Error analysis

ERROR ANALYSIS Errors VS Mistakes Error Error usually means that the person who committed it did something wrong because they thought wrongly and judged incorrectly. It is used for formal situations and is more serious since it is usually a more important problem that occurred due to the misjudgment. It is more technical and formal. Mistake Mistake refers to something that is more common. An example is mistaking salt from sugar, it is a common mistake and everyone makes it sometimes, so it is not considered a grave error. It usually involves something done wrong because they thought something else and it was an accident. Also, it is more informal and is better when talking to friends or family. In brief: – Mistake is used in terms of an incorrect action, performance, opinion or judgment. It is also used to express misunderstanding; for example “ I have mistaken you. ” – Error is a mistake that causes problems or affects the result of something. – Error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflects the competence of the learner – Error is formal while mistake is informal. – Mistake is common and error is technical or mathematical. Performance VS Competence In LINGUISTICS, the distinction between a person’s knowledge of language (competence) and use of it (performance). Competence: This word means ability to do something, or knowledge about something, to a certain required or acceptable standard. Performance: This word means actually doing something, i. e. using one’s ability or knowledge to do something. Therefore, language competence means the ability or knowledge to do something by using language. We use language to do the following things: to speak, to write, and to read what other have written or to listen to others when they are speaking. When we do so, we do it to a certain standard: we perform; we show concretely and practically that we are able to use the ability or knowledge of language. If the standard of doing something is below expectation according to certain requirements or conditions then our language performance is regarded as low or below standard. Types of Errors Brown (1994) and Connor (1996) group errors into two categories: 1- Inter-lingual transfer errors are errors caused by the interference of the learners’ L1. The error occurs as a result of familiarity with the L1. Therefore, there is a transfer effect whether directly or indirectly of the L1 to the new language. When parallel features of the two languages correspond exactly, there is a positive transfer from L1 to L2. When they do not correspond exactly, there is a negative transfer, that is, interference. 2- Intra-lingual and developmental errors are the second category of errors. These errors may be caused by inadequate learning, difficulties inherent in the TL itself, faulty teaching, confused thinking or lack of contrast of both languages. Brown suggests that the early stages of language learning are characterized by a predominance of inter-lingual transfer, but once learners have begun to acquire parts of a new system, more and more intra-lingual transfer is manifested. Source of Errors There are some sources of errors: 1. Language transfer (Mother language effect) 2. Transfer of training 3. Strategies of second language learning 4. Strategies of second language communication (ignorance) a) Ignorance of rule restrictions: i. e. applying rules to contexts to which they do not apply. b) incomplete application of rules c) Semantic errors such as building false concepts/systems: i. e. faulty comprehension of distinctions in the TL. 5. Overgeneralization of TL linguistic material. It is associated with redundancy reduction. It covers instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his experience of other structures in the target language. It may be the result of the learner reducing his linguistic burden. Classification of Errors 1- Phonetic Errors English language learners of different backgrounds have different types of difficulties. According to many ESL learners, the most difficult, but most important, skill to acquire is speaking. This difficulty varies depending on the phonology systems of different mother tongues (MT). 2- Syntactic Errors Syntax Error is an error due to missing colon, semicolon, parenthesis, etc. Syntax is the way in which we construct sentences by following principles and rules. 3- Semantic Error: It is a logical error. it is due to wrong logical statements. Semantics is the interpretations of and meanings derived from the sentence transmission and understanding of the message. Semantics errors are Logical, while Syntax errors are code errors. Experiment Design Experimental Design It is a blueprint of the procedure that enables the researcher to test his hypothesis by reaching valid conclusions about relationships between independent and dependent variables. It refers to the conceptual framework within which the experiment is conducted. Steps of Experiment Design: Before Data Collection: 1- Questions (What is it that you would like to find out about marine debris?) 2- Hypothesis (Write a complete sentence of what you think you will find. You should be able to test your hypothesis. State your answer in a “ If ……then….. because…. ” format) Data Collection: 1- Data : How will you collect your data? (Think of a method you could use to test your hypothesis) After data Collection: 1- Annotation 2- Analysis: What did you find? 3- Classification: Count and categorize your findings. 4- Solution: Review your results. Does your data support or not support your hypothesis? What can we do? Questions & Hypothesis The hypothesis in research is an idea or concept that may be true. Through proper experimentation, a hypothesis can become a fact. So, in research, you test a hypothesis to see if it is true. While a question in research is situation in which you do not have an opinion. Q: What is the definition of Annotation ? An annotation is a note that is made while reading any form of text. This can be as simple as underlined or highlighted passages. An annotation is a note, summary, or commentary on some section of a book or a statute that is intended to explain or illustrate its meaning. COMMON ERRORS IN WRITTEN ENGLISH ESSAYS OF FORM ONE CHINESE STUDENTS: A CASE STUDY Chinese students from vernacular schools in Malaysia need to master three languages, which are English, Malay, and Chinese. Since English is the second language (L2) that they learn, it causes problems for them in learning the four skills in English including writing. This study aims to investigate the most common errors in essays written in English. The results of the analysis show that four most common errors were: 1- Mechanics, 2- Tenses, 3- Preposition, 4- Subject-verb agreement. This study suggests that: 1- Teachers need to emphasize on how certain concepts are handled in English, Malay and Chinese. 2- It is also important to make the students aware of the differences in the structure of English, Malay and their L1. 3- Certain rules in Chinese and Malay that do not work when they write in English need to be highlighted. 4- Students need to understand the differences of these languages and make use of the unique features to produce good and acceptable sentences. 1. Statement of the Problem Among writing, reading, speaking and listening in English, writing is the most complex aspect but it is a crucial skill for students to learn. Students who have the ability and competency in writing in English will be able to express themselves effectively. Moreover, they will have more privilege when applying for any job compared to other students especially in private sectors and companies that are involved at international level. 2. Objective of the Study The objective of the study is to investigate errors in essays written in English by Form One Chinese students in a public school in Perak. The teachers assign this essay as classroom task and homework. The study will seek to answer this research question: What are the four most common errors in their written English essays? 3. Second Language Writing There can be a huge difference between English writing by native speakers (NS) and English writing by English as second language (ESL) learners. ESL learners have more than one language at their disposal while they are composing as compared to NS. Since they have more than one language in hand, it brings more problems. ESL learners tend to switch those languages interactively, causing some confusion in the structure and meaning. Analysis and classification of the cause of confusion enable learners to have a clearer view of their problems and thus, able to produce better written texts. Brown (1994) and Connor (1996) group errors into two categories. They are those errors that result from L1 interference which are external, and those which result from interference from the L2 system itself. The first category is caused by inter-lingual transfer. 3- Inter-lingual transfer errors are errors caused by the interference of the learners’ L1. The error occurs as a result of familiarity with the L1. Therefore, there is a transfer effect whether directly or indirectly of the L1 to the new language. When parallel features of the two languages correspond exactly, there is a positive transfer from L1 to L2. When they do not correspond exactly, there is a negative transfer, that is, interference. 4- Intra-lingual and developmental errors are the second category of errors. These errors may be caused by inadequate learning, difficulties inherent in the TL itself, faulty teaching, confused thinking or lack of contrast of both languages. Brown suggests that the early stages of language learning are characterized by a predominance of inter-lingual transfer, but once learners have begun to acquire parts of a new system, more and more intra-lingual transfer is manifested. Steps to do Experiments: In most past researches in analyzing problems of writing in English, the researchers’ aims were to identify errors that occurred, analyze the errors to find out the cause and worked out possible solution to overcome the problems. – Hypothesis – Data Collection – Annotation – Analysis – Classification – Solution 3. Results 3. 1. Samples of Most Common Errors and Explanation In this section, sample of students’ sentences error are displayed and the errors identified in each sentence is shown accordingly. The examples of sentences only show the errors in the area specified. Other errors in the sentences are not taken into consideration. 3. 1. 1. Errors in Mechanics – I am studing in SMK Yuk Choy. (studying) – My father is a buiness man. (business) – My mom occupation is a House Wife. (Capitalization) – He works early in the morning, (incorrect use of comma) This major category makes up 19. 1 % of the total number of errors, which is the largest category of errors in the classification scheme. There were a lot of spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors in this study. – The spelling errors were mainly due to phonetics perception and carelessness. The students spell out the words by referring to the sound of the words. A lot of words in English have the same sound but with different meanings and different spelling such as ‘ know’ with ‘ no’, ‘ pen’ with ‘ pan’ and ‘ read’ with ‘ rid’. Students’ carelessness also causes them to make spelling mistakes such as ‘ I am studing’. – The errors in punctuation comprised mainly of incorrect use of comma, omission of comma, wrong substitution for periods and the absence of the period at the end of a sentence. Commas were unnecessarily inserted in between words in a sentence and at the end of a sentence producing the following error: – My sister is so clever, because she study at universiti. Errors in punctuation could be the result of carelessness on the part of the students. This is because the same punctuation marks with similar functions are also used in Chinese and Malay writings. In this case, students’ L1 does not affect their ability to use correct punctuations. – Capitalization also constitutes a significant problem in the students’ writings. Many of the errors in capitalization involved proper nouns that are not capitalized and common nouns being capitalized. For example: a. My mom occupation is a House Wife. (Common noun capitalized) b. My brother is a Form two student. (Proper noun not capitalized) This could be due to L1 interference as there is no capitalization in Chinese writings. Hence, Chinese students encounter new rules of capitalization in writing in English which generate another problem for the students. However, errors in capitalization may also be a result of students’ carelessness since in Malay all proper nouns are capitalized. 3. 1. 2. Errors in Tenses – They study in SJK (C) Bercham. (are studying) – I study in SMJK Yuk Choy. (am studying) – First, I introduce my father. (will introduce) – Every night, we watching TV. (watch) Errors in tenses are the second highest total number of errors in the study after mechanics of writing. Since the topic of the essay was My Family, it obliged the students to compose mostly in simple present tense and simple continuous tense to refer to something which is still happening now. Therefore, the students made more errors in some usage of the tenses. The result is also not surprising since English moods and tenses are indicated by the addition of auxiliary verbs and particles. English verbs change according to aspect of time. However, in Chinese and Malay, the same form of verb can be used for present, past, future and continuous tense. It has no inflection with regard to time. In short, the differences between the verb system of L1 and English tense make it difficult for students to grasp the English notion of tense. Due to the rule of Chinese and Malay that do not need any changes of verbs according to time aspect, students tend to omit the inflection of the English verb. This is correct in Chinese and Malay, but it is not acceptable in English. 3. 1. 3. Errors in Preposition – I am interested about science. (in) – He works at Kuala Lumpur. (in) – She is waiting * her SPM results so she works in the kinderland. (omission for) – My father works at 8. 30 a. m. until 5 p. m. (from) – I am in 13 years old. (unnecessary in) Most of the prepositional errors included omissions, additions and wrong selections. The cause of prepositional errors is interference from students’ L1 and Malay. Some of the Chinese and Malay prepositions are similar in meanings and functions with the English prepositions. Sometimes, a single Chinese or Malay preposition maybe translated into various English prepositions. Therefore, students were incapable of choosing the correct prepositions when more than one English preposition corresponds to a single Chinese or Malay preposition and created errors. 3. 1. 4. Subject-Verb Agreement Errors – I goes to school by bus. (go) – My family have five members. (has) – There is five family members in my house. (are) – She don’t like us to study in a dirty room. (doesn’t) – If I has problem in homework, he will teach me. (have) Subject-verb agreement errors pose problems for the Chinese students for a number of reasons. – The students were having difficulties in distinguishing the verb ‘ is’ or ‘ was’ with ‘ are’ or ‘ were’. – They were also confused with some nouns such as ‘ people’ and ‘ homework’, whether it is a singular or plural noun. – Certainly, the absence of agreement between subjects and verbs in L1 and Malay also causes the students to commit errors in this category. In Chinese and Malay, the verb ‘ pergi’ do not change according to the subjects. Collocations What are collocations? Most researchers defined collocations from the aspect of partnership or co-occurrence of words. A collocation is two or more words that often go together. Classifications of collocations: English collocations are classified into two major groups: 1- Lexical collocations: Lexical collocations are further divided into seven types. Lexical collocations consist of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs, such as acquire knowledge, arouse my interest, relieve pressure, high ambitions and follow closely. 2- Grammatical collocations. Grammatical collocations are divided into eight types. Grammatical collocations are phrases containing a dominant word, such as a noun, an adjective, or a verb and a preposition or grammatical structure like an infinitive or clause, such as feel sorry to, listen to the music, major in, and had to write. Types of collocations: There are several different types of collocation made from combinations of verb, noun, adjective etc. Some of the most common types are: – Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied) – Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy) – Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger) – Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout) – Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide) – Verb + Expression With Preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears) – Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly) Types of Collocational Errors: 1- Interlingual transfer: learners’ first language influenced their production on collocations and was the common source of errors. *eat vitamins for take vitamins 2- Ignorance of rules restrictions: Errors of ignorance of rule restrictions were the result of analogy and failure to observe the restrictions of existing structures *make Joyce surprise for make Joy surprised 3- Overgeneralization: Learners used overgeneralization when the item did not carry any obvious contrast to them. *am used to take for am used to taking 4- Use of synonym *receive other people’ s opinions for accept other people’ s opinions 5- False concepts hypothesized: False concepts hypothesized errors result from learners’ faulty comprehension of distinctions in the target language. *made me grown up mind for cultivate my mind. 6- Word coinage: Word coinage means that students make up a new word to communicate the desired concept. The examples was *see sun-up for see the sunrise. 7- Approximation: Approximation means that learners use an incorrect vocabulary item or structure, which “ shares enough semantic features in common with the desire item to satisfy the speaker. *middle exam for midterm exam Question: Do the participants make more grammatical collocational errors than lexical collocational errors? Grammatical and Lexical Errors The collected data were analyzed to examine whether there was significant difference in the number of grammatical collocational errors and lexical ones. A total of 188 collocational errors was found. One hundred and twenty-one errors were grammatical errors and 67 errors were lexical errors. In other words, the participants made more grammatical errors than lexical errors. Question: What are EFL/ ESL learners’ perceptions of difficulty in collocations? Taxonomy Errors in learning are significant. Errors are caused by differences between the native language of the learner and the language he is learning. According to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen (1982: 138), errors are the flawed side of learner speech or writing. People cannot learn language without first systematically committing errors. There are four descriptive taxonomies to analyze errors, namely linguistic category taxonomy, surface strategy taxonomy, comparative taxonomy, and communicative effect taxonomy. 1. Linguistic Category Taxonomy Linguistic category taxonomies classify errors according to either or both the language component and the particular linguistic constituent the error effects. Language components include phonology (pronounciation), syntax and morphology (grammar), semantics and lexicon (meaning and vocabulary), and discourse (style). Constituents include the elements that comprise each language component. 2. Surface Strategy Taxonomy A surface strategy taxonomy highlights the way surface structures are altered. The surface strategy elements of a language are altered in specific and systematic ways. Among the common errors are: a. Omission Errors Omission errors are characterized by the absence of an item that must appear ina well-formed utterance. Language learners omit grammatical morphemes much more frequently than content words. b. Addition Errors Addition errors are characterized by the presence of an item which must not appear in a well-formed utterance. Three types of addition errors are: 1) Double markings : She didn’t went back. 2) Regularization : eated for ate, childs for children 3) Simple additions : The fishes doesn’t live in the water. c. Misformation Errors Misformation errors are characterized by the use of the wrong form of the morphemes or structure. The types of errors are: 1) Regularization errors: The dog eated the chicken. 2) Archi-forms : I see her yesterday. Her dance with my brother. 3) Alternating forms : I seen her yesterday. d. Misordering Errors Misordering errors are characterized by the incorrect placement of a morpheme or group of morphemes in an utterance. I don’t know what is that. 3. Comparative Taxonomy Comparative taxonomies classify errors based on comparison between the structure of language learner errors and certain other types of construction. The errors are classified into developmental errors, interlingual errors, ambiguous errors, and unique errors. 4. Communicative Effect Taxonomy Communicative effect taxonomy deals with errors from the perspective of their effect on the listener or reader. This taxonomy classifies errors into global errors and local errors. WHAT IS COMPUTATIONALLINGUISTICS? Computational linguistics (CL) is a discipline between linguistics and computer science which is concerned with the computational aspects of the human language faculty. It belongs to the cognitive sciences and overlaps with the field of artificial intelligence (AI), a branch of computer science aiming at computational models of human cognition. Computational linguistics has applied and theoretical components. Part-of-speech tagging part-of-speech tagging (POS tagging or POST), also called grammatical tagging or word-category disambiguation, is the process of marking up the words in a text (corpus) as corresponding to a particular part of speech, based on both its definition, as well as its context –i. e. relationship with adjacent and related words in a phrase, sentence, or paragraph. A simplified form of this is commonly taught to school-age children, in the identification of words as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. Once performed by hand, POS tagging is now done in the context of computational linguistics, using algorithms which associate discrete terms, as well as hidden parts of speech, in accordance with a set of descriptive tags. POS-tagging algorithms fall into two distinctive groups: rule-based and stochastic. Part-of-speech tagging is harder than just having a list of words and their parts of speech, because some words can represent more than one part of speech at different times, and because some parts of speech are complex or unspoken. This is not rare–in natural languages (as opposed to many artificial languages), a large percentage of word-forms are ambiguous. For example, even ” dogs”, which is usually thought of as just a plural noun, can also be a verb: The sailor dogs the barmaid. Performing grammatical tagging will indicate that ” dogs” is a verb, and not the more common plural noun, since one of the words must be the main verb, and the noun reading is less likely following ” sailor” (sailor ! → dogs). Semantic analysis can then extrapolate that ” sailor” and ” barmaid” implicate ” dogs” as 1) in the nautical context (sailor→â†�barmaid) and 2) an action applied to the object ” barmaid” ([subject] dogs→barmaid). In this context, ” dogs” is a nautical term meaning ” fastens (a watertight barmaid) securely; applies a dog to”.