E R R O R A N A L Y S I S IN FOREIGN L A N G U A G E LEARNING: A S T U D Y OF E N G L I S H P R E P O S I T I O N S A N T O N I A D I L A M A R A I M O J O Tese s u b m e t i d a à U n i v e r s i d a d e F£ deral de S a n ta C a t a r i n a p a r a a o b t e n ç ã o do gr au de M E S T R E E M LE TRAS. J U N H O - 19 83
Esta Tese foi j ulgada a de q ua da para a ob tenção do título de
MESTRE EM LETRAS
E s p e c i a l i d a d e LTngua Inglesa e L i te ra tu r a Corresponi dente e aprovada em sua forma final pelo Pr o grama de Põs- O a d u a ç ã o .
i.J í
/ --- TT Martin Bygate, M. O r i e n t a d o r C o o r d e n a d o r do Curso -A p r e s e n t a d a perante a C om issão Ex am i n a d o r a posta dos profess or es :com
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Martin B ygate, M.S. - Presi dente
ví.
Rosç Konder, CfrA G R A D E C I M E N T O S
A m e u ori en ta do r, M a r t i n B y g a t e , por sua v a l i o s a o r i e n t aç ão .
 U n i v e r s i d a d e Federal de S a nt a C atarina, e s p e c i a l m e n t e ao Cur so de M e s t r a d o em Letras.
Às p r o f e s s o r a s L ilia Carioni, B á r b a r a Baptis ta , Rosa K o n d e r e T â n i a R o n d o n Q u i n t a n i l h a , p e l a a j ud a na a p l i c a ç ã o dos 'testes.
Ao P r o f e s s o r A r t u r o Ugalde, pe lo incentivo.
A P r o f e s s o r a Irmã P a t r í c i a Vaughan, pelo e s t i m u l o e c o l a b o r a ç ã o .
Ao D e p a r t a m e n t o de Letras da U n i v e r s i d a d e Fed er al do Piauí.
The p r e s e n t d i s s e r t a t i o n p r e s e n t s some t h eo r e t i c a l a spects c o n c e r n i n g the use of E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s . It also a na ly s e s and a pplies the t h eo ri es of E r r o r A n a l y s i s and
C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s to the err or s the B r a z i l i a n st ud e n t s make in u s i n g E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s .
Bes id es d e t e c t i n g the m ai n d i f f i c u l t i e s the st ud en ts face in u s i n g the most f re qu en t p r e p o s i t i o n s , this w o r k also aims to i d e n t i f y the st r a t e g i e s t h es e s tu de n t s e m p l o y in the a c q u i s i t i o n of these forms. For this p ur pose, tests w e r e a p p l i e d to a small g roup of Letras s tu dents of Federal U n i v e r s i t y of S an ta Catarina.
The a na l y s i s of the results of the tests w i l l a llow this aut ho r to co nt r i b u t e to the t e a c h i n g of E n g l i s h as a s e c o n d language t h r o u g h p e d a g o g i c a l s u g g e s t i o n s that can he l p t ea ch er s to o v e r c o m e tlic students' d i ff ic u lt ie s.
R E S UM O
A p r e s e n t e d i s s e r t a ç ã o a p r e s e n t a alguns a sp e c t o s teo ricos do uso das p r e p o s i ç õ e s inglesas, ao m e s m o te mpo que apli^ ca as teorias de A n a l i s e de E r r o r e A n a l i s e C o n t r a s t i v a nos er ros que os e s t u d a n t e s b r a s i l e i r o s f a z e m ao u s a r as p r e p o s i ç õ e s i n g l e s a s .
A l é m de d e t e c t a r as p r i n c i p a i s d i f i c u l d a d e s que os e s t u d a n t e s e n f r e n t a m ao u sa r as p r e p o s i ç õ e s m ai s fr e q u e n t e s na língu a inglesa, este t r a b a l h o t a m b é m se p r o p õ e i d e n t i f i c a r as e s t r a t é g i a s que estes e s t u d a n t e s u sa m na a q u i s i ç ã o destas for mas. P a r a isto, testes f or am ap li c a d o s a u m grupo de alunos de Letras da U n i v e r s i d a d e Fed er al de S a nt a C a t a r i n a
A an ál is e dos r es u l t a d o s dos testes p e r m i t i r ã o que e st a a u t or a c o n t r i b u a com o ens in o da lín gu a i n g l e s a como se gunda lín gu a através de su ge s t õ e s p e d a g ó g i c a s que p o s s a m aju dar os p r o f e s s o r e s a s u p e r a r as d i f i c u l d a d e s dos alunos.
