Chapter 2 The Nature of Learner Language By : Annisa Mustikanthi

Errors and error analysis Developmental patterns Variability in learner language Summary

Errors and error analysis Identifying errorsDescribing errors Explaining errors

Identifying learner errors is the first step in analysing them.

To identify errors we have to compare the sentences learners produce with what seem to be the normal or ‘correct’ sentences in the target language which correspond with them.

For example, Jean, an adult French learner of English, says: A man and a little boy was watching him. It is not difficult to see that the correct sentence should be: A man and a little boy were watching him.

Several ways of doing describing errors: Classify into grammatical categories. Try to identify general ways in which the learners’ utterances differ from the reconstructed target-language utterances.

An analysis of Jean’s errors revelals that the most common grammatical category of error is ‘past tense’

Errors are, to a largeextent, systematic and, to a certain extent, predictable. Errors are not only systematic, in many of them are also universal.

Not all errors are universal. Some errors are common only to learners who share the same mother tongue or whose mother tongues manifest the same linguistic property.

Error evaluation Some errors, known as global errors, violate the overall structure of a sentence and for this reason may make it difficult to process.

Developmental patterns Learners do begin to learn the grammar of the L2. One concerns the acquisition order, another question concern the sequence of acquisition.

The order of acquisition Researchers choose a number of grammatical structures of study to investigate the order of acquisition. They collect samples of learner language and identify how accurately each feature is used by different learner. This enables them to arrive at an accurancy order.

The research treats acquisition as if it is a process of accumulating linguistic structures. Even the simplest structure is subject to a process of gradual development,manifesting clear stage. To investigate this we need to consider the sequence of acquisition.

Sequence of acquisition The acquisition of a particular grammatical structure, therefore, must be seen as a process involving transitional constructions.

Acquisition follows a U-shaped course of development;that is,initially learners may display a high level of accurancy only to apparently regress later before finally performing in accordance with target-language norms.

Variability in Learner Language Variability in learner language is clearly not just random. It would seem that at least some variability is ‘free’. Learners do sometimes use two or more forms in free variation. Not all learners reach the completion stage for every grammatical structure. Many will continue to show non-target language variability in at least some grmmatical features.

Summary In this section we have examined a number of properties of learner language and, in so doing. Researchers focused on exploring the regularities of L2 acquisition by searching for ‘orders’ and ‘sequence’of acquisition. Research on variability has sought to show that, although allowance should perhaps be made for some free variation, variability in learner language is systematic.

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