Second Language Acquisition and Learning

MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Prof. Sidoní López Pérez

Unit 6 (first part)

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Last week’s contents

UNIT 5: INTERLANGUAGE

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INTRODUCTION
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PRINCIPLES OF INTERLANGUAGE
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TEACHING CONTEXT OF INTERLANGUAGE
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LANGUAGE VARIETIES

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Today’s contents

UNIT 6: ERROR ANALYSIS: READING & WRITING (first part)

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INTRODUCTION
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ERRORS VS MISTAKES
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SIGNIFICANCE OF ERRORS
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CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK
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ERRORS IN WRITING: CAUSES
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ERRORS IN WRITING: TYPES
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ERRORS IN WRITING: TREATMENT
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ASSIGNMENT 2: (PRACTICAL APPLICATION: ERROR ANALYSIS
(DECEMBER 20TH)

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INTRODUCTION

It is clear that making mistakes is important in the process of learning L2 so as to learn
how to use it properly.

Errors reflect important features of the learning process; therefore, spotting and
understanding them is important for teachers so as to redirect their teaching.

The majority of the errors made are shared with the group of people who share the same
mother tongue (Sobahle, 1986)

Why are errors important? (Pit Corder, 1981):

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Error versus mistake

For error analysis, it is important to distinguish the difference between error and
mistake:

ERRORS:
They take place when a learner unconsciously breaks the rules of the L2 because of
learning as such.
They are usually due to lack of knowledge and reflect the competence of the
learner.
They are usually constant and systemic.
 E.g. I *have 20 years old.

MISTAKES:
A "mistake" occurs when:
• The person fails to utilize a known system correctly, which can be due to a
random guess or a “slip” or “lapse”.
• A learner breaks the rules of the L2 which is a result of non-linguistic factors,
such as intonation, pronunciation, lapse.
• For example: you said bold when you wanted to make reference to italics.

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Significance of errors

Errors provide information about students’ progress. By analysing and understanding

students’ mistakes, teachers can implement different strategies to treat them:

•Adapting content
•Adapting methods
•Adapting materials

WHY IS CORRECTING ERRORS IMPORTANT?

Teachers must provide CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK. More often than not, students are
unaware of their errors, which means that without corrective feedback there is no
possible way to resolve them.

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CORRECTIVE FEEDBACK

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ERRORS IN WRITING: CAUSES

THERE ARE TWO MAIN TYPES OF ERRORS:

[Link] / developmental errors: production which does not reflect structures

similar to the students’ L1, but are overgeneralisations the learners apply due to studying
L2. FOR EXAMPLE: applying –ed to all verbs, when talking in the past, and not considering
whether it is irregular or regular verb.

2. Interlingual / transfer errors: transfer from L1 into L2 or knowing words /structures but
not knowing how to use them. FOR EXAMPLE: collocations with MAKE and DO: *make the
homework; third person singular verb form with a plural person: *we sings.

ERRORS IN WRITING: TYPES

[Link] are different types and spotting them is not enough. Teachers should also
indicate what type of error has been made so that students can understand their mistake
so as not to make the same error again.

[Link]’S HAVE A LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT TYPES AND SOME EXAMPLES:

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ERRORS IN WRITING: TREATMENT
•In order for students to learn from their errors, it is important that teachers
provide corrective feedback.

•Once teachers have seen the errors which students tend to fall prey to, it is
important to provide feedback, but also to enable students with the ability to
rectify the error through practice.

 One manner of doing so is through ERROR-CORRECTION DRILLS

(Sobahle, 1986), which consist of THREE DIFFERENT PARTS:

1. EXEMPLIFICATION PLEASE, PAY

ATTENTION BECAUSE
2. DRILLS YOU NEED TO DO
SOMETHING SIMILAR
FOR YOUR SECOND
3. MECHANICAL PRACTICE ASSIGNMENT

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ERRORS IN WRITING: TREATMENT

•First, the teacher needs to identify an area of errors in the class (e.g. prepositions: in, on,
at).

•Then, the teacher needs to follow the steps for the error-correction drill:

STEP 1: EXEMPLIFICATION:
• First, the teacher should present the learners with various sentences, which
contain different errors.
• For example:
 She graduated from Cambridge University at 2008.
 I would like to travel on July because it is the perfect time to go camping.
• The learners are given time to read the sentences and then they need to
correct the errors individually or in pairs.
• When the errors are corrected, it is important that the teacher provides other
examples or elicits examples from the class:
 He graduated from Cambridge University in 2010.
 I would like to travel in August because it is summer.

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ERRORS IN WRITING: TREATMENT

STEP 2: DRILL:
• A drill is a classroom technique used to practise new language. It
involves the teacher modelling a word or a sentence and the
learners repeating it.

• An example of drilling is the so-called substitution drill, where the

teacher changes the cue words after each repetition.

• The following is an example of a substitution drill:

• Teacher: I like going to the cinema on Saturdays.
• Learners: I like going to the cinema on Fridays.
• Teacher: I usually go on holidays in summer.
• Learners: I usually go on holidays in winter.

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ERRORS IN WRITING: TREATMENT

STEP 3: MECHANICAL PRACTICE:

• Students are given practice which involves some decision-making and not just
the mechanical repetition of correct models.
• Guidance should be provided by the teacher to enable most of the students to
get most of the answers right.
• FOR EXAMPLE: give the students a text to complete in groups. Ask them to
write a response back:

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ASSIGNMENT 2: PRACTICAL APPLICATION: ERROR ANALYSIS

OBJECTIVES
•Through this assignment you should have a clear idea of how to come up with
an activity that treats your students’ errors in writing.

DESCRIPTION
•FIRST: you need to think about a specific group of students (Early Childhood
Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education or Adults
(university/college).

•SECOND: you need to identify an area of errors within your class.

•THIRD: you need to come up with a step-by-step activity that your students
could integrate in the classroom to practice a target error in writing. This
activity must be an error-correction drill and you need to include the three
steps:
- Exemplification
- Drill
- Mechanical Practice.

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ASSIGNMENT 2: PRACTICAL APPLICATION: ERROR ANALYSIS

Evaluation Criteria

•Extension: 1-2 pages (excluding bibliography), 1.5 spaced, Calibri, Size 12.

•Rubric:

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Thank you very much for
coming!!!
Keep up the good work