Teaching English

Error Analysis

Whenever a language is learnt or acquired one is faced with the problem of errors. Errors are an inevitable feature of learning. They are not problems to be overcome or evils to be eradicated. They in fact are part of learning and reveal the strategies that learners use to learn a language. They provide valuable insight into the language learning process.

They help the teachers infer how much the learners have learnt. They also give an indication as to whether they are ready to learnwhat the teacher wants to teach them next. Thus a lack of fit between the learner’s needs and the items taught could be avoided.

By analyzing the errors one could build up a picture of the features of language which cause learning problems. Once the problems are understood in the right perspective remedial measures could be planned. An important part of the teachers’ job is to undertake a systematic analysis of learners’ errors.

Approaches to Errors

As Jean D’Souza (1977) points out. in the fifties and early sixties errors were looked upon as evils which had to be eradicated. It was believed that if the teacher taught well and drilled the patterns of the new language efficiently there was no reason for the learners to make any errors at all.

As more and more studies have been undertaken it has been proved that learners’ errors show evidence of a system. The learners try to evolve a language system of their own on the basis of the exposure they receive. They constantly try to bring their system in line with the system of the language they are exposed to. In so doing they formulate and discard hypotheses. According to Strevens (1969) if a regular pattern of errors could be observed and the learners were seen to progress through this pattern it was a sign of achievement in learning. With this change in attitude the emphasis of error analysis has also changed.

As errors began to be considered as specific indications of the learning process the emphasis of error analysis changed from the ‘product’ to the ‘process’ behind it. That is, in the early sixties the main concentration was on the errors themselves. Later the emphasis shifted to the process or systems behind the errors.

It was realized that the learners evolve a system for themselves which is much simpler than the system of language being learnt by them. They seemed to ignore certain redundancies revise some rules if necessary and simplify their learning task. But they were also found to change this system as per the increasing exposure to the language they were learning. Hence errors can be looked upon as a developmental phenomena. providing evidence regarding the rules and categories used by the learners at a particular time.

The process is given importance because it throws light on how the language is learnt. The study of errors also helps us to infer what the nature of learners’ knowledge is at that point of time in their learning career and what more has to be learnt. As Corder (1973) says,  “By describing and classifying his errors in linguistic terms we build up a picture of the features of language which are causing him learning problems”.

This would in turn help us to produce materials which can help the learners when and where needed. At the same time it would warnus not to interfere too much in their learning process. For this a systematic analysis of the learners’ errors should be undertaken.

• Stages of Error Analysis
• Language Learning