A b b r e v i a t i o n s u s e d in the d i s s e r t a t i o n CA = C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s E A = E r r o r A n a l y s i s MT = M o t h e r Ton gu e SL = S e c o n d Langua ge FL = For ei gn La ng u ag e TL = T a r g e t L an gu ag e Ig = fo r ei gn language N P M = Noim postinodifier Adj = A d j u n c t VC = Verb C o m p l e m e n t NC = N o u n C o m p l e m e n t pp = p r e p o s i t i o n a l phra se 1 = literal use nl = n o n - literal use
T A B L E OF C O N T E N T S Page A B S T R A C T R E S UM O A B B R E V I A T I O N S I N T R O D U C T I O N ... 1 I - C H A P T E R O N E ... 6 1 - GE NE R A L R E V I E W OF L I T E R A T U R E ... 6 1.1 - FIRST A N D S E C O N D L A N G U A G E A C Q U I S I T I O N ... 9 1.2 - C O N S I D E R A T I O N ON E R R OR S ... 14 1.3 - C O N T R A S T I V E A N A L Y S I S ... 17 1.4 - E R R O R A N A L Y S I S ... 21 1.5 - THE S O U RC E OF E R R O R S ... 26 II - C H A P T E R T W O ... 4 2 2 - P R E P O S I T I O N S ... 4 2 2.1 - D I F F I C U L T I E S IN U S I N G THE E N G L I S H PREPOSITION S Y S T E M ... 4 2 2.2 - D I F F E R E N T A P P R O A C H E S TO E N G L I S H PREPOSITIONS. 4 8 2.3 - D E S C R I P T I O N OF P O R T U G U E S E P R E P O S I T I O N SYSTEM 69 2.4 - C O M P A R I S O N B E T W E E N P O R T U G U E S E A N D E N G L I S H P R E P O S I T I O N S Y S T E M ... 74 2.5 - A N A L Y S I S OF F R E Q U E N C Y OF U S E S OF PREPOSITIONS 7 7 I I I - C H A P T E R T H R E E ... 112 3 - THE R E S E A R C H ... 112
3.2.1 - N a t iv e Speakers' Re sp o n s e s ... 118 3.2.2 - Students' E rr o r s ... 129 3.3 - THE GAP TEST ... 134 3.4 - THE C O M P O S I T I O N T E S T ... 15 2 3.5 - THE ORAL TEST ... 150
IV - C H A P T E R F O U R ... . • • 175 4 - E R R O R A N A L Y S I S OF STUDENTS' E R R O R S OF E N G L I S H
P R E P O S I T I O N S ... 173 4.1 - M E T H O D OF A N A L Y S I S ... . . . ... 175 4.2 - SOURCE OF E R R O R S IN THE TEST ... 176 4.3 - D E G R E E OF E R R O R S OF THE T E S T E D P R E P O S I T I O N A L USES ... 184 4.4 - G E N E R A L S T R A T E G I E S ... 186 4.5 - E F F E C T OF S T R A T E G I E S ON THE L E A R N I N G OF P R E P O S I T I O N S ... I'JO V - C H A P T E R FIVE ... ... 2 04 5 - M E T H O D O L O G I C A L R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S ... 204 5.1 - C O M M E N T S ON M O S T IM PO R T A N T P R E P O S I T I O N S . 204 5.2 - C O R R E L A T I O N OF F R E Q U E N C Y OF O C C U R R E N C E W I T H B R A Z I L I A N ' S DE GR E E OF E R R O R S ... 20 7 5.3 - C O M M E N T ON THE STUDENTS' S T R E N G T H S A N D W E A K N E S S E S ... 209 5.4 - M E T H O D O L O G I C A L SUGGE.STIONS ... 210
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C O N C L U S I O N ... 2 20
B I B L I O G R A P H Y ... 226
The p r e s e n t d i s s e r t a t i o n a tt empts to s tu dy E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s a mong those w h o learn E n g l i s h as a f o r e ig n language c o n c e n t r a t i n g on the t he ories of E r r o r and C o n t r a s t i v e analyses as w e l l the co u n t i n g and c o m p a r i s o n of the f r e q u e n c y of
p r e p o s i t i o n s in a u t h e n t i c texts.
The reason for this auth or to e x a m i n e the sub je ct of
E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s a mong B r a z i l i a n S tu de nt s was that p r e p o s i t i o n s are one of the m o s t d i f f i c u l t items to be a c q u i r e d in E n g l i s h
p a r t l y b e c a u s e of the c o m p l e x i t y of the E n g l i s h s y s t e m that allows one p r e p o s i t i o n to have se ve r a l m e a n i n g s and funct io ns or the reverse and also b ec a u s e many times the E n g l i s h s y s t e m
functions d i f f e r e n t l y from Po rt uguese.
M o r e o v e r the l e a r n i n g d i f f i c u l t i e s have b e e n a s ubject of co nc er n to linguists, p s y c h o l i n g u i s t s and t ea c h e r s and
fi nd in g out the s o u r c e of err or s has b e e n an i m p o r t a n t p o i nt of s t u d y in the a c q u i s i t i o n of a foreign language.
B e a r i n g this in mind, the ul ti m a t e p u r p o s e of this s tu dy is to id en t i f y the m ai n d i f f i c u l t i e s the s tu d e n t s face in d e a l i n g w i t h p r e p o s i t i o n s and their s p e c i f i c uses or m e a n i n g s and to c o n c e n t r a t e on the reasons w h y B r a z i l i a n st ud en ts from the Fed er al U n i v e r s i t y of S a n t a C a t a r i n a m a ke erro rs in their p r o d u c t i o n of E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s , e s p e c i a l l y in the nine most
f re quent ones: £f, on, at, f r o m , f o r , t o , by and w i t h . The source of those erro rs may be s ho wn t h r o ug h C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s and E r r o r A n al ys is . T hese two a pp r o a c h e s w i l l be u s e d in o rd er to e x p l a i n the e r r o n e o u s se nt e n c e s p r o d u c e d by the st ud en ts w h e n using E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n forms.
causes o£ erro rs c o n s i d e r i n g that the errors are an i n d i c a t o r of the d i f f i c u l t i e s s tu dents face at a ce rt ai n stage w h e n le ar n i n g a f o r e ig n language.
T h r o u g h this s tudy we also hope to i d e n t i f y wh at s t r a t e g i e s the s t ud en ts e m p l o y and if they are h e l p f u l to them in l e a r n i n g the n i n e m o s t fr equent p r e p o s i t i o n s .
In addition, this study also co ns is ts of i d e n t i f y i n g the m o s t f re q u e n t p r e p o s i t i o n s t h r o u g h an a na ly si s of three a u t h e n t i c E n g l i s h texts-'a t e c h n i c a l text, a l i t e r a r y text and a j o u r n a l i s t i c one. The an al y si s c on sists of c o u n t i n g the frequency of o c c u r r e n c e of p r e p o s i t i o n s and o b s e r v i n g their s e m a n t i c and s y n t a c t i c uses. The results of the a na ly si s w i l l serve to compare w i t h the students' degree of errors in p r e p o s i t i o n s . A c o r r e l a t i o n w i l l be made to see if the f r e q u e n c y of these items coinci de s
w i t h the degree of err or s made b y students.
In o r d e r to i d e n t i f y the students' d i f f i c u l t i e s in u s i n g p r e p o s i t i o n s we found it useful to ap ply three d i f f e r e n t types of tests: the gap t e s t , the c o m p o s i t i o n test and the oral test to see whe.tlier the erro rs made in c o n t r o l l e d p r o d u c t i o n also o c cu r in oral p r o d u c t i o n . These tests w i l l dete ct only the d i f f i c u l t i e s in u s in g the nine mo st f r equent p r e p o s i t i o n s and t h ei r s p e c i f i c uses.
We also d e c i d e d to apply these tests w i t h two different groups of students: 4^^ and 7^^ phases, i.e., i n t e r m e d i a t e and a dv a n c e d s tu d e n t s in o rd er to compare t heir p e r f o r m a n c e .
The gap test wi ll be also a p p l i e d w i t h ni ne n a ti ve speakers (four A m e r i c a n an d five British) w i t h the a im of
d i s c o v e r i n g w h a t (if any) a l t e r n a t i v e s are like ly to be a c c e p t e d as correct. T h es e respon se s c o u l d then be a d m i t t e d for the
of the s e m e s t e r and the s t udents will be t e s t e d in the c l a s s r o o m and the oral test w i l l be taken at the end of the s e m e s t e r and the s tu de nt s w i l l be t e s t e d in a la n guage l a b o r a t o r y and their p e r f o r m a n c e w il l be r e c o r d e d on tape. The s tu d en ts h a d 50 m i n u t e s to a n s w e r the w r i t t e n tests and 15 m i n u t e s to a n s w e r the oral t e s t .
The re as o n for a p p l y i n g these tests at d i f f e r e n t times is tp see w h e t h e r the same types of err or s o cc u r in the three tests at d i f f e r e n t period s.
Bef or e a pp l y i n g the tests, a q u e s t i o n n a i r e in P o r t u g u e s e w i l l also be a n s w e r e d by the s tu de nt s so that we can have a
g eneral idea about the la ng ua ge b a c k g r o u n d of e ac h one. The aim of a p p l y i n g this q u e s t i o n n a i r e is just to o b t a i n i n f o r m a t i o n about the s t u d e n t s ' i n s t r u c t i o n in a f o r e i g n l an guage as well as to see t heir own a u t o - e v a l u a t i o n of t h e i r level of E n g l i s h k n o w l e d g e .
The re su lt s of the tests w i l l be a r r a n g e d in T a b le s and w i l l a llow to find out w h a t k i n d of e r ro rs the s tu d en ts made, in wh at senses the p r e p o s i t i o n s are m os t e a s i l y a c q u i r e d and the an al ys is of these error s w i l l show the p o s s i b l e causes of t he m and it w i l l h e l p this a u t h o r to give s u g g e s t i o n s to
o ve r c o m e p r o b l e m s and improve t e a c h i n g or l ea r n i n g of p r e p o s i t i o n s . The p r e s e n t d i s s e r t a t i o n w i l l c om p r i s e five chapters. The first cha pt er w i ll be d e d i c a t e d to a ge ne ra l rev ie w of the t he o r i e s of E r r o r A n a l y s i s and C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s , with the aim of m a k i n g use of the t he ories for a b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the m a t e r i a l studied.
analysis of E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s made in some g ra mmars as w el l as a s t u d y of the f r e q u e n c y of such forms in three a u t h e n t i c texts a n a l y s i n g s y n t a c t i c and s e m a n t i c uses of these forms in the texts. This a na lysis w i l l be b a s e d on g r a m m a t i c a l points r a i s e d b y Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, S v a r t v i k and others. The o b j e c t i v e of this study is to e s t a b l i s h the m o s t f re quent p r e p o s i t i o n s and m e a n i n g s to occur in the langu a ge and to try to s y s t e m a t i z e them.
Cha pt er T h r e e deals w i t h the tests a p p l i e d to
B r a z i l i a n s tu de nt s to see w h i c h types of d i f f i c u l t i e s they have. T ests w i l l be a p p l i e d to st u de nt s of Letras at Federal U n i v e r s i t y of S an t a C a t a r i n a w h o are in the 4^^^ and 7^^ se me s t e r s of the course. In addition, ni ne na ti v e sp ea ke rs (Some are p r o f e s s o r s of the uni v er si ty ) w il l answ er one of the a p p l i e d test and their r e sp on se s w i l l serve as guide for the c o r r e c t i o n of B r a z i l i a n
students' respo ns es . In this c h a p t e r the m e t h o d o l o g y used, results and c o n c l u s i o n s w il l be included.
