.
c) Social Errors : In social errors the speaker selects forms which are
socially inappropriate to his social relation with his hearers, as when a
pupil greets his teacher with : well, how are you today old man?.
d) Textual Errors : In textual error the speaker does not select the
structurally correct form to show the intended relation between two
sentences in a discourse, e.g., in answer to the question : who is the man over
there?
* John is.
S
Burt and Kiparsky (1972) establish errors into a hierarchy oiglobal
and local errors. They define these errors with the following words:
Global mistakes are those that voilate rules involving the
overall structure of a sentence, the reactions among
constituents clauses, or the simple sentence, the rules among
major constituents. Local mistakes cause trouble in a
particular constituent, or in a particular clause of a complex
sentence.
Dulay and Burt (1974) do not blame learners for their errors. They
are of the opinion that 'one cannot learn without goofing. They use very mild
word 'goof to refer to an error. Dulay and Burt have divided 'goof into four
types ;
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1) Interference Like Goofs : In the performance of a second language these
'goofs' reflect the structures of the learner's mother tongue.
2) Developmental Goofs : Learners, on the basis of inadequate data of the
target language, over-generalize the structure of the target language,
3) Ambiguous Goofs : Ambiguous goofs can be characterised either as
intereference like goofs or a developmental goofs which occur during
the process of learning a second language, and
4. Unique Goofs : Those are goofs in a learners performance which cannot
be described as developmental goofs or as goofs caused by the
intereference of the learner's first language.
2.3 Stages in Error Analysis
S. Pit Corder (1974 : !26-28) has discussed three stages in errors
analysis; recognition, description and explanation of errors. Recognition of
errors is a first and most important stage in the error analysis. Recognition
of error depends upon correct interpretation of the learner's intended meaning
in the context. Learner's well-formed and appropriate utterance may also be
misinterpreted or treated as erroneous if the investigator do not recognise
the intention of the learner. Learnesr's utterances may be superficially
deviant or superficially well formed but meaning what the learner intended
to mean. Thus, identification of learner's errors depends on correct
interpretations from learner's point of view. If we want to know what the
learner intended to say, we can ask him in his mother tongue to tell us what
he meant to say (if we know learners's mother tongue). In this way we can
arrive at an authoritative interpretation and hence an authoritative
reconstruction of learner's utterance. If we have written data and we cannot
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consult the learner, in that situation we infer the meaning intended by the
learner from the surface structure of his text-sentence in conjunction with
the information derived from its context. Corder(et al^calls such interpretation
as Plausible inlerprciation and the related reconstruction as plausible
reconslruciion.
2.3.1 Description of Errors
Description is a comparative process between erroneous utterances
of the learner and native forms of the language. The comparision between
the two shows the deviations on phonological, morphological and the syntactic
levels of the target language structure where the learners have committed
errors. Corder (1974 : 128) suggests that "Our objective in error analysis is
to explain errors linguistically and psychologically in order to help the
learners to learn". The description of errors follows the categorisation of
errors such as grammatical errors which includes. Omission, wrong
transformation, wrong plural formation, use of wrong verb forms etc. and
similarly, the phonological, morphological and semantic errors with all sets
of their sub-classes.
2.3.2 Explanation of Errors
The explanation of errors is concrned with accounting for why and
how errors come about. The explanation of errors is an investigation into the
reasons as to why the learner has broken, disregarded, misused or ignored
the rules of the target language. Observations suggest that many errors bear
a strong resemblance to the characteristics of the mother tongue, indeed many
erroneous utterances read like word-for-word translations. Errors arising
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from the influence of learner's mother tongue is termed as transfer errors.
There are instances even when a learner has discovered a correct rule he may
still continue to make errors because he has not yet discovered the precise
application of rule. Learner may produce sentences like he ^oi'cl, he cans
come. Errors of this sort are errors of overgeneralization or analogical errors.
Analogical errors are inherent and perhaps inevitable in language learning
process. Errors also arise from the methods or materials used in the teaching
which is termed as /caching-induced error. Errors of this class represent
inefficiency in the learning- teaching process.
Richards (1971 b : 12-14) also recogonizes the transitional stages
in second language learning where learner deviates from the norms of the
target language. He believe^ in L1=L2 hypothesis when he states that "the
second language learner's erroiVare not by nature different from those made
by the children learning English as a mother tongue". Richards regards
learners errors in the following words:
Sentences containing errors would be characterized by
systematic evidence. While the learner's correct sentences
do not necessarily give evidence of the rules the learner is
using or of the hypothesis he is testing, his errors suggest the
strategies he employs to workout the rules of the new
language and the rules he was developing.
2.4 Taxonomy of Errors
Richards does not believe that the native language is the only source
of errors. He gives the following taxonomy of errors:
1) Errors due to interference involve instances of errors resulting from the
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transfer of grammatical and/or stylistic elements from the source
language to the target language.
2) Overgeneralization is that which covers instances where the learner
creates a deviant structure on the basis of his experience of some other
structure in the target language,
3) Perfor ?mance errors involve unsystematic errors that occur as result of
memory lapses, fatigue, confusion, strong emotion etc..
4) Markers of transitional competence are errors that form a natural and
perhaps inevitable developemental sequence in the second language
learning process,
5) Errors involving strategies of communication and assimilation: these
are errors which result from an attempt to communicate in the target
language without having completely acquired the grammatical forms of
the target language,
6) Teaching- induced errors are errors resulting from pedagogical procedure
contained in the text or employed by the teacher.
2.5 Sources and Causes of Errors
The causes and the sources of the learner's errors are attributed to
two different factors by most of the scholars:
1) Errors due to Interlingual factors.
2) Errors due to Intralingual factors
2.5.1 I n t e r l i n g u a l Errors
Contrastivist have already estabilished that the major source of
errors in learner's perfor.mfltnce was directly attributed to the interference
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from the learner's mother tongue. The learner while learning a second language
transfer^elements of his mother tongue whenever he feels difficulty to perform
in the second language. Tarone (1969:16) has established following three
types of transfer:
1) Negative transfer refer to situation in which the learner s attempt to use
inappropriate sound patterms and elements of the mother tongue in place
of the patterns of the target language.
2) Positive transfer refers to the situation where the learners do not face
any difficulty in producing an item which is common in the native and
the target languages.
3) Divergent negative transfer is another type of situation where the second
language learners perceive the target language elements as most difficult.
It takes place in the case of the purely non-cognate situation.
Several Scholars have recognised the interference of learners's
mother tongue in learning a second language which manifests itself in the
form of interlingual errors. Chau (1975) in his study of English speakers
learning Spanish as a second language found 51% interlingual errors. George
(1972), Dulay and Burt (1972), Lane (1989) and Ervin Tripp (1970) have
also recognised the errors which occur due to the interference of the mother
tongue.
Majority of the scholar are of the view that the pull of the mother
tongue is the greatest source of error committed by the learners of the second
language. The scholars like. Fries (1954), Lado (1957), Lee (1957), Ferguson
(1965), James (1972), Selinker (1972), Harrison (1973), Richards (1974) and
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Wilkins (1974) and Taylor (1975) etc., have recognised the pull of the
learner's mother tongue in learning a secong laguagc.
2.5.2 Intralingual Errors
A number of scholars hold the view thai many errors produced by
the second language learners do not have their source in the learner's mother
tongue. On the basis of empirical study, Richards (1971a) and George (1972)
have come to the conclusion that the great majority of the errors either could
not be traced to sources in the learner's native language or could be explained
with reference to other sources.
Selinker (1972 :209) also have the view that the interference from
learner's mother tongue is one but many of the several sources of errors in
second language performance and hence other sources such as intraligual
confusions and faulty pedagogical procedures may also be the source of errors.
Krashen (1976 : 157) also do not give importance only to mother
tongue interference. To him "many of the errors in the second language
acquistion are 'developemental' rather than solely a result of interference".
Intralingual errors may be classified into the following four categories :
1. Errors due to overgeneralization.
2. Error due to ignorance of rule restriction.
3. Errors due to incomplete application of rules.
4. Errors due th false concept hypothesis
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2.5.2.1 Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization is the process of learning which results from
the fact that the learner uses what he already knows about target language in
order to make sense of new experience. The most common structures of the
target language are overgeneralised by language Icarncis. The majority of
interalingual errors are instances of the process of overgeneralization in both
the first or second language learning.; Corder (1973:289) considers
overgeneralisation as an inevitable process in learning the second language.
Language learners use this process because they have tendency of "redundancy
rejection". George (1972), Schuman (1974), Jacobovits (1969) and Du^kova
(1969) have also recognised the process of overgeneralization in language
learner's strategy.
L Urdu/Hindi speakers learning English also employ the same process
of overgeneralization in their English performence. For example, a learner
has learnt a rule for forming plurals. This let him predict that a noun can be
made plural by adding '-s'. However, when he says the *childs are ^oing, he
has overgerneraliled the rule, since child is one of the exception to it. In a
similar way, until he learns that went and gone lie outside the scope of the
general rule for forming the past and past participles tense, he is likely to
produce overgeneralised forms such as *goed}
2.5.2.2 Ignorance of Rule Restrictions
The learners of a second language usually produce erroneous
structures because they fail to understand the restrictions on the existing
structure. They apply the rules of target laguage in inappropriate context.
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Richards (1974) accounts the rule restrictions errors in terms of analogy and
lack of understanding of the rules.[Analogy plays significant role in the misuse
of preposition and article usage:,
2.5.2.3 Incomplete Annlication of Rules
Learners of second language sometimes apply incomplete rules
consequently, their perforemance becomes erroneous due to incomplete
applications of precise rules in the target language. This type of errors have
been observed in learning the interrogative sentences of English. Richards
(1971 :l 18) have also mentioned the difficulty of learning -wh question.
