Week 12: English Language Awareness PDF

WEEK 12: ENGLISH LANGUAGE AWARENESS LEARNER ERRORS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE  HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM Imagine you’re on a road trip to a beautiful destination. You have your GPS set, the route planned, and you’re excited about the journey. As you drive, you encounter a few local e...

WEEK 12: ENGLISH LANGUAGE AWARENESS LEARNER ERRORS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE  HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM Imagine you’re on a road trip to a beautiful destination. You have your GPS set, the route planned, and you’re excited about the journey. As you drive, you encounter a few local errors: maybe you take a wrong turn at a traffic light or miss an exit. These mistakes might delay your arrival slightly, but they can be corrected easily with a quick recalibration of your GPS. You can still see the scenic views along the way, and your destination is still within reach. Now, consider if there’s a global error in your navigation system—perhaps it’s set to an entirely different city! No matter how many local adjustments you make, this fundamental mistake means you could end up lost in an entirely different part of the country, far from where you intended to go. This type of error not only complicates your journey but also makes it nearly impossible to arrive at your desired destination.  TYPES OF ERRORS LOCAL ERRORS Definition: Local errors are according to Burt and Kiparsky (1972) are low level errors or minor mistakes that do not obstruct the overall meaning of a sentence. Examples: Noun and Verb Inflections: Incorrect pluralisation or verb conjugation, such as "womans" instead of "women" or "he goed" instead of "he went". Article Usage: Omitting or misusing articles, such as saying "I saw cat" instead of "I saw a cat". Preposition Errors: Incorrect use of prepositions, for example, "I live at London" instead of "I live in London". Auxiliary Verbs: Errors in using auxiliary verbs, like "Does she can sing?" instead of "Can she sing?". Word Order: Minor issues with word order that still allow comprehension, such as "Is he coming?" incorrectly stated as "He is coming?"  TYPES OF ERRORS GLOBAL ERRORS Definition: Global errors are according to Burt and Kiparsky (1972) are high level errors or more serious and can hinder understanding by altering the intended meaning of a sentence. Examples: Syntactic Errors: Incorrect word order that makes a sentence difficult to understand, such as "The cat the dog chased" instead of "The dog chased the cat". Subject-Verb Agreement: Errors like "They goes to school" instead of "They go to school," which can confuse the listener about the subject's plurality. Misuse of Tenses: Using the wrong tense that changes the meaning, such as saying "I eat breakfast yesterday" instead of "I ate breakfast yesterday". Coherent Structure Issues: Sentences that lack logical coherence, making them hard to follow, such as "Although it was raining, I went to the store because I wanted to buy milk but forgot my wallet" which may confuse readers about the sequence of events.  PHONOLOGICAL ERRORS Phonological errors, in the context of language learning, typically involve mistakes in the pronunciation of sounds or phonemes. Here are some key points that align with the general understanding of phonological errors: Phoneme Distinction: Errors such as the inability to distinguish between certain phonemes, for example, the distinction between /p/ and /b/ among Arab ESL learners, who might say "pird" instead of "bird" and "brison" instead of "prison". Pronunciation Mistakes: These errors affect the way words are pronounced, which can be due to the influence of the learner's native language (interlingual transfer) or difficulties with the target language phonological system.  MORPHOLOGICAL ERRORS There are five lexical word types in English: noun, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition. Morphology error is one which involves a failure to comply with the norm in supplying any part of any instance of these word classes: six book*, aboli*shment (/-tion)are noun morphology errors; *bringed, was drink*en (/-ing)are verb morphology errors; visit me soon*ly is an adverb morphology error; and a colourfull*er scene, an adjective morphology error. Prepositions happen to have no morphology.  MORPHOLOGICAL ERRORS Shaughnessy (1977: 90) calls morphological errors 'small' errors, as does Zoila, a Guatemalan migrant worker in the USA (Shapira, 1978, see Chapter 1), who admits that when she speaks English she tends not to bother about 'the esses and little words'. By 'esses' Zoila means morphological markers of plurality, genitive, third-person singular. By 'little words' she means the function words of English, which, according to Fries (1952) number 154. These errors are basic but persistent, regularly resurfacing even in the EFL writing of PhD students. The most important are third singular -s, plural -s, past tense -ed, and progressive -ing.  LEXICAL ERRORS Lexical errors refer to mistakes related to the use of vocabulary in a language. Formal misselection - Using a word that does not fit the context or is not the correct term for what is intended. For example, saying "I have a strong hunger" instead of "I have a strong desire" can illustrate this kind of error. - A malapropism which is the unintentional misuse of a word by confusing it with a similar-sounding word, often resulting in a humorous or nonsensical statement. This phenomenon is characterised by the substitution of a word that sounds similar to the intended word but has a completely different meaning, leading to ludicrous effects in communication. - For example, saying "He is the pineapple of politeness" instead of "He is the pinnacle of politeness" illustrates a malapropism. The term originates from the character Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 play The Rivals, who frequently misused words, creating comedic situations through her verbal blunders.  LEXICAL ERRORS Misformations (Interlingual errors) - This occurs when learners translate phrases or words directly from their native language into the target language, leading to awkward or incorrect expressions. For instance, a learner might say "I'm cold" when they mean "I'm chilly," reflecting a direct translation from another language. Distortions - They result from the misapplication of one or more of the processing operations which are omission, overinclusion, misselection, misordering, and blending.  LEXICAL ERRORS Distortions (Intralingual errors) - They result from the misapplication of one or more of the processing operations which are omission, overinclusion, misselection, and misordering. - Two examples of each: (a) omission: e.g. int(e)resting, (b) overinclusion: e.g. jresh(er)men, din(n)ing room; (c) misselection: *delitouse~delicious; (d) misordering: e.g. littel (little), ferporate (perforate); (e) blend: e.g. the *deepths of the ocean (depth + deeps).  