efl learner analysis
TRANSCRIPT
“If intelligibility- as a threshold for international communication or for any
level of EFL acquisition- is to be achieved when speaking English,
emphasis much be put upon pronunciation aspects such as word-stress.”
(Benrabah, 1997, p.163)
“An English sentence often contains many small words that do not carry the
essential meaning of the idea or thought. A common mistake made by
nonnative speakers is to pronounce every word with equal stress, creating a
very stilted rhythm that does not match that a native English speakers.”
(Cameron, 2012, p.205)
…paragraph length responses in classroom tests…may be hard pressed to
decide whether a certain kind of error, particularly in native language transfer,
seriously affects the intelligibility of an entire utterance in the presence of
other contextual information.” (Fischer, 1984, p.16)
“if the goal of the foreign language classroom is to attain a level of acceptable
communicative competence, it is crucial that the teacher be able to evaluate
students’ progress towardthat goal.” (Fischer, 1984, p.17)
“Swain specified three specific functions of learner output. Firstly, producing
output allows learners to test hypotheses about the target language grammar.
Secondly, it may trigger the type of metal-linguistic reflection that is
benefictal to interlanguage decelopment. Finally, output has the ability to
promote noticing and to push learners’ awareness of the gaps and problems in
their interlanguage system….’if students are given insufficient feedback or no
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feedback regarding the extend to which their messages have successfully
(accurately, appropriately, and coherently) been conveyed, output may not
serve these roles. ” (van Beuningen, 2010, p.6)
“…by offering learners opportunities to notice the gaps in their developing L2
systems, test interlanguage hypotheses, and engage in metalinguistic
reflection, written CF has the ability to foster SLA and to lead to accuracy
development.” (van Beuningen, 2010, p.21)
“A communicative approach must be based on and respond to the learner’s
(often changing) communication needs and interests.” (Canale, 1984, p.18)
“…exploring the role of feedback in the process of developing learners’
editing and revision skills.” (van Beuningen, 2010, p.2)
“The concept of noticing combines the two crucial cognitive linguistic notions
of attention and awareness….Schmidt thus argued that noticing is a necessary
condition for language learning.” (van Beuningen, 2010, p.5)
Another essential role assocaiated with attention is its ability to make learners
aware of ‘a mismatch or gap between what they can produce and what they
need to produce, as well as between what they produce and was target
language speakers produce….Ellis used the term cognitive compartision” (van
Beuningen, 2010, p.5)
“Rather than treating communicative competence as just an outcome of L2
instruction, we see it as an enabling condition.” (Lee, 2006, p.368)
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Quality of execution of performance plus the underlying state of knowledge
“…if we consider this exchange purely to be a matter of linguistic error and
correction, we would miss and thus take for granted the competent practices of
language use that make this exchange intelligible in the first place.” (Lee,
2006, p.358)
“Rather than treating communicative competence as just an outcome of L2
instruction, we see it as an enabling condition.” (Lee, 2006, p.368)
Quality of execution of performance plus the underlying state of knowledge
“diagnose the individual’s specific strengths and weaknesses” (Harris, 1969,
p.3)
“indicates what an individual is capable of doing now (as the result of his
cumulative learning experiences), though it may also serve as a basis for
predicting future attainment.” (Harris, 1969, p.3)
“students can cover up weaknesses by avoiding problems” (Harris, 1969, p.70)
“Normally two or more short compositions will prove to be more reliable than
one long one. And having the compositions written at different times will
yield better results than having them written at one sitting.” (Harris, 1969,
p.77)
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Corder quoted by Şanal “The first to the teacher in that they tell him, if he
understands a systematic analysis, how far towards the goal the learner has
progressed, and consequently what remains for him to learn. Second, they
provide to the researcher evidence of how language is learnered or aquired,
what strategies or procedures the learner is employing in his discovery of the
language. Thirdly (and in a sense this is the most important aspect) hey are
indispensible to the learner himself, because we can regard the making of
errors as a device the learner uses in order to learn.” (Şanal, 2008, p.598)
“In order to understand the process of L2 learning, the mistakes a person made
in the process of constructing a new system of language should be analysed
carefully”. (Şanal, 2008, p.598)
“A mistake refers to a performance error, it is a failure to make use of a known
system….not the result of a deficiceny in competence…..errors are deviances
that are due to deficient competency” (Şanal, 2008, p.599)
Errors caused by negative transfer and Errors caused by target language (lack
of knowledge)
“Only when the teachers of English know why an error has been produced
they can set about correcting in a systematic way.” ((Şanal, 2008, p.600)
Paraphrased. Teachers need to modify their lessons to take into account the
wants and needs of their learners. (Harmer, 2003, p. 288)
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“context is a crucial determiner of the success or failure of learners.” (Bax,
2003, p.281)
“…many aspects of the context- such as students’ attitudes, cultural
expectations, and so on- are clearly at least as important as teaching method.”
