Significance of Error Analysis and Interlanguage for the Teaching of English

Teachers and learners of English as well as syllabus designers and materials producers have much to gain from the studies of Error Analysis and Interlanguage.

Error Analysis helps the teachers to assess whatever they have taught and whatever the learners have learnt and make plans for the future. If teachers understand that learners cannot achieve native speaker’s competence directly they would be ready to accept the varieties of language which their learners produce. These varieties may be different from the well-formed utterances found in the course book drill or dialogue. But a close study of the learners’ English will provide “thesort of data on which realistic predictions about learning and teaching can be based” (Richards and Sempson 1974). When teachers realize that learners have to pass through various stages to achieve competence they would set more realistic goals for particular learning situations.

Longitudinal studies of acquisition of mother tongue as well as English could be carried out to see how far the hypotheses about the grammatical rules of mother tongue and English are related. If a number of such studies are carried out generalizations based on these should enable us to introduce particular elements of English at such stages when it would likely to be of greatest benefit.

If the learners’ learning strategies are understood by a systematic study of their errors and if a number of such studies make it possible to form certain generalizations such teaching procedures could be developed which make optimal use of the learners’ way of learning. Further if studies of second language learning in natural environments and informal classroom settings are compared effective pedagogic grammars could be prepared.

If the teachers know the nature of the learners’ system to be transitional they would be on the look out for items which are fossilized. They would be able to help the learners improve their competence and bring it as close to native competence as possible. Even if they do not have the time to carry out systematic analyses the mere awareness of these concepts would influence their thinking. They might at least make a mental note of the errors that recur over long periods of time and treat them appropriately as part of their class work.

If the teachers’ attitude towards errors changes they would at least encourage the learners to use the language in the class without worrying about their errors. Since the learners usually reflect the teacher’s attitude they will make attempts to form hypotheses and test them without any inhibition. They would use the language to express their feelings and attitudes instead of writing on some stale topics which are suggested by the teachers. They would actively participate in the learning process.

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