LEXICAL ERRORS Collocational errors Misuse of Collocations: Lexical errors can also arise from using incorrect collocations—words that commonly go together. An example would be saying "make a photo" instead of "take a photo."  SYNTACTIC ERRORS Mistakes that occur in the structure of sentences, which can affect the grammatical correctness and clarity of communication. Word Order Errors: Incorrect arrangement of words within a sentence that disrupts the intended meaning. For example, saying "She is going store to" instead of "She is going to the store." Subject-Verb Agreement Errors: Mistakes where the subject of a sentence does not agree in number with the verb. An example would be "The group of students are going" instead of "The group of students is going."  SYNTACTIC ERRORS Incorrect Use of Pronouns: Errors involving pronouns that do not correctly refer to their antecedents or are used improperly within a sentence, such as "Everyone should do their best" when it should be "Everyone should do his or her best." Misplacement of Modifiers: This occurs when modifiers are placed incorrectly, leading to ambiguity or confusion, such as "She almost drove her kids to school every day," which suggests she did not actually drive them at all. Use of Resumptive Pronouns: Errors related to the unnecessary use of pronouns that can lead to awkward or unclear sentences.  CULTURE RELATED ERRORS Mistakes that arise from the influence of cultural factors on language use. These errors occur when learners apply cultural norms, beliefs, or practices from their native culture to the target language, leading to misunderstandings or inappropriate language use in specific contexts. Cultural References: Errors may stem from misinterpreting idiomatic expressions, proverbs, or culturally specific references that do not translate directly across cultures. For instance, a learner might use a culturally specific phrase that is unfamiliar or nonsensical to native speakers.  CULTURE RELATED ERRORS Sociolinguistic Norms: These errors can also arise from differences in politeness strategies, formality levels, or conversational norms. For example, a learner might use overly formal language in casual settings due to their cultural background. Pragmatic Misunderstandings: Learners may misjudge the appropriateness of certain expressions or behaviors based on their cultural context, leading to statements that are socially awkward or offensive in the target culture. Intercultural Communication: Culture-related errors highlight the challenges of effective communication between speakers from different cultural backgrounds, where assumptions about language use and social interactions can lead to miscommunication.  CAUSES OF ERRORS - CROSS-CULTURAL INTERFERENCE Cultural Norms and Practices: Learners may apply cultural norms from their first language (L1) to the target language (L2), leading to misunderstandings or inappropriate language use. This can include differences in politeness strategies, conversational norms, and social expectations that vary between cultures. Sociolinguistic Factors: The way language is used in social contexts can differ significantly across cultures. Misinterpretations can arise when learners do not fully grasp the sociolinguistic rules governing language use in the target culture, leading to errors in communication. Pragmatic Differences: Cross-cultural interference often results from differences in how speakers from different cultures express meaning. For instance, certain phrases or idioms may not have direct equivalents in the learner's native language, causing them to use incorrect or awkward expressions.  CAUSES OF ERRORS - CROSS-CULTURAL INTERFERENCE Cultural References and Idioms: Learners might struggle with idiomatic expressions or culturally specific references that do not translate well into their native language, resulting in lexical errors or misunderstandings. Assumptions Based on L1: Learners may assume that structures or vocabulary from their native language are applicable in the target language without recognizing crucial differences, leading to errors that stem from a lack of awareness of the target culture's linguistic nuances.  CAUSES OF ERRORS - OVERGENERALIZATION Overgeneralization is an unwanted consequence of applying generalization indiscriminately. For example, the rule ==> works well for words like saviour, behaviour, but cannot be generalized to serve for picture since the result is *. Likewise => works for tune and [dj] for dune, but not for * deuce.  CAUSES OF ERRORS - OVERGENERALIZATION An example is the generalization of the relative pronoun that as in: Bill, *that had a great sense of unconventional morality... The observing qualities of Roach, *that was a great observer... Note that this strategy leads to the overindulgence of one member of a set of forms and the underuse of others in the set: these learners use that to the exclusion of who. Similar overgeneralization to one of two TL alternatives happens with other/another, much/ many, none/neither, some/any and many more such 'confusibles'.  CAUSES OF ERRORS - FOSSILIZATION Towell and Hawkins stated that 'Second language learners stop short of native-like success in a number of areas of the L2 grammar' (1994: 14). They stop short when their FL/SL knowledge becomes fixed or 'fossilized', and when they produce errors in their attempts at it. Fossilization is a characteristic of second language learning in which the learner reaches a plateau and seems unable to acquire some property of the L2 grammar.  CAUSES OF ERRORS - FOSSILIZATION Persistent Grammatical Errors: A learner might consistently use incorrect verb forms, such as saying "I goed" instead of "I went," despite having been corrected multiple times. This error becomes ingrained in their speech. Incorrect Preposition Use: A learner may repeatedly use the wrong prepositions, such as saying "I am good in math" instead of "I am good at math." Over time, this incorrect usage can become a habitual part of their language.  CAUSES OF ERRORS - FOSSILIZATION Fixed Pronunciation Patterns: If a learner consistently mispronounces certain sounds or words, such as saying "th" as "d" (e.g., "dis" instead of "this"), this pronunciation error can fossilize, making it difficult for them to adopt native-like pronunciation later. Syntactic Structures: A learner might develop a particular sentence structure that is incorrect but becomes their norm, such as saying "She like apples" instead of "She likes apples," and continue using it without correction. Lexical Choices: The use of specific vocabulary incorrectly can also fossilize; for instance, a learner might use "make a photo" instead of "take a photo" consistently, despite being taught the correct form. THANK YOU