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Date Posted: 21:05:47 10/14/05 Fri
Author: Paulo Boa Sorte
Subject: Final Draft:ERROR ANALYSIS AS A PART OF THE LEARNING PROCESS

Established in the 1970s by S. P. Corder and colleagues, the field of Error Analysis in Second Language Acquisition aims at providing language improvement and a better understanding of how a second language is acquired. According to ELLIS (1985) “collecting and describing samples of learner language is the main way of investigating second language acquisition.” (p. 15). However, teachers should be aware that a successful error analysis is achieved with the use of comparisons, identifications, descriptions and classifications in that process. They may be treated as steps in order to help the learner to learn how to self-correct as well as the teacher in his task of guiding the improvement of a second language.

Firstly, it is necessary to determine what an error is. Secondly, there is a need to distinguish errors and mistakes. Errors show missing points in a learner’s language, and they cannot be noticed by him, that is, he does not know what is correct. On the other hand, mistakes reflect slips or lapses while using the target language, and they happen because the learner is not able to perform what he knows. In his study of Error Analysis, Aprendendo com os erros, FIGUEIREDO (2004) questions the relation between what is right and what is wrong. “nem sempre uma frase gramaticalmente bem estruturada nos remeterá ao acerto, assim como uma frase mal elaborada nem sempre nos levará ao erro. O que deve ser relevante é a maneira pela qual tais formas comprometerão ou não a comunicação” (p. 46). Consequently, what must be taken into consideration is the communication.

Teachers must follow some steps in order to achieve a successful Error Analysis. Although we may deal with speaking productions, our focus here is on the written ones. From them, teachers may explain why the errors occur. It is essential to identify errors, which is not an easy task. A comparison is made between what the students produce and what is considered to be “correct” in the target language. Once the identification is done, the description and classification of the errors into grammatical categories (past tense error or subject-verb agreement, for instance) must follow. Errors may also be classified according to the level of language. An example is provided by the online reference library “answer.com” (n.a.). It exemplifies that classification as well as provides examples on how they may be assessed: “Phonological errors, vocabulary, syntactic errors, and so on. They may be assessed according to the degree to which they interfere with communication: global errors make an utterance difficult to understand, while local errors do not. In the example, ‘I angry’ would be a local error, since the meaning is apparent.” (1995) Thereafter, ELLIS (1985) stated the importance of “identifying general ways in which the learners’ utterances differ from the reconstructed target-language utterances, such as omission, misinformation and misordering.” (p. 18). Despite the fact that the students’ productions reflect their stage of development; it is necessary to explain its occurrence. Some of them are universal, that is, made by learners of different L1, but other ones are specific, either related to the learner’s mother tongue or to his individual choices. ELLIS (1985) also listed the errors that the students may commit “omission - in the use of articles or demonstratives - overgeneralization - the use -ed for regular and irregular verbs in the past and language transfer - an attempt to make use of L1 knowledge.” (p. 19). Transfer is an important factor in language learning at all levels. Learners begin by transferring sounds, meanings as well as rules including word order and pragmatics.

In this way, it is much easier for teachers to help students to develop their L2 learning. By collecting and analyzing errors, it is possible to understand that they are a part of the learning process. It also helps students to avoid the interference of the L1 while acquiring an L2, as well as to comprehend how people acquire a second language. As learners progress and gain more experience with the target language, interference and language transfer typically go down. It may not be an easy task, but it sure is one of the best components of the teaching and learning of a second language.

Paulo Roberto Boa Sorte Silva

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