Applied 1

Sources of Errors

1. Interlingual transfer (from L1)

    The beginning stages of learning a second language are characterized by a great deal of interlingual transfer (from the native language). In these early stages, before the system of the second language is familiar, the native language is the only linguistic system in the previous experience upon which the learner can draw

2. Intralingual transfer

    The negative transfer of items within the target language (incorrect generalization of rules within the target language) is a major factor in second language learning. Once the learner has begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer is manifested.

3. Context of learning (false concept)

    Context refers to the classroom with its teacher and its materials in the case of school learning, or the social situation in the case of untutored second language learning. In a classroom context, the teacher or the textbook can lead the learner to make faulty hypotheses about the language (false concept or induced errors) – wrong explanation by the teachers and books.

4. Communication strategies – conscious employment of verbal or nonverbal mechanism for communicating an idea when precise linguistic forms are not readily available. They involve:

   a. Avoidance

       The most common type of avoidance strategy is syntactic or lexical avoidance within a

       semantic category, e.g. (1) He is a liar (He didn’t speak the truth)

                                            (2) I lost my road (way) – I got lost.

    b. Prefabricated patterns

      Another common communication device is to memorize certain stock phrases or sentences without internalized knowledge of the components of the phrase. Tourism survival language is full of prefabricated patterns, most of which can be found in pocket bilingual “phrase” books which list hundreds of stock sentences for various occasions.

   c. Cognitive and personality style

       One’s own personality style or style of thinking can be a source of error, highlighting the idiosyncratic nature of many learner errors. A person with high self-esteem may be willing to risk more errors, in the interest of communication, since he does not feel as threatened by committing errors as a person with low self-esteem, e.g. I drove my bicycle.

   d. Appeal to authority (native speaker)

       A common strategy of communication is a direct appeal to authority. The learner may, if “stuck” for a particular word or phrase, directly ask a native speaker (the authority) for the form, e.g. How do you say ………..

   e. Language switch

       When all else fails – when appeal, avoidance, transfer, and other strategies are all incapable of producing a meaningful utterance – a learner may resort to language switch, that is he may simply use his native language whether the hearer knows that native language or not.