In the four th chapter, the e r r o r a na l y s i s w i l l be d e s c r i b e d i n c l u d i n g s everal causes for the erro rs the st ud en ts made, a list of the rules t e s t e d relating to the s t r a t e g i e s a d o p t e d b y the s tudents, a d i s c u s s i o n of the e f f e c t of these
s t r a t e g i e s on the l ea rn i n g of E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s and c o n c l u s i o n s The final c h a p t e r focuses on the p e d a g o g i c a l a p p l i c a t i o n of the d i s c o v e r i e s of the three p r e v i o u s c ha p t e r s and su gg e st s t ea ch i n g m e t h o d o l o g y and o r d er of p r e s e n t a t i o n of the n in e most frequent E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s so that t ea c h e r s and s t u d e n t s can overcome the d i f f i c u l t i e s and improve t h ei r k n o w l e d g e of such f o r m s .
Finally, the c o n c l u s i o n a tt empts to restate the d i s co v er ie s made in the p re v i o u s c ha pt er s and the a p p l i c a t i o n
The su bj e c t of this d i s s e r t a t i o n was r e s t r i c t e d to the e x a m i n a t i o n of the nine m os t f re qu en t E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s : of, on, £t, f r o m , f o r , t o , by and w i t h . As was s a i d b efore, the choi ce of these p r e p o s i t i o n s w a s b a s e d on the c o u n t i n g of the E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n forms in three a u t h e n t i c texts.
The n u m b e r of st udents w h o p a r t i c i p a t e d in the t hree a p p l i e d tests was no t uniform. These v a r i e d from o n e . t e s t to another. Thus 25 a n s w e r e d the gap test; 21 did the c o m p o s i t i o n and on l y 15 p a r t i c i p a t e d in the oral test. This v a r i a t i o n did not always produce a good sample of the r e q u i r e d forms.
A l t h o u g h the s tu de n ts t e s t e d b e l o n g e d to d i f f e r e n t levels, the results p r e s e n t e d here do not reveal the o r d e r of le ar ni ng but only i nd i ca te the degree of d i f f i c u l t y the st udents fee] for e ac h p r e p o s i t i o n and tlie respective tested m e a n i n g at this stage. B es i d e s this, these results w i l l sh ow what
p r e p o s i t i o n a l uses w o u l d n e e d most p r a c t i c e so that we can s uggest re me d i a l t e a c h i n g or e mp h a s i s w h i c h c o u l d p r e v e n t the p r o b l e m s f ou nd later at a d v a n c e d levels.
C H A P T E R ONE
G EN E R A L R E V I E W OF L I T E R A T U R E
1 - I N T R O D U C T I O N
C o n s i d e r i n g that the fi eld of s e c o n d language l ea rn i ng has b e e n the focus of m a n y d i s c u s s i o n s in the last decades, the p r e s e n t c h a p t e r w i l l at te mp t to p r e s e n t some p r e l i m i n a r i e s about
le ar n i n g and a cq ui si ti on , fl ue nc y and a c c u r a c y in f o r e ig n
langtiage class as well the l i n g u i s t i c aspects of the p s y c h o l o g y of s e c o n d l a nguage l ea r n i n g such as w h a t an e r r o r is, the
s i g n i f i c a n c e of errors, c o n t r a s t i v e and e r r o r an al ys es and the cause of errors. This i n f o r m a t i o n w i l l be p r e s e n t e d w i t h the aim of p r o v i d i n g e n o u g h b a c k g r o u n d so that we can be c o n f i d e n t w h e n s t u d y i n g the informants' d i f f i c u l t i e s in u s i n g E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s
M a n y p e o p l e think that le a rn i n g and a c q u i s i t i o n are the same thing, but in fact they aren't. The r e a s o n for
m e n t i o n i n g these terms in the i n t r o d u c t i o n of this c h a p t e r is p r i m a r i l y to d i s t i n g u i s h them. The d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n these two sy s te ms is that la nguage a c q u i s i t i o n is s u b c o n s c i o u s and re quires n a t u r a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n in the t ar g e t language, i. e, the s p e a k e r s h o u l d be c o n c e r n e d w i t h the u n d e r s t a n d i n g and p r o d u c t i o n of m e s s a g e s they are c a r r y i n g w h e r e a s l an guage
l ea r n i n g is c o ns ci ou s and is c o n c e r n e d w i t h e r r o r c o r r e c t i o n and the p r e s e n t a t i o n of e x p l i c i t rules (Krashen and Seliger: 1975:
1-2) .
T h e r e is an a s s u m p t i o n that adults have these two in de pe nd en t systems for d e v e l o p i n g a b i l i t y in s e c o n d languages, that these systems are i nt er re la te d, and that a c q u i s i t i o n is far
see c l e a r l y that the o rd er o£ a c q u i s i t i o n of s t r u c t u r e s in language a c q u i s i t i o n tends to vary. The learners don't h av e a c on s c i o u s a wa r e n e s s of the rules th ey possess, thus they m a y s e l f correct on the basis of a "feel" for g r a m m a t i c a l i t y .
A n o t h e r im po r t a n t as pe c t to be m e n t i o n e d in the field of m e t h o d o l o g y and language a c q u i s i t i o n is w h e t h e r we s h o u l d e m p h a s i z e m or e flu en cy or a c c u r a c y in fo re i g n language, classes.
N o w a d a y s it has b e e n q u e s t i o n e d if the m e t h o d o l o g y d e v i s e d in the past to a c q u ir e a la ng ua ge was r ea l l y s u c c e s s f u l to learn or ac qu ir e a f or e i g n language. It is k n o w n that the la nguage courses t r a d i t i o n a l l y f o l l o w e d the f o l l o w i n g pattern: 1) p r e s e n t a t i o n of l a ng ua ge items 2} drill and 3) p r a c t i c e in c o n t e x t w h i c h e m p h a s i z e d more k n o w l e d g e o f .r ul es , i. e. accuracy, Ho wever, at p re s e n t , l an guage t e a c h i n g is b e g i n n i n g to r e s p o n d to m e t h o d o l o g i c a l changes. T h er e is a l r e a d y a n e w model:
c o m m u n i c a t i v e t e a c h i n g w h i c h follows the f o l l o w i n g pattern: 1) c o m m u n i c a t i o n as far as p o ss ib le ; 2) then p r e s e n t a t i o n of l an guage items n e c e s s a r y for e f f e c t i v e c o m m u n i c a t i o n and 3) then drill if n e c e s s a r y (Brumfit, 1979). Thus this m o d e l st resses m or e " fl u e n c y " than " a c c u r a c y " . The m o s t im po r t a n t thing is to
c o m m u n i c a t e e v e n if w i t h m i st ak es .
If t ea ch e r s take this m o de l into a c c o u n t they m a y be sure that the s tu de nt s w i l l make errors in t h e i r p e r f o r m a n c e . Here we w i ll e x a m i n e the students' p e r f o r m a n c e to see w h a t type
of d i f f i c u l t i e s they face w h e n u s i n g E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s . The ideal a p p r o a c h w o u l d be to devi se a cours e in w h i c h we can combine the co n c e p t s of f l u e n c y and a c c u r a c y so
speakers'. But this not p o s s i b l e for the moment, so language is c o n c e n t r a t e d more on the concepts of flue nc y in o rd er to
c o r r e s p o n d to its aims.
It is also k no w n that w h e n a learner is a c q u i r i n g a language, h e / s h e adopts u n c o n s c i o u s l y some l ea r n i n g st r at eg ie s. In a n a l y s i n g his err o rs we can see that the l e a rn er r e cr ea te s for h i m s e l f the s y s t e m of the language u s i n g u n i v e r s a l le ar ni ng s t r a t e g i e s (which can be seen in the l e a r n i n g of the g r a m m a r of .the'-second language) . Some of these s t r a t e g i e s s ee m to be
u n i v e r s a l , i . e . , they are e m p l o y e d by learners of a first and s e c o n d language. (Richards. 1975: 116).
One of these s t r a t e g i e s is the t e n d e n c y t owards s i m p l i f i c a t i o n of the rules of the langu a ge s by the language learner. In d oi n g so, the l earner begi ns by c o n s t r u c t i n g gen er a l rules w h i c h do not ac co un t for r e d u n d a n t and u n n e c e s s a r y parts of the grammar. O v e r g e n e r a l i z a t i o n and an al o g y are i ns ta nc es of the same pr o cess. Besi de s these, the learners of a s e c o n d
language also use la ng ua ge t r a n s f e r (mother tong ue i n fl ue n ce an d t r a n s f e r - of - t r a i n i n g ) . The i mm e d i a t e o b j e c t i v e for m a n y l an guage learners is to c o ns tr uc t a g r a m m a r in w h i c h the s ma l l e s t n u m b e r of rules can do the amount of work, i.e, tliey can make a n e w la ng ua ge e a s i e r to learn and use.
T he p r e s e n t s t u d y w i l l make an e r r o r a na ly s i s of
E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s by B r a z i l i a n students. It is e x p e c t e d that they also adopt the above s t r a t e g i e s in the l e a r n i n g o f English. B e fo re t a l k i n g about the d i f f i c u l t i e s that the f o re i g n learners face w h e n they are le ar n in g a s e c o n d la nguage it is n e c e s s a r y to d e s c r i b e first and s e c o n d language a cq u i s i t i o n .
To start with, we sh all say that the r e a s o n for m e n t i o n i n g the wa ys b o t h languages are a c q u i r e d is that this s tu dy c ould show w ha t i n f o r m a t i o n to look for in the a c q u i s i t i o n of E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s by f or e i g n students.
1.1.1 - First L an gu ag e A c q u i s i t i o n
It is k n o w n that d i f f e r e n t c h i l d r e n l earn l an gu ag e in s i m i l a r ways. We don't know ho w ma ny p r o c e s s e s are i n v o l v e d in language l ea r n i n g but the few that h av e be en o b s e r v e d a p pe ar r e p e a t e d l y from c h i ld to child.
Breyne Arl en e M o s k o w i t z (1978: 82) has r e s e a r c h e d how c h i l d r e n learn to s peak and has c o n c l u d e d that the c h i l d r e n reveal t h e m s e l v e s as active langua ge l ea rn e r s b e c a u s e t he y are c o n t i n u a l l y a n a l y s i n g w h a t they he ar and p r o c e e d i n g in a
m e t h o d i c a l way: "they break, the language down into sim.plest
parts a n d d e v e l o p the rules they n e e d to put the p a rt s t o g e t h e r " .
