dr Mariusz Marczak, Dydaktyka

szczegółowa, WSL Częstochowa

1

(Corder 1967)

Error

– deviation from the norms of the standard target

language as a result of a lack of the knowledge of rules

Mistake

– deviation from the norms of the standard target

language as a result of a slip of the tongue, stress or
fatigue.

Reasons:

•Fall of CAH
•Fallacy of L1 transfer/interference as major cause of L2 errors
•Increased interest in FL pedagogy
•Increased interest in causes of errors

dr Mariusz Marczak, Dydaktyka

szczegółowa, WSL Częstochowa

2

Nature of Error Analysis

•comprehension errors (Pass me the paper/pepper)
•production errors (I goed to school*)

Value and significance of errors

•feedback forTs on how much Ss have been learning
•feedback for SLA researchers on how Ss learn
•guidelines to learners on TL rules

dr Mariusz Marczak, Dydaktyka

szczegółowa, WSL Częstochowa

3

PROCEDURE:

1. collecting samples of learner language

2. identifying errors

3. describing errors

4. explaining errors

5. evaluating errors

Collection of samples:

•oral or written language
•conversation, speech, correspondence

dr Mariusz Marczak, Dydaktyka

szczegółowa, WSL Częstochowa

4

Categories of errors

•Psycholinguistic errors
•sociolinguistic errors
•pragmatic errors
•discourse structure errors

Causes of errors /Central processes

(Selinker 1972)

/

1. language transfer

2. transfer of training

3. overgeneralisation

4. strategies of learning

5. strategies of communication

Findings:

dr Mariusz Marczak, Dydaktyka

szczegółowa, WSL Częstochowa

5

Other causes of errors, e.g.

•fossilisation

(he/she in former Yugoslavia, I/he/she in Poland)
•stress
•spelling/pronunciation discrepancy

Findings:

Conclusions

•most errors intralingual
•transfer mostly phonological and lexical
•errors can have more than one source
•research methodology was a real

weakness

dr Mariusz Marczak, Dydaktyka

szczegółowa, WSL Częstochowa

6

Bibliography

Bussmann, H. (1996). Error analysis. In Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics,

London: Routledge.

Corder, S. P. (1967). The significance of learner’s errors. International Review of Applied

Linguistics in Language Teaching, 5, 1 pp. 61-170.

Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: OUP.

Spillner , B. (1991). Error Analysis, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins.