error analysiserror n
1 (in the speech or writing of a second or foreign language learner), the use
of a linguistic item (e.g. a word, a grammatical item, a speech act, etc.)
in a way which a fluent or native speaker of the language regards
as showing faulty or incomplete learning. A distinction is sometimes
made between an error, which results from incomplete knowledge, and
a mistakemade by a learner when writing or speaking and which is
caused by lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, or some other aspect of
performance. Errors are sometimes classified according to vocabulary
(lexical error), pronunciation (phonological error), grammar (syntactic
error), misunderstanding of a speaker’s intention or meaning (inter-
pretive error), production of the wrong communicative effect, e.g.
through the faulty use of a speech act or one of the rules of speaking
(pragmatic error). In the study of second and foreign language learning,
errors have been studied to discover the processes learners make use of
in learning and using a language (see error analysis).
2 see under speech error
see also developmental error, global error
error analysis n
the study and analysis of the errors made by second language learners.
Error analysis may be carried out in order to:
a identify strategies which learners use in language learning
b try to identify the causes of learner errors
c obtain information on common difficulties in language learning, as an
aid to teaching or in the preparation of teaching materials.
Error analysis developed as a branch of applied linguisticsin the 1960s,
and set out to demonstrate that many learner errors were not due to the
learner’s mother tongue but reflected universal learning strategies. Error
analysis was therefore offered as an alternative to contrastive analysis.
Attempts were made to develop classifications for different types of errors
on the basis of the different processes that were assumed to account for
them. A basic distinction was drawn between intralingual and interlingual
errors (see interlingual error). Intralingual errors were classified as
overgeneralizations(errors caused by extension of target language rules
to inappropriate contexts), simplifications(errors resulting from learners
producing simpler linguistic rules than those found in the target language),
developmental errors(those reflecting natural stages of development),
communication-based errors(errors resulting from strategies of commu-
nication),induced errors(those resulting from transfer of training), errors of
avoidance(resulting from failure to use certain target language structures
because they were thought to be too difficult), or errors of overproduction