ERROR ANALYSIS

THE OUTLINE
• A definition of error analysis
• Objectives of studying error analysis
• The difference between an error and a
mistake
• The difference between errors and
mistakes
• Significance of error analysis for the
teaching of English
• Processes in error analysis
• Limitations of error analysis
1) What is error analysis?
Error analysis is concerned with the
description and analyses of errors made by
second language learners,whether they are
induced by the mother tongue or derived
from other sources.
2) What are the objectives of
E A?
There are three main objectives:

a) Identify the strategies which learners

use in language learning.

b) Try to identify the causes of learners

errors.

c) Obtain information on common

difficulties in language learning.
What is the difference between an
error and a mistake?
• A mistake refers to a performance error that is
either a random guess or a slip.
• Natives can know their mistakes and correct them.
• Mistakes are not systematic;they can be self-
corrected.

• An error is a systematic deviation made by

learners who have not mastered the rules of L2.
• Errors are systematic.That is, the cannot be self-
corrected.For example, Ali cans speak French.
What is the significance of E A for
the teaching of English?
Researchers, teachers, learners of English as well as
syllabus designers and materials producers have much
to gain from the studies of ER.
a) The researcher: they provide him with evidence of
how lge is learnt or acquired.
b) The teacher: to asses whatever they have taught and
whatever the learners have learnt to
• make plans for the future
• Rectify their teaching methodologies
• Get information about ho much the learner has learnt.
What are the major processes in
ER?
What are the limitations of ER?
It is often impossible to reliably determine what
kind of error a learner is making.
ER can deal effectively only with learner
production and not with learner reception.
It cannot control for learner use of
communicative stategies such as avoidance
strategy,in which learners simply do not use a
form with which the are uncomfortable.