Name : Safitri Dyah Utami
NIM : 2201411058
Second Language
Acquisition
THE NATURE OF LEARNER LANGUAGE
Ø Errors and Error
Analysis
The advantages of
focusing on errors from learner:
1.
They are a conspicuous
feature of learner language
2.
It is useful for
teachers to know what errors learners make
3.
It is possible that
making errors may actually help learners to learn when they self-correct the
errors they make.
The steps to analyze learner errors:
1.
Identifying errors:
to identify errors we have to compare the sentences learners produce with what
seem to be normal or ‘correct’ sentences in the target language. However, we
have to distinguish between errors and mistakes. Errors reflect gaps in a
learner’s knowledge; they occur because the learner does not know what is
correct. Then mistakes reflect occasional lapses in performance; they occur
because the learner is unable to perform what he or she knows. The way we can
do to distinguish them are by check the consistency of learner performance and
ask the learner to try to correct their own deviant utterances.
2.
Describing errors:
The ways to describe and classify errors: (1)
to classify errors in grammatical categories. (2) to try to identify general
ways in which the learners’ utterances differ from the reconstructed
target-language utterances. Classifying errors in these ways can help us to
diagnose learners’ learning problems at any one stage of their development and
also to plot how changes in error patterns occur over time.
3.
Explaining errors: Learners
“create” their own rules that different from the target language. Errors are
not only systematic but also universal. For example, there are many learners
who found having the past tense error (they substitute the simple form of the
verb for the past tense form). Then some errors are common only the learners
who share the same mother tongue. Learners try to make the L2 simpler (the
omission error and overgeneralization error). For example, in omission the
learners leave out the article ‘a’ and ‘the’. Whereas in overgeneralization
error, they use eated in place of ‘ate’. Other error is transfer error, where
learners actively involved in shaping the ‘grammars’ they are learning.
4. Errors evaluation: there is a need to evaluate errors. There
are two kinds of error: (1) global errors, which violate the overall structure
of a sentence (2) Local errors, affect only a single constituent in the
sentence
Ø Developmental
Patterns
Examining the
developmental pattern learners follow:
1.
The early stages of
L2 acquisition: language is learned as a natural, untutored process by
investigating what learners do when exposed to the L2 in communicative
settings. At the first time, the learners (particularly children) will undergo
the silent period. They learn language by listening and reading. There are two
characteristics in this period: (1) the kind of formulaic chunks, and (2)
proportional simplification (leave words out because learners find it difficult
to speak in a full sentence). This reduced speech is similar to the kind of
speech children produce when they learn their mother tongue in early stage.
2.
The order of
acquisition: the researchers try to identify how accurately each feature is
used by learner and they find an accuracy order. They rank the features and
they make rules that the accuracy order must be the same as the order of
acquisition and learners must follow the nature order of acquisition itself.
However, some researcher find that the order of accuracy is according to the
learner’s first language so it should not the same as the order of acquisition.
3.
Sequence of
acquisition: the acquisition of a particular grammatical structure must be seen
as a process involving transitional constructions. For example, the stages of
learners acquire past tense form. Acquisition follows a U-shaped course of
development that is learners may display a high level of accuracy only to
apparent regress later before finally once again performing in accordance with
target-language norms.
4.
Some implications:
L2 acquisition is systematic and to a large extent, universal, reflecting ways
in which internal cognitive mechanisms control acquisition, irrespective of the
personal background of learners or the setting in which they learn. the work on
developmental patterns is important for another reason. The orders and
sequences of acquisition can be altered through formal instruction.
Ø Variability in Learner
Language
Allowance should
perhaps be made for some free variation, variability in learner language is
systematic. That is, learners use their linguistic sources in predictable ways.
The use of spesific grammatical form has been shown to vary according to the
linguistic context, the situational context (for example, who learner is
addressing), and the psycholinguistic context (for example, whether the learner
has an opportunity to plan). Furthermore, variability plays an integrative part
in the overall pattern of development, with learners moving through a series of
stages that reflect different kinds of variability.
Name : Safitri Dyah Utami
NIM : 2201411058
Ø Questions:
1.
There are three
kinds of errors which might be identify, that is, ommision, misinformation, and
misordering. Could you give an example the type of misordering error?
2.
Could you suggest
another way to distinguish between errors and mistakes?
