TKT Unit 11

The Role of Error

 The Role of Errors= The type of errors
 Target Language= Language that I am planning
to teach, selected for learning
 Processing- understanding
 Reorder- exercise 5, exercise 1, ex18
 To challenge- give one level up, make it difficult
 Reformulation- correcting without drawing
student’s attention
 Mistakes are divided into:
 Mistakes- Have the knowledge but lack
concern, attention.

 Errors -happen when learners try to say

something that is beyond their current level
of language processing. They can’t correct
because don’t understand what is
wrong(mostly Starter level students)
 Type of mistakes:
 Slips - are the result of tiredness, worry or
other temporary emotions or
circumstances. Students are able to correct
slips
 Slips can be corrected by learners once they
realise they have made them, maybe with
little prompting from the teacher or another
learner.
It snow , snowed yesterday
 Type of mistakes:
 1st language Interference or transfer: influence from
learners’ first language (L1) or their mother tongue.
 Learners may use sound patterns, lexis or grammatical
structures from their own language in English.
 My eyes don’t drink water from you- The English will
never understand you but Azerbaijanian will
 East or west home is best - Gəzməyə qərib ölkə ölməyə
vətən yaxşı
 Type of mistakes:
 Developmental error: Learners are unconsciously working
out and organising language but this process is not yet
complete. Developmental errors are Never avoidable
 I’m going – I’m wanting (state verb)

 three main ways through which learners can be helped to

develop their language
exposure

use language to interact

the need to focus attention on language forms

 Overgeneralisation - when learners wrongly
apply a rule for one item of the language to
another item. Applying rules too widely
I worked- I goed
 Interlanguage- is not fixed, users use it to
communicate, gradually disappears
unavoidable because learners
unconsciously process, i.e. analyse and
reorganise it.
 Errors are part of learners’ interlanguage
(the learners’ own version of the 2nd
language which they speak as they learn).
Fossilized/Fossilitation- Errors which learners do not stop making
but get fossilized.
 lasts for a long time, even forever
 occurs when the learners have sufficient language to communicate and has
no reason to improve
 reason – lack of exposure
 - the learners’ lack of conscious / unconscious motivation
 to improve their level of accuracy
 because it causes no harm to communicate
 For ex; advanced level studenst says : She listen to me
 Ways of helping learners
 We need to think hard about whether, when
and how to correct learners.
 In fluency activities it is better not to pay
attention to learners’ errors—ignore them—so
that the learners have an opportunity to
develop their confidence and fluency, and to
experiment with language.
 Ways of helping learners
 To expose them to lots of language that is just beyond their
level, through reading and listening
 To give them opportunities to focus on the form of language
 To give them time to use language to communicate and
interact and see if they can do so successfully
 Unconsciously this guides them not only for learning but for
acquisition
 Provide time in class to communicate & interact
 Errors are useful for the teacher as well – it shows how the
students have learnt & what help is necessary