Approaches to

Learner’s Performance
 Environment

INPUT
Processing

OUTPUT
Actual utterances
(Learner’s performance)
 GENERAL POINTS...

Learner’s performance contains

both acceptable and non-
acceptable utterances.

Non-acceptable utterances are

considered important
determinants of SLA process.
 GENERAL POINTS...

The non-acceptable utterances

attracted the attention of the
researchers in order to answer the
following questions:

1. Why do learners make these non-

acceptable utterances or errors?
 GENERAL POINTS...

2. What are the characteristics of

these errors?
3. What are the reasons behind these
errors?
4. Are these errors bad or good sign
of learning? Etc…..
 GENERAL POINTS...

In order to answer these questions, or

deal with errors made by L2 learners,
three approaches will be discussed here:
1. Contrastive Analysis CA.
2. Error Analysis EA.
3. Interlanguage IL.
 Contrastive Analysis
Why CA?
CA is a term introduced by the
behaviourists in order to explain
how L1 habits interfere with or
affect the L2 learning process.
 Contrastive Analysis

The goal of CA was to

“identify and catalogue the
structural similarities and
differences between
languages.”
 Contrastive Analysis
The importance of CA:
Are predicted to aid
Areas of
the acquisition
similarities process

Areas of Are predicted to

impede the
differences
acquisition process
 The rationale of CA

Practical experience of L2 teachers

The theory of transfer

 CA
✓ L2learners transfer elements or
even skills from their L1 to the L2.
✓ Those elements in the L1 which
differ from the L2 will create
problems for the learners.
✓ They will lead him to make errors.
Transfer
Facilitates learning or
has a positive influence
Positive on the command of a
skill or part of the L2
due to similarity
between L1 & L2.
Negative
Mango‫منقو‬, Lemon ‫ليمون‬
Transfer
Impedes learning or has
a negative influence on
Positive the command of a skill
or part of the L2 due to
differences between L1
& L2.
Negative
This Huda.
 Factors of Negative Transfer

Age

Focus

Limited quantity of L2 input

Linguistic distance between L2 and L1

 CA Assumptions
1. The difficulties are mainly due
to the differences between L1
& L2.
 CA Assumptions

2. The greater these differences

are the harder the difficulties
will be.
3. The results of the comparison
are needed to predict the
difficulties and errors which
will occur in learning the L2.
 CA Assumptions

4. The differences found by CA

will be the focus of language
teaching.
CA Hierarchy of difficulty
AL1
It form
exists
has in anL2
two
in L1but
forms is the
not
or same
more,
in L1:
L2or roughly
(Arabic
has one:
L1
the has
English
sameone form
nouns L2 has
havenegators,
as many
a forms
form natural
in L2:two or
gendermore:
(Arabic
doesn’t has
have of ‫ لم‬,‫لن‬/p/,‫&ما‬,‫ال‬/b/)
indefiniteness
Split (Arabic
Arabic
(past
English
has
nouns
simple
but English
one
have
in
has has
/b/ English
‘a’grammatical
English
mainly &one
has
’) gender
‘notArabic)
and
‘an’)

New Category
Absent Category
Coalesced forms
Complete correspondence
 CA Technique
• Note…
Before any CA study takes
place, accurate and clear
descriptions of L1 & L2 are
needed.
 CA Technique
1. Select a task or tasks to be
compared.
Note that one cannot select
prepositions in English and
compare them with articles in
Arabic.
 CA Technique

2. The selected tasks should be

compatible from the theoretical
point of view. That is, they
should have similar deep
structure even if they are
different on the surface
structure.
 CA Technique

3. The selected tasks should be

described in the same way, i.e.
using the same model of
description (traditional,
structural, generative)
 CA Technique

4. Find out points of similarity

and contrasts or differences.
 CA Technique

5. Build your hypotheses on the

similarity and contrasts points
(similarity will lead to possible
positive transfer while contrast
will lead to negative transfer).
 CA Technique

6. Check these hypotheses or

predictions against data from
L2 learner’s performance by
using oral or written tests.
 CA Technique

7. Analyze the data and accept or

reject your hypotheses or
predictions.
 CA Technique

8. Build your teaching materials

on the obtained results
That is more emphasis is given to
the predicted areas of negative
transfer, i.e. areas of contrasts.
 CA Technique: An example

Yes/No questions in English

& Arabic:
1. Arabic Yes/No questions description.
2. English Yes/No questions
description.
3. Carry out the contrast.
Arabic Yes/No questions:
Make this sentence a Y/N question:

.‫ هدى طالبة مجدة‬-

‫ أ هدى طالبة مجدة؟‬- ‫ هل هدى طالبة مجدة؟‬-

Where we have only inserted a question
word ( ‫هل‬/‫ ) أ‬without altering/changing
the sentence.
English Yes/No questions:

Make this sentence a Y/N question:

- They are good boys.
- Are they good boys?
We have only moved the verb are to the
front to make the sentence a question.
English Yes/No questions:

• She came late.

• Did she come late?
1. We have inserted the verb do (FV) to the
front to make the sentence a question.
2. We have chosen the appropriate form of
the verb do
3. We have also brought back the MV to
the infinitive form.
 Contrast of Yes/No questions in English & Arabic
Contrast (Similarities & Differences)

Differences
1. In Arabic we insert a question word and no
change in word-order of the sentence.
2. In English we only move the FV are to the
front.
Hypotheses
- We predict that our students won't move the
FV: They are good boys? (rise intonation )
 Contrast of Yes/No questions in English & Arabic
Contrast (Similarities & Differences)
Differences
1. In Arabic we do not have similar FV like do.
2. In English we insert the FV do at the front and
choose the appropriate form of do.
3. We also in English bring back the MV to the
infinitive form.
Hypotheses
- We predict that our students will commit errors in all
these types of differences (in 1-3).
 CA and L2 Teaching
1. The most effective materials to be
learned by L2 learners are those
that are based upon a CA between
a learner’s L1 and L2. More
emphasis is given to the areas of
contrast.
 CA and L2 Teaching

2. CA is used as a criterion for

selecting testing items.
3. CA is used to help in choosing
teaching material (to prevent L1
transfer and remedying errors).
 CA and L2 Teaching

4. CA could be very helpful in

drawing up curriculums.
5. CA is very useful in
homogeneous classroom more
than in heterogeneous
classroom.
 CA Critics

1. CA is based on the notion of

‘habit-formation’.
2. The researcher’s knowledge of
languages to be contrasted
cannot be fully trusted.
 CA Critics

3. Some of the predictions of

errors, which based on the results
of CA, are not confirmed by the
actual performance of the L2
learners (the over predictions),
such as word-order differences
between Arabic & English.
 CA Critics

4. Under prediction of errors.

Certain errors cannot be
discovered on the basis of CA
(such as goed, comed.)
 CA Critics

5. Contrast between an L1 & L2

alone does not tell much about
how a learner goes about the
learning process of a task.
 CA Defense

1. Almost third of the errors

committed by L2 learners
are referred to transfer theory,
hence, CA is important in
explaining L1 transfer into
L2 learning.
 CA Defense

2. Overprediction

poor analysis avoidance

or prediction strategy
about what is
difficult and
what is not
 CA Defense
avoidance strategy
If a student finds a particular construction
in the L2 difficult to comprehend, he may
avoid producing it.
Examples: Preference for:

(phonological) words easier to pronounce

(morphological) a regular verb to an

irregular