(Bax, 2003, p. 282-3)
Paraphrased. Teachers need to modify their lessons to take into account the
wants and needs of their learners. (Harmer, 2003, p. 288)
“To social constructivists, students are active constructors and architects of
their own building ideas and knowledge and, thus, not only does the
ownership of learning reside with them, but also sustaining motivation
depends on how much they are confident in using their potential to learn.”
(Amini, 2011, p.9)
“Oral fluency is of great importance to second language learners who need to
be able to participate in academic, occupational, and social contexts. (Rossiter,
Derwing, Manimtim & Thomson, 2010, p.584)
“Oral fluency is one of the most salient markers of proficiency in a second
language.” (Rossiter, Derwing, Manimtim & Thomson, 2010, p.584)
“The most successful classrooms are those that encourage students to think of
themselves and engage in critical thinking. Critical thinking allows us to think
about our own thoughts and the reasons behind our point of view.” (Crawford,
Saul, Mathews & Makinster, 2005, p. 4)
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“At the intermediate midlevel of proficiency, the speech of many students
contains fossilized errors. In some cases, their fluency results in their inability
to recognize their errors, while in others their lack of confidence in language
skills slows down their performance.” (Leaver & Willis, 2004, p75)
Benrabah suggests that intelligibility is a threshold for international
communication or for any level of EFL acquisition. (1997, p.163)
According to Vygotsky’s (1978) socio-cultural theory, learning is facilitated
through interaction with the social environment (interpersonal learning) rather
than intrapersonal learning….Vygotsky’s concept of the ‘Zone of Proximal
Development’ (ZPD) describes the gap between what learners can accomplish
independently and what learners can accomplish when provided external
support. Vygotskians believe that learning occurs when the gap is bridged.”
(Zha, Kelly, MeeAeng, & Fitzgerald. 2006, p.350)
Nature of communication involves a high degree of unpredictability and
creativity in form and message (Canale, 1984, p.3)
“…the performance task itself is of less interest than what the performance
reveals; the underlying knowledge and ability is the actual target of the
assessment.” (McNamara, 1996, p.25)
“The defining feature of a test of language proficiency, then is that the learner
be required to demonstrate not only knowledge of the language but skill in the
use of that knowledge in settings which are in some degree communicative.”
(McNamara, 1996, p.28)
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What can the candidate can actually achieve through the language
(McNamara, 1996, p.37)
“Foreign language educators universally affirm that the goal of the language
classroom should be communicative competence in the foreign
language….Yet many teachers and language educators have paid only passing
attention to evaluating communicative competence in the classroom.”
(Fischer, 1984, p.13)
Namely, that in Italian the element which the speaker wishes to give most
emphasis to is usually moved to the end of the clause. This contrasts with
English, in which the salient element is identified by intonation changes rather
than word order changes. Italians often find it difficult also to produce the
right intonation patterns when asking questions or making requests
(Shoebottom, 1996).
Italian does not use the perfect tenses to make a connection to the present in
the same way that English does (Shoebottom, 1996).
Italian learners frequently have problems with the correct use of articles in
English. Although both the definite and the indefinite article exist in both
languages, their use often does not coincide. As a result it is common to hear
sentences such as: Is he teacher? or The health is the most important in the life
(Shoebottom, 1996).
