(SLA) THE NATURE OF LEARNER LANGUAGE

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?