interlanguage errors

M2 MEEF November 2014

Analysing interlanguage errors

Tarone, E., & Swierzbin, B. (2009). Exploring learner language. Oxford University Press.

interlanguage❖ native speakers see their own

language (NL) as rule-governed, even if they cannot articulate all the rules

❖ they perceive a second language learner’s language as characterised by mistakes and errors

❖ yet learner language is also rule-governed; the linguistic system of learner language has been called interlanguage

autonomyof learnerlanguage

systematic linguistic analysis of learner language

❖ pronunciation => phonology

❖ grammar =>❖ morphology

❖ syntax

❖ vocabulary => lexicon

learner errors

❖ as teachers and fluent speakers of the target language, some features of learner language “jump out” at us

❖ foreign accent or grammatical errors are often most noticeable

❖ our first impressions are often based on exchanges of only a few words

intended meaning

❖ “learner language is linguistic system that is in the process of formation and learners are typically very uncertain of many of the rules they use” (Tarone & Swierzbin, 2009, p. 24)

erroranalysis

procedure for error analysis

1. identify the errorsPrepare a reconstruction of the sample as you think it would have been produced by the learner’s NS counterpart under similar circumstances There may be more or one possible reconstruction.

identifyingerrors

procedure for error analysis

1. identify the errors

2. explain the errors- mistake or error?- error due to transfer?intralingual error? communication strategy?something else?There may be more than one possible explanation.

explainingerrors

classifying errors

Name of learner/time stamp

phrase with error (phonology/morphology/syntax/lexis)

target language reconstruction cause of error

Reading

❖ Lightbown, P. M., Spada, N., Ranta, L., & Rand, J. (2006). How languages are learned (Vol. 2). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

❖ Tarone, E., & Swierzbin, B. (2009). Exploring learner language. Oxford University Press.

Learning and Teaching Foreign Languages

http://unt.unice.fr/uoh/learn_teach_FL/

http://www.scoop.it/t/telt/