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The subject pronoun is not required in colloquial Italian, so learners may say
sentences such as: Is impossible (Shoebottom, 1996).
Errors as evidence for a creative process (Touchie, 1986, p.75)
“…significant in three respects: (1) errors are important for the language
teacher because they indicate the learner’s progress in language learning; (2)
errors are also important for the language researcher as they provide insights
into how language is learnt; and (3) finally, errors are significant to the
language learner himself/herself as he/she gets involved in hypothesis testing.”
(Touchie, 1986, p.76)
There are mainly two major sources of errors in second language learning. The
first source is interference from the native language while the second source
can be attributed to intralingual and developmental factors (Touchie, 1986,
p.77)
Intralingual and developmental errors are due to the difficulty of the
second/target language. Intralingual and developmental factors include the
following:
1. Simplification: Learners often choose simple forms and constructions
instead of more complex ones. An example of simplification might involve
the use of simple present instead of the present perfect continuous.
2. Overgeneralization: This is the use of one form or construction in one
context and extending its application to other contexts where it should not
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apply. Examples of overgeneralization include the use of corned and goed
as the past tense forms of corne and go and the omission of the third
person singular s under the heavy pressure of all other endless forms as in
I,e go. It should be noted that simplification and overgeneralization are
used by learners in order to reduce their linguistic burden.
3. Hypercorrection: Sometimes the zealous efforts of teachers in correcting
their students' errors induce the students to make errors in otherwise
correct forms. Stenson (1978) calls this type of error "induced errors." For
example, the teacher's insistence that Arab ESL learners produce the
phoneme IpI correctly prompts them to always produce IpI where the
phoneme Ibl is required. Thus Arab ESL learners say piTd and pattie
instead of bird and battle.
4. Faulty teaching: Sometimes it happens that learners' errors are teacher-
induced ones, i.e., caused by the teacher, teaching materials, or the order of
presentation. This factor is closely related to hypercorrection above. Also,
it is interesting to note that some teachers are even influenced by their
pupils' errors in the course of long teaching.
5. Fossilization: Some errors, specially errors in pronunciation, persist for
long periods and become quite difficult to get rid of. Examples of
fos.silized errors in Arab ESL learners are the lack of distinction between
IpI and Ibl in English and the insertion of the resumptive pronoun in
English relative clauses produced by these learners.
6. Avoidance: Some syntactic structures are difficult to produce by some
learners. Consequently, these learners avoid these structures and use
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instead simpler structures. Arab ESL learners avoid the passive voice
while Japanese learners avoid relativization in English.
7. Inadequate learning: TItis is mainly caused by ignorance of rule
restrictions or underdifferentiation and incomplete learning. An example is
omission of the third person singular s as in: He want.
8. False concepts hypothesized: Many learners' errors can be attributed to
wrong hypotheses formed by these learners about the target language. For
example, some learners think that is is the marker of the present tense. So,
they produce: He is talk to the teacher. Similarly, they think that was is the
past tense marker. Hence they say: It was happened last night.
(Touchie, 1986, p.78-9)
“There is an Italian proverb ‘Sbagliando simpara’ (We can learn through our
errors)”
"Italians can't speak foreign languages", "Results of Italian students in foreign
languages are very poor", "Italian foreign language teachers can't teach
foreign languages hecause they themselves can't speak them well", these are
but some of the most frequently expressed statements one could find in the
media (Lopriore, 2002, p.206).
Systematic errors Errors are the result of over application of generalization
( overgeneralization) „ed‟ „ing‟ generalization: the „ed‟ „ing‟ inflections are
added to everything, producing such oddities as I doed, We comed, I am
loving. The learner resorts to a reduction of the speech to a simpler system.
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Indeed, the restricted generalization is a helpful device used by the learner but
also by the teacher (Davutoglu, 2011, p.222)
Unsystematic errors These errors are due to psychological reasons but also
caused by physiological factors, for instance slips of the tongue and slips of
the ear (Davutoglu, 2011, p.222)
“Either four or five components are generally recognized in analyses of the
speech process: pronunciation; Grammar; Vocabulary; Fluency;
Comprehension.” (Harris, 1969, p.81-81)
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