Page 394 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes The most widely recognized source of foreign language learning errors is that of L interference.
Those elements that are similar to the learner's native language, will be simple for him and those that
are different will be difficult andwill, by implication, be likely to produce errors. We may say that
one of the undoubted merits of contrastive linguistic is the fact that it offered a natural, even if only
partial explanation to the errors made by foreign language learners. Contrastive analysis considered
most errors to be the result of a phenomenon of interference, when patterns existing in the learner's
mother tongue were transferred as such into his/her use of the language to be learned. Viewed from
this point of view, error analysis had no proper status, it was a mere addition to contrastive analysis.
But not all errors made by learners of a foreign language are due to the differences existing between
the structures of the two language in contact. There are indeed a certain number of errors due, primarily,
to this cause, especially with beginners but there are, of course, many others whose explanation
should be looked for somewhere else.Scholars engaged in the study of foreign language learning,
try, by various methods, to identify the process and strategies which might be considered responsible
for the students mistaken utterances.They distinguish:
1. Errors which might be explained by contrastive analysis, the so-called "interlingual errors" or
2. Errors due to the evolutive character of the acquisition of a foreignlanguage, the "interlingual
errors". It is the duty of the foreign language teacher both to identify and classify the typical errors
and to apply remedial strategies, to find adequate methods to eliminate them both at the individual
and group level. The methodology of error analysis has generally followed a uniformmethod of
investigation consisting of the following steps:
(i) collection of data (either from "free" compositions by students on a given theme or from
examination papers);-
(ii) identification of errors (labeling the exact nature of the deviation, e.g.dangling preposition,
anomalous sequence of tenses, etc.);
(iii) classification into error types (e.g. errors of agreement, articles, verb forms, etc.);-
(iv) statement of relative frequency of error types;
(v) identification of the areas of difficulty in the target language;
(vi) therapy (remedial drills, lessons, etc.).
While the above methodology is roughly representative of the majority of error analyses in the
traditional framework, the more sophisticated investigations went further, to include one or both of
the following:
(i) analysis of source of the errors (e.g. mother tongue interference,
(ii) over-generalisation,
(iii) inconsistencies in the spelling system of the targetlanguage, etc.);
(iv) determination of the error in terms of communication, norm, etc.
The analysis of mistakes based on adequate material will clearly show that is most troublesome for
the learners concerned and thus where they need support most. However, it is not only remedial
work which can be guided thus, but the whole of a language course, and at every stage. Writing is the
obvious basis for analysis but mistakes in speaking can be noted to with the help of the teacher. Some
of the mistakes which our students make in learning. English are based onfalse analogies within the
foreign language but the majority of the mistakes result from carrying over into the English language
the speech habits of Romanian, habits of pronunciation, of morphology, of syntax. Analysing the
kinds of mistakes students make, we shall have a basis for supporting nearly every step of the language
teaching instead of continually improvising and teaching by intuition. In her article "Contrastive
Linguistics in Textbook and Classroom", Wilga M. Rivers states: "It may appear that the contrastive
technique 'par excellence' in foreign language teaching is the translation exercise. Here the student is
confronted with native language forms and structure and required to produce the contrasting forms
and structure of the foreign language". The translation in which exact meaning is transferred from
one language to another demands athorough knowledge of areas of contrast in form and function
and it is for thisreason, being a very profitable exercise of the students'control of the foreign language
at an advanced level. Methodologists consider that in the early stages of learning a foreign language,

388 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY