Republic of the Philippines

State Universities and Colleges

GUIMARAS STATE COLLEGE
Buenavista, Guimaras
GRADUATE SCHOOL

ENGLISH 311 –
Structure of English Lea D. Soberon
Course Reporter

Contrastive Linguistics JUNIEL G. DAPAT

Subject Reporter

Historical Development of Contrastive Linguistics

I. Introduction

The history of contrastive linguistics dates back at least to the last decade of the 19 th century and
the beginning of the 20th century. Di Pietro (1971,9) finds an early example of contrastive analysis in C.
H. Grandgent’s German and english Sounds published in 1892. For most linguistics modern contrastive
analysis begins with Lado’s Linguistics across Culture (1975). However, the idea of comparing individual
languages is not new. Traditional books on foreign language L2 with those of the source language L1 .
Such comparison within the framework of traditional grammar have proved to be useful for pedagogical
purposes.

II. Body

- WHAT IS IT? It is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their
structural differences and similarities. Historically it has been used to establish language
genealogies.
- *Contrastive Analysis and Second Language Acquisition* Contrastive Analysis was used
extensively in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in the 1960s and early 1970s, as a
method of explaining why some features of a Target Language were more difficult to acquire
than others. According to the behaviorist theories prevailing at the time, language learning was a
question of habit formation, and this could be reinforced or impeded by existing habits.
Therefore, the difficulty in mastering certain structures in a second language (L2) depended on
the difference between the learners mother language (L1) and the language they were trying to
learn.
- *History* The theoretical foundations for what became known as the Contrastive Analysis
Hypothesis were formulated in Lados Linguistics Across Cultures (1957). In this book, Lado
 claimed that "those elements which are similar to [the learners] native language will be simple for
him, and those elements that are different will be difficult". While this was not a novel
suggestion, Lado was the first to provide a comprehensive theoretical treatment and to suggest a
systematic set of technical procedures for the contrastive study of languages. This involved
describing the languages (using structuralist linguistics), comparing them and predicting learning
difficulties.
- During the 1960s, there was a widespread enthusiasm with this technique, manifested in the
contrastive descriptions of several European languages, many of which were sponsored by the
Center of Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC. It was expected that once the areas of potential
difficulty had been mapped out through Contrastive Analysis, it would be possible to design
language courses more efficiently. Contrastive Analysis, along with Behaviorism and
Structuralism exerted a profound effect on SLA curriculum design and language teacher
education, and provided the theoretical pillars of Audio-Lingual Method.
- In its strongest formulation, the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis claimed that all the errors made
in learning the L2 could be attributed to interference by the L1. However, this claim could not be
sustained by empirical evidence that was accumulated in the mid- and late 1970s.
- It was soon pointed out that many errors predicted by Contrastive Analysis were inexplicably not
observed in learner’s language. Even more confusingly, some uniform errors were made by
learners irrespective of their L1. It thus became clear that Contrastive Analysis could not predict
all learning difficulties, but was certainly useful in the retrospective explanation of errors.
- Error analysis Pit Corder (1967) The significance of learner‘s errors. • L2 acquisition should not
be looked at from a purely pedagogical perspective. • Errors in L2 are interesting because they
reflect underlying linguistic rules. • The study of L2 can be seen as a subfield of general
linguistics or cognitive science.

- Error analysis Contrastive analysis Error analysis Pedagogical orientation Scientific

orientation Focus on linguistic and Focus on input, practice, cognitive processes
inductive learning Errors of transfer Multiple types of errors
- Interlanguage Larry Selinker (1972): A second language is not an imperfect copy of the target
language but a rule-governed linguist system in its own right.
- Interlingual vs. Intralingual There are two types of interferences with second language
acquisition. Intralingual has more to Interlingual is the effect do with proper usage of language
forms when grammar. Intralingua ltwo languages cross or usually occurs once overlap. It
involves with large portion of the accurate pronunciation second language has been or proper way
 of acquired. This is where describing something. They start making For example, instead of
mistakes of the English "Jackbook" someone language that is not may say "the book of explicitly
taught, such as, Jack." irregular verbs and the correct or incorrect usage of articles.

III. Conclusions

In teaching and learning English as second language, Contrastive analysis is really

helpful for both the teachers and the students, because we will know the differences and
similarities between source language (L1) and target language (L2). This may lie in the
pronunciation of phoneme that occurs in both languages.

IV. References

https://www.slideshare.net/damarisescobar1911/contrastive-analysis?
fbclid=IwAR0v0_9oPnWMElphXqp1uxiqPfGdXexNilB36F626trkZsi0jjgjEHDTX70

https://en. Wikipedia.org