Following are some examples mentioned by Richards.
* Why the hall was air conditioned?
* Where the film is running?
* What you are doing?
* Where you come?
2.5.2.4 False Concent Hypothesis
A learners of a second language, having limited knoweldege of the
rules and structures of the target language,internalise some false concept about
the structure of target language. Urdu speakers learning English also commit
the errors like :
* He is goes to school.
* He was played.
This type of errors occur due to the wrong interpretation of 'is'
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and 'was' where learners treat 'is' as a marker of present tense and 'was' a
marker of past tense. Richards (1974 :178) calls this type of errors as the
developmenlal errors which derive from faulty comprehension of distinctions
in the target language.
2.5.2.5 Teaching Induced Errors
Apart from the Intralingual and Interlingual errors, scholars have
assigned the errors in the second language to the method of teaching. Corder
(1974) describes many errors in the use of a second language in terms of
teaching induced errors. Filipovic also views 'bad teaching as a source of
errors'. Tongue (1975) describes 'incorrect exposure' as a source of errors in
learners performance. He states that:
Many of our students encounter more incorrect English than
correct English - newspapers, public notices, advertisements
and official documents of various kinds containing errors at
all levels of English from syntax to style.
Filipovic (1972) considers faulty method of theaching, bad teacher-
pupil relationship and poor memory retention as a source of errors in the use
of the second language.
2.6 Aims and Objective of the present study
Keeping in view the significance of Error Analysis in the process
of second language learning and teaching, present study aims at the analysis
of errors made in English by Urdu/Hindi speakers learning English in their
respective school. It has been observed that the learner do not get perfect
command or atleast workable knowledge even though they devote more than
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ten years in their schooling.
This happens because teacher generally do noi look towards the
language development in their respective learners and learners also do not
devote sufficient time in learning English. They spend Icu' hours in a week
along with a lot of other assignments. In our country, the teaching method
and procedures may also be blamed which are not effective to achieve the
desired goals. Learner suffer from the lack of effective teaching materials.
Keeping this in view, the aims and objective of the study are:
1. To identify most common errors committed by Urdu/Hindi speakers
learning English as a second language.
2. To identify recurrent patterns of learner's errors at various levels.
3. To analyse and classify the various types of errors and find out their
source and cause.
4. To present remedial strategies on the basis of findings which could be
helpful in effective curriculum development.
2.7 Informants and their Language Back-ground
The informants of the present study are native speakers of Urdu/
Hindi. They use Hindi/Urdu in both formal and informal communication
purposes. Our informant may be called the member of a homogenous group
in the sense that they use Hindi/Urdu as mother tongue, they have less
occasion to speak or hear English in their daily life.
2.8 Methodology
2..^1 Elicitation of data and material used for the present study.
3H
The informants of this study were thirty one school students
studying in high school. They represented the age group approximately
fourteen to seventeen. For the analysis of phonological errors the data have
been elicited from the informants through a text (containing about four
hundred words) taken from their book prescribed in their school (see
appendix). Subjects were also asked to read the passages and a list of two
hundred words (see appendix) which contains the major phonemes of English
in different environments (i.e., initial, medial and final). The performance of
the learner was tape-recorded, subsequently transcribed into phonemic
transcription and compared to Received Pronunciation (RP).
The data of morphological and syntactic errors were collected from
the:
1. Half yearly examination scripts of the learners.
2. Home assigned works.
3. Questionnaires.
4. Free compositions.
The answer books of half yearly examinations comprised:
1. Long essays.
2. Descriptive answers.
3. Precis writing.
4. Fill in the blank question on grammar.
Home assignment also follows more or less the same patterns as of
examination. But it is completed by learners in different settings and sufficient
interval of time.
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The questionnaires have been presented to the learners in different
settings and time intervals. The questionnaires have been prepared to get
predictable and expected errors in the use of the following parts of speech
and transformation of sentences:
1. Article,
2. Verb,
3. Preposition,
4. Conjunction,
5. Active-passive transformation and
6. Direct-Indirect transformation.
Learner's performance was also tested through free composition.
Learners have been asked to write an essay on topic of their own interest. In
this way, we have collected the sponteneous written production of learners.
2.9 Presentation of Findings
The present analysis of errors committed by Urdu/Hindi speakeri
learning English would consist of the following steps:
1. identification of errors from the answer scripts work book and
questionnaire,
2. Classification of error types i.e., phonological, morphological and
syntactic errors,
3. Explanation of source and causes of learner's errors i.e.. Interlingual or
Intralingual,
4. Discussion and conclusion followed by the implication of the findings
of the present study, and
5. Remedial suggestions.
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