Students Errors and Errors

Analysis
Luthviana Azizah, S.Pd.I
Vink.uppi@gmail.com
English Education Study Program
State University of Yogyakarta

Studies of second language acquisition have tended to focus on the

problem of learners errors since they allow for prediction of the
difficulties involved in acquiring a second language. In this way,
teachers can be made aware of the difficult areas to be encountered
by their students and devote special care and emphasis to them. Thus,
by using error analysis, the teachers could reveal that learner errors
were not only because of the learners native language but also they
reflected some universal strategies. In this way, teachers can be made
aware of the difficult areas to be encountered by their students and
devote special care and emphasis to them. Error Analysis consists of
a comparison between the errors made in the target language and that
target language itself. The basic task of error analysis is to describe
how learning occurs by examining the learners output and this
includes his/her correct and incorrect utterances. Due to this fact,
errors can be analyzed by using Corders five procedures, they are:
(1) collecting data from learner; (2) identifying errors, what kind of
errors are they? A difference is made between an error, where the
language learner does not possess the knowledge of the correct usage,
and mistake, where the language learner possesses the knowledge,
but has a lapse in memory; (3) Describing errors by classifying data
into types (omission, addition, mis-information, and mis-ordering);
(4) explaining errors, why was the error made? Source of errors
caused by interlingual, the error could be interference from first
language to the second language, and intralingual, the error could be
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developmental which shows a gap in knowledge of the rule; (5)

Evaluation of errors, how serious are the errors? Does it cause a lack
of understanding?
Keywords: Students Errors, Error Analysis
A. Background
Students errors become an inevitable problem in the process of
foreign language learning. The question is that why students commit
errors and what the sources of errors are. Not all of source of errors are
the same; sometimes they due to the interalingual , and source of some
are interlingual. Thus, researchers and teachers of foreign language came
to realize that not only kind of errors as well as to have a knowledge to
know source of errors, too. In the process of learning language is needed
to be analyzed carefully, for they possibly held in them some of the keys
to the understanding of second language acquisition.
All children learn their language make a lot of mistakes is a natural
part of language acquisition process. Through feedback from adults, they
learn how to produce acceptable sentences in their language. It is
inevitable that all learners make mistakes and commit errors. However,
that process can be impeded through realizing the errors and working on
them according to the feedbacks given. The steps that learners follow get
the language teachers realize that if the mistakes and errors of language
learners in formation the new language system are analyzed carefully,
the process of language learning will be understood. The analysis of
errors thus has become an important field of linguistics. This field of
language teaching benefit from the findings of linguistics in many cases
including error analysis so, the analysis of learner language has become a
crucial need to predict and conquer problems of errors in process of
learning a foreign language.
Studies of second language acquisition have tended to focus on learners errors since
they allow for prediction of the difficulties involved in acquiring a second language. In this

way, teachers can be made aware of the difficult areas to be encountered by their students
and devote special care and emphasis to them. Language learning is a process in which, like
learning to swim, learners profit from mistakes by obtaining feedback. Error Analysis is a
type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make. It consists of a
comparison between the errors made in the target language and that target language itself.
Error analysis emphasizes the significance of learners errors in second language. It is
important to note here that Interferences from the learners mother tongue is not only reason
for committing errors in his target language. By learning learners errors can also provide to
the researcher evidence of how language is learned or acquired, what strategies or
procedures the learner is employing in learning a language.
B. Errors and Errors Analysis
According to Ellis (1997) errors reflect gaps in learners knowledge; they occur
because the learner does not know what is correct. Adopting a standard norm as reference
soes not sole the dilemma of having to choose between correctness, acceptability and
appropriateness. Grammar correctness is established by the educated community of the
country where the language is spoken and it is explicitly described in grammar books and
dictionaries. As it is connected to perspective grammar, the perspective of correctness has an
absolute definition: an error is something wrong. It is an offence against the grammar rules
which characterize the norm of language. In short, I agree with Mr. Margana statement that
error means breaking the linguistic rules of any language.
The fact that learners do make errors, and that these errors can be observed, analyzed,
and classified to reveal something of the system operating within the learner, led to the surge
of study of learners errors, called errors analysis.
According to Corder, there are 5 steps in Errors analysis:
a. Collection of Data
The first stage of error analysis is collection of data. We have to collect the relevant
data at this stage. Data may be written or spoken, general or specific. For instance:

S1: Giraffe is an unique animal. It is have skin brown and

black dot. It is very tall. It live in Africa and Madagaskar. It
eat grass and leaves. It is have one tail and four legs. I like
giraffe because it is cute.
S2: Giraffe is animal in Africa. I seed it in the zoo. It is
have four legs like sheep. It also have tail. It eat grass and
tree. It have tongue very long to clean ear. It can run very
fast.

b. Identifying Errors
Then the existing errors the collecting data are identified. It means distinguishing
errors. For this, errors are distinguished from mistakes in general.
In order to analyze learner language in an appropriate perspective, it is crucial to
make a distinction between mistakes and errors, technically two very different
phenomena.mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they occur because, in
a particular instance, the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows. A
mistake refers to a random guess or a slip, in that it is a failure to utilize a known
system correctly. Both native and second language people make mistakes, which are
not the result of a deficiency in competence but the result of some sort of temporary
breakdown or imperfection in the process of producing speech. These hestitations,
slips of the tongue, random ungrammaticalities, and other performance lapses in
native speaker production also occur in second language. Mistakes, when attention is
called to them, can be self-corrected.
Mistakes must be carefully dishtinguished from errors. One way might be to
check the consistency of learners performance. If they consistenly says she gave
that book to I, Ali goes to school with we, and so forth, you might safely conclude
that I, we, and other such forms are errors. But if they say she gave that book to
me, Ali goes to school with us, I will make kimchi with they, I made it all for
him, you might say those are mistakes, this would suggest that they posses
knowledge of the correct form and are just slipping up. Another way might be to ask
learners to try to correct their own deviant utterances. Where they are unable to, the
deviations are errors; where they are succesful, they are mistakes.
So, based on the data that has been collected, we can classify into each categories:

Errors
S1: Giraffe is an unique animal.
It is have skin brown and black
dot. It is very tall. It live in Africa
and Madagaskar. It eat grass and
leaves. It is have one tail and
four legs. I like giraffe because it
is cute.

Mistakes
S2: Giraffe is animal in
Africa. I seed it in the zoo. It
is have four legs like sheep.
It also have tail. It eat grass
and tree. It have tongue
very long to clean ear. It can
run very fast

S2: Giraffe is animal in Africa. I

seed it in the zoo. It is have four
legs like sheep. It also have tail.
It eat grass and tree. It have
tongue very long to clean ear. It
can run very fast
c. Describing Errors
Once all the errors have been identified, they can be described. Ellis(2003) says,
One way is to classify errors into grammatical catagores.It can be classified in a
ways include:

S1 : Giraffe is an unique animal. It is have skin brown and

black dot. It is very tall. It live in Africa and Madagaskar. It eat grass
and leaves. It is have one tail and four legs. I like giraffe because it
is cute.

Analysis: There are four errors found in the S1s descriptive writing. The
underlined clauses are the errors made by the students. First ES giraffe is an unique
animal is reconstructed to be giraffe is a unique animal. This error is caused by
malformation of article a. Students are told that article a is followed by vowels. U
is vowel but considered as consonant in the word unique. The next errors are
caused by addition and omission of to be. It is have should be it has, it is
live should be it lives and it eat grass should be it eats grass.
S2 : Giraffe is animal in Africa. I seed it in the zoo. It is have
four legs like sheep. It also have tail. It eat grass and tree. It have
tongue very long to clean ear. It can run very fast.
Analysis: There are four errors found in the paragraph. The first ES It is
have should be reconstructed to be it has and I seed should be I saw. This
error is caused by the addition of auxiliary verb to be is (but this error is counted
as mistake because student does not use is in the next sentences) and addition of the
inflectional feature of verb forms. While the next ES it also have, it eat grass,
and it has are caused by the same cause, that is the omission of s/es as marker of
third pronouns of Simple Present Tense. It should be reconstructed to be it also
has, it eats grass and it has tongue.
d. Explaining Errors
While explaining the error we try to find out the different sources of errors. The
sources of errors are classified as:
1. Interlingual Errors
Interlingual transfer is a significant source of error for all learners. The beginning
stages of learning a second language are especially vulnerable to interlingual
transfer from the native language, or interference. In these early stages, before the
system of the second language is familiar, the native language is the only
previous linguistic system upon which the learner can draw. We have all heard
English learners say sheep for ship. This error is attributable to negative
intralingual transfer. Interlingual errors as being the result of language transfer,
which is caused by the learners first language. However, this should not be
confused with behaviouristic approach of language transfer. Error analysis does

not regard them as the presistance of old habits, but rather as signs that the
learneris internalizing and investigating the system of the new language.
Interlingual errors may occur at different levels such as transfer of
phonological, morphological, grammatical and lexica-semantic elements of the
native language into the target language.
S1: Giraffe is an unique animal. It is have
skin brown and black dot. It is very tall. It live
in Africa and Madagaskar. It eat grass and
leaves. It is have one tail and four legs. I like

The object should be it has

brown skin and black dots.
The formation of modifier and
noun of this error caused by
students first language.

giraffe because it is cute.

2. Intralingual errors
This section provides a theoretical review on learning strategy-based error
which can result from intralingual errors in EFL writing. This error can be
defined as the deviate form of language caused by conflicting information of the
target language. Unlike those interlingual errors, which are traced to first
language transfer, Scovel (2001) identifies intralingual errors as stating, the
confusion a language learner experiences when confronting patterns within the
structure of a newly acquired language, irrespective of how the target language
patterns might contrast with the learners mother tongue This can be noted that
intralingual errors are not related to the first language transfer, but contributed by
the target language itself. Four subtypes of intralingual errors which include:
No
1

Intralingual Errors
Overgeneralization

Description
Example
covering instances where the I seed it in the
learners

create

deviant zoo

structure on the basis of his

experience of other structure
2

Ignorance

of

of the target language

rule occurring as a result of failure

restriction

to observe the restrictions or

Incomplete

existing structures
arising when the learners fail

application of rules

to fully develop a certain

structure required to produce

False

acceptable sentences
concepts deriving
from

hypothesized

faulty

comprehension of distinctions
in the target language

e. Evaluating Errors
Where the purpose of the error analysis is to help learners learn an L2, there is a
need to evaluate errors. Some errors can be considered more serious than others
because they are more likely to infere with the intelligibility of what someone says.
Teachers will want to focus their atention on these.
Some errors, known as global errors, violate the overall structure of a sentence
and for this reason may make it difficult to process. For example, someone says he
is a long-hand boy . others errors, known as local errors, affect only a single
constituent in the sentence (for example, the verb). Most of S1 and S2 errors are of
this kind.
Some errors can be attributed to weaknesses or failure of memory. The theory of
error analysis proposes that in order to learn a language, a person creates a system of rules
from the language data to which he is exposed; and this system enable him to use it. Error
analysis can thus provide a strong support to remedial teaching, that during the teaching
program, it can reveal both the successes and the failures of the program.
Error analysis is useful in second language learning because this will reveal to usteachers, syllabus designers and textbook writers and the problem areas. It can used to
design remedial exercises and focus more attention on the trouble spots. Corder stated that
The study of errors is part of the investigation of the process of language learning. In this
respect it resembles methodologically the study of the acquisition of the mother tongue. It
provides us with a picture of the linguistic development of a learner and may give us
indications as to the learning process.
Analysis of second language learners errors can help identify learners linguistic
difficulties and needs at a particular stage of language learning. In general, Error analysis
has several implications for the handling of learners errors in the classroom as follows:

1. Devising remedial measures

2. Preparing a sequence of target language items in class rooms and text books with the
difficult items coming after the easier
3. Making suggestions about the nature or strategies of second language learning employed
by both first and second language learners.

Some Criticism of Error Analysis

Error Analysis Hypothesis might have many merits, but it has not escaped criticism at the
hands of certain linguists. The main allegation laid against it is that it makes no allowance
for avoidance phenomena. It is meant that the learner strategy of avoiding what is
difficult. The informants may not use certain structures, because he knows he gets them
wrong. Instead, he might use structures he is certain he will get right. CA predicts difficulties
and therefore does not face this avoidance problem. Another reason for weakness of EAH is
due to what Ellis mentioned: weaknesses in methodological procedures, theoretical
problems, and limitations in scope. Schachter and Murcia (1977) argued that the Analysis
of errors in isolation focuses the attention of the investigator on errors and thus excludes the
other corpus from consideration, the classification of errors that are identified is not usually
proper, statements of error-frequently are quite misleading, the identification of points of
difficulty in target language is usually not very correct, the ascription of causes to systematic
errors may not be right, and the biased nature of sampling procedures supplies another point
of criticism of EA. It meant that so far the collection of data from a number of informants is
considered, the very nature of data collection and selection of informants is biased.
Therefore trying to drawn statistically significant findings from such samples may be a
questionable practice.
C. Final Remark
In summary, from what has been discussed above can be a positive overview in order to
help the learners improve their language and use English flawlessly. Error analysis can show
glimpses into the mind of the student, but the errors do not always reveal the source of the
problem. The educator has to be careful of assuming why the error happened. What is

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important is the error is happening and how the educator can present the correct usage in a
manner that helps the student correct it.

References
Brown, H. Douglas (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 4 th Edition. New
York: Longman, Inc.
Corder, S.P. (1967, November). The Significance of Learners Errors. International review of
Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, V, 161-169
Ellis, Rod (1997). Second Language Acquisition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Heydari, Pooneh and Bagheri, Mohammad S. (2012, August). Error Analysis: Source of L2
Learners Errors. Acadeny Publisher, 2, 1584-1585
Khansir, Ali Akbar. (2012). Error Analysis and Second Language Acquisition. Academy
Publisher, 2, 1029-1030
Margana. (2012, October). An error Analysis on thesis draft Writing Performed by Students of
english Education Study Program of faculty of Language and Arts of State University of
Yogyakarta. UAD TEFL International Conference, 135-138
Taghavi, Mehdi. (2012, January). Error Analysis in Composition of Iranian Lower Intermediate
Students. Gulian University Press.