It is k n o w n that the first p r e r e q u i s i t e to acquire a la nguage is expo su re , that is, a c h il d can only a c q u i r e language if there is language in h er e n v i r o n m e n t and if she can e m p l o y t h a t language to c o m m u n i c a t e w i t h o t he r p e o p le in he r i mm ed ia te e n v i r o n m e n t .
A c c o r d i n g to M o s k o w i t z , c h i l d r e n b e g i n to learn a language b y b a b b l i n g dur in g the first six m o n th s of t heir life, but t he y have c o m p l e t e d the g r e a t e r p ar t of the b a s i c la nguage
a c q u i s i t i o n p r o c e s s by the age of five. By that time, the ch il d r e n have l ea r n e d the s ystems of g r a m m a r (phonology, syntax, sem an ti cs ,
lexicon an d p r a g ma ti cs ) by b r e a k i n g ea ch s y s t e m down into its sm al le st c o m b i n a b l e parts. In the first two years of life a child
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spends m u c h time w o r k i n g on one part of the task b r e a k i n g down the language to find the se parate sounds that can be put t og e t h e r to form w or ds and the s ep ar at e w o r ds that can be put t o g e t h e r to form s en tences. A ft er the age of two the b a s i c p r o c e s s e s c o ntinue to l,e r e f i n e d and m a n y sounds and w o r d s are p r o d u c e d in the or der p ar t of language a c q u i s i t i o n - d e v e l o p i n g rules for c o m b i n i n g the b a s i c e l e m e n t s of language is r e a l i z e d in a very m e t h o d i c a l way: the m o s t g en e r a l rules are h y p o t h e s i z e d first, and as time passe s they are s u c c e s s i v e l y n a r r o w e d down by the ad d i t i o n of
more p r e c is e rules a pp l y i n g to a more r e s t r i c t e d set of sente nc es . This p r o c e d u r e is f o l l o w e d for any ar ea of l an guage learning.
The c h i l d continues to revise and refine the rules of the in ternal g r a m m a r at least un til the age of 10. The s p e e d w i t h w h i c h c h i l d r e n a c c o m p l i s h the c o m p l e x p r o c e s s of language
a c q u i s i t i o n is p a r t i c u l a r l y impressive.
O b s e r v i n g the p r o c e s s e s the ch il d r e n fol l ow to learn a language, the first one to be u se d is that of s i m p l i f i c a t i o n and then o v e r g e n e r a l i z a t i o n . T h e y o v e r g e n e r a l i z e a single rule b ef o r e l ea rn i n g to a pply it more n a r r o w l y and b e f o r e c o n s t r u c t i n g o th er less w i d e l y ap pl i c a b l e rules.
It's i n t e r e s t i n g to say that the err or s c h i l d r e n make are c o n s i d e r e d by th em s e l v e s as c o r re ct and g r a m m a t i c a l with r e s pe c t to t h ei r own i n t e r n a l i z e d grammar. Th ese erro rs are
i n di ca to rs of the nature of a c h i l d ’s h y p o t h e s e s about the g ra m m a r of language.
1.1.2 - S e c o n d La ng ua ge A c q u i s i t i o n
By s e c o n d language or for ei g n language is m e a n t the a c q u i s i t i o n of a n o t h e r language a f t er h a v i n g a c q u i r e d the basic s of a first.
It is known, t hr o u g h research, that if a c h i l d can l earn two languages s i m u l t a n e o u s l y , the same does not h a p p e n to adults b e c a u s e these learn t h r o ug h s t r u c t u r e s that have lost their f l e x i b i l i t y af ter puberty. The c hi ld h o w e v e r can learn one or more lang ua ge s w i t h ease b e c a u s e the c er eb r a l c o r t e x m e c h a n i s m in the ch ild is still in the pr o c e s s of d e v e l o p m e n t (Barry M c l a ug hl in : 1977: 439).
The task of a c q u i r i n g a l an guage for an adult is
u n c o m f o r t a b l e b c c a u s e he has lost m os t of his ap ti t u d e to do so. M o r e o v e r adults have few m e m o r i e s of the i ntense e f f o r t that w e n t into the l ea rn in g p ro c e s s as w e l l as b e i n g fully c on sc io u s of b e i n g taug ht the few g r a m m a t i c a l rules that are c o n s i d e r e d as "correct u s a g e " or the n orms of "Stan da rd language". A n o t h e r i mp o r t a n t p o i n t is that they are not e x p o s e d to a n a t ur al
e n v i r o n m e n t to learn, but to an a r t i f i c i a l s i t u a t i o n in the c l a s s r o o m and it is v er y d i f f i c u l t for t h e m to s e p a r a t e t h e i r m e m o r i e s of sch oo l lessons from t h os e of true la ng ua ge learning.
But in spite of the p o in ts m e n t i o n e d above, each adult can create h e r in te r n a l g r a m m a r or u n d e r s t a n d an in finite n u m b e r of s en t e n c e s she has n e v e r h e a r d b efore. She is able to k n o w w h a t is a c c e p t a b l e and w h a t is not. She does so b a s e d on he r
f e e li ng of g r a m m a t i c a l i t y .
1.1.3 - D i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n First and S e c o n d La ng u a g e
Pit C o r d e r (1979) has p o i n t e d out some d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n m o t h e r tongue and targ et l an guage ac qu i s i t i o n . Th e m a i n
ones a r e :
- W h i l e the le ar n i n g of the m o t h e r tonque is in e v i t a b l e we can p e r c i e v e that there is no such i n e v i t a b i l i t y ab out the
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- The le ar n i n g o£ the m o t h e r tongue is part o£ the w h o l e m a t u r a t i o n a l p r o c e s s o£ the c hi ld w h i l e the le ar n i n g o£ the
s e c o n d language b e g in s o nl y a £ t er the m a t u r a t i o n a l p r o c e s s is c o m p l e t e ;
- The t h i r d d i f f e r e n c e is that in the l e a r n i n g of the m o t h e r tongue the c h i l d starts w i t h no overt l an gu ag e b e h a v i o u r w h e r e a s in the s e c o n d l a nguage le ar ne r such b e h a v i o u r exists;
- A n d finally, the m o t i v a t i o n for l e a r n i n g a first l an guage is q ui te d i f f e r e n t from that for le ar n i n g a s e c o n d l a n g u a g e .
Bes id es these d i f f e re nc e s, there are .some h y p o t h e s e s about h o w l a ng ua ge s are l e a r n e d but these are b e i n g q u e s t i o n e d and n e w ones are b e i n g e st a b l i s h e d . On e of the rece nt h y p o t h e s e s is t ha t the c h i l d is b o r n w i t h an innate p r e d i s p o s i t i o n to
a cquire l an guage and that he m us t be e x p o s e d to l an guage for the a c q u i s i t i o n p r o c e s s to start; that he p o s s e s s e s an in te rn al m e c h a n i s m of u n k n o w n n at u r e w h i c h e na b l e s h i m from the l i m i te d data a v a i l a b l e to him. to c o n s t r u c t a g r a m m a r of a p a r t i c u l a r language. The w a y he does this is u n k n o w n and is a f ield of s tu dy at the p r e s e n t time by lingu is ts and p s y c h o l o g i s t s . B a se d on this h y p o t h e s i s , P a l m e r s t a t e d that the adult was seen as ca pa bl e as the c h il d of a c q u i r i n g a fo re ig n language. P al m e r m a i n t a i n e d that:
"... we are all e n d o w e d by natu re wi th the ca pa ai ty for a s s i m i l a t i n g language and that this ca pa ci t y r e m a i n e d a v a i l a b l e to us in a latent state a ft er the a c q u i s i t i o n o f a p r i m a r y l an gu age."^ (Richards, J. C. 1979. p. 2 5 ).
If we take into c o n s i d e r a t i o n the same p r o c e s s e s for both languages, we m a y p o s t u l a t e that the s t r a t e g i e s w h i c h wi ll
be d i s c u s s e d later (p. 36) and the p r o c e d u r e s a d o p t e d b y the
learners of the s e c o n d langua ge are the same, the m a i n d i f f e r e n c e b e i n g one of m o t i v a t i o n , c o n s i d e r i n g that m o t i v a t i o n (Lambert:
1969) to learn the first langu ag e is d e t e r m i n e d by "basic des ir es to c o m m u n i c a t e w it h the fami l y m e m b e r s a n d others in the linguistic c o mm u n i t y w hile the m o t i v a t i o n to learn the s e c o n d language is d e t e r m i n e d by his a t t i t u d e s an d by his o r i e n t a t i o n t o w a r d
(■
learning a s e c o n d l a n g u a g e " .
1.1.4 - S i m i l a r i t i e s b e t w e e n 1 st and 2 n d languages
The m a i n s i m i l a r i t i e s we can find b e t w e e n L 1 and L 2
a c q u i s i t i o n are r e l a t e d to the l e a r n i n g s tr a t e g i e s . It appears that b o t h groups of learners f o ll ow the same s t r a t e g i e s in c o n s t r u c t i n g t h ei r in ternal grammar; s i m p l i f i c a t i o n ,
o v e r g e n e r a l i z a t i o n , a n a l o g y , loss of s en t e n c e m e d i a l items and so on. E r v i n T r i p p (1970) has p o i n t e d out that b o t h L 1 and L 2
learners a p p e a r to w o r k f r om s i m p l e r to more c o m p l e x s t r u c tu re s, to use m e a n i n g as a cl ue for i n t e r p r e t i n g s y n t a c t i c features to relate w o r d o rd er to m e a n i n g and to p r e f e r s i m p l e r w o r d or der to more c o m p l e x o r d e r s t r a te gi es .
But the h y p o t h e s i s w h i c h states that the p r o c e s s are are the same for b o t h languages has r e c e i v e d c o u n t e r a rgument. The a r g u m e n t is that the i n d i v i d u a l is b i o l o g i c a l l y p r o g r a m m e d
to l earn la n guage b e f o r e p u b e r t y and that o pt i m a l g r a m m a t i c a l coding is av a i l a b l e only to children, not to adults (King 1969, S ap orta, 1966, Wilki ns , 1974). B es i d e s this, the c h i l d is th o ug ht to p ro c e s s l an gu ag e in a d i f f e r e n t w a y from the adult.
In p r e d i c t i n g the d i f f i c u l t i e s that the st ud en ts w i l l have in l e a r n i n g a s e c o n d language, it has b e e n b e l i e v e d that w here the s t r u c t u r e s of the two langu ag es are the same, no
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d i f f i c u l t y is a n t e c i p a t e d and the le ar ne r w i l l t en d to t r a n s f e r his k n o w l e d g e from the m o t h e r tongue to the o t h e r la nguage but w h e r e the two lang ua ge s are d i f f e r e n t we can p r e d i c t that the
le arners w i l l have d if f i c u l t i e s , i n d i c a t e d by a great f r e q u e n c y of e r r o r in p e r f o r m a n c e . All k n o w l e d g e that the l e a rn er has
about the s t r u c t u r e of the first langua ge w i l l serve to fo r m u l a t e h y p o t h e s e s about the s t r u c t u r e of the s e c o n d language. In u si ng
the k n o w l e d g e he m a y commit errors w h i c h g e n e r a l l y he is not able to r e c o g n i z e and correct.
1.2 - E R R O R S
Bef or e t a l k i n g about c o n s t r a s t i v e and e r r o r an al ys is theories, it's n e c e s s a r y to m e n t i o n w h a t an e r r o r is first.
Thus the p u r p o s e of this s e c t io n is to p r e s e n t s ev e r a l definitions for e rr o r s a c c o r d i n g to the linguists' p o i nt of view.
T he n e e d for a n a l y s i n g se ve ra l d e f i n i t i o n s of err or s is to p r o v i d e b a c k g r o u n d that can he lp us to i d e n t i f y an e r r o r in the s tudents' test w h e n u s i n g E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s .
The first d e f i n i t i o n to be i n t r o d u c e d is that of Pit 2
C o r d e r w h i c h says erro rs "are b r e a o h e s o f the c o d e " (Corderj 1979: 258) and a resul t of u n a c c e p t a b l e ut te r a n c e s . T h e y are
the sign of an i mp e r f e c t k n o w l e d g e of code, that is, the learners have not yet i n t e r n a l i z e d the f o r m a t i o n rules of the s e c o n d
l a n g u a g e .
It has b e e n s ai d that we all make m i s t a k e s w h e n we are s p e a k i n g our m o t h e r tong ue a nd that we are able to r e c o g n i z e our own m i s t a k e s for w h a t th ey are and h o w to c or r e c t t h e m but in the ca se of a s e c o n d l a nguage l e a rn er this does not h a p p e n b e c a u s e he is not able to r ec o g n i z e his m i s t a k e s and in tr yi n g
to c o r r e c t t h e m he o ft en m ak es a n o t h e r error.
A c c o r d i n g to George (1972: 2) an e r r o r is "an u n w a n t e d
foT'n w h ic h the t e a c h e r does not w a n t " ^ . He also argu es w i t h Pit Corder, s a y i n g that errors come from a p a r t i c u l a r t e a c h i n g
program. T h e y are s y s t e m a t i c and re fl ec t a d e fe ct in kn ow l e d g e . W h e n e v e r an u n w a n t e d form occurs in a learner's p r o d u c t i o n of s p o k e n and w r i t t e n English, we can say it is the result of a p r o c e s s or proc es se s. The o c c u r r e n c e of errors is e x p l a i n a b l e in the f o l l o w i n g way: The l e ar n e r is e x p o s e d to e x p e r i e n c e of E n g l i s h from his t e a c h e r and his c o u r s e b o o k - this is the input to the learner. The outp ut is the p r o d u c t i o n of s p o k e n or w r i t t e n English. W h e n the l e ar ne r' s output i nc ludes an u n w a n t e d f or m w h i c h was not p ar t of the input we say it is an "error".
Gener al ly , erro rs have b e e n d e t e r m i n e d b y t e s t i n g a c c e p t a b i l i t y or non - a c c e p t a b i l i t y b y n a t i v e - s pe ak er s - so,
"an a c c e p t a b l e fo r m ia one that has been or m i g h t be p r o d u c e d by a na ti v e s p e a k e r in some a p p r o p r i a t e c o n t e x t or w o u l d be a c c e p t e d by o th er n a t iv e s p e a k e r s as b e l o n g i n g to the language in question" .
(Chau, T r a n - T h i 1975: 119-42) In o rd er to i d e n t i f y the p r e p o s i t i o n a l
e rr o r s made by B r a z i l i a n s tudents, the same test was a p p l i e d to a group of nati ve s pe akers to e v a l u a t e the students' re sp o n s e s as cor re ct or not.
Thus, tlie reas on for s t u d y i n g err or s is that for m a n y years, errors have been seen as a negative aspect of language t e a c h i n g but n o w this view is changing. Errors should be seen as indicators of the
d i f f i c u l t i e s the learners face at c e r t a i n stages of the l e a r n i n g pr ocess. In k n o w i n g the learn er 's d i f f i c u l t i e s , the t e a c h e r can pro vi de f e e d b a c k for the p o i nt s c o n s i d e r e d h a r d for them.
The first t h in g to o bs e r v e in a s t u d y of e r ro r is that they fall into two groups; T h o s e w h i c h are s y s t e m a t i c or
16
p r e d i c t a b l e w h i c h result from the in a d e q u a t e s t r a t e g i e s of l ea rn in g and those w h i c h are u n p r e d i c t a b l e or u n s y s t e m a t i c , w h i c h resu l t in some factors such as m e m o r y lapses, p h y s i c a l states (fatigue, s t r o n g emotio n) , etc. The first type is c a l l e d e rror s of c o m p e t e n c e and s e c o n d is c a l l e d erro rs of p e r f o r m a n c e
(Corder 1967). Er ro r s of c o m p e t e n c e r e f l e c t e i t h e r a t r a n s i t i o n a l s tage in the d e v e l o p m e n t of a g r a m m a t i c a l rule or the final stage of the s t u d e n t ' s k n ow le dg e. Errors of p e r f o r m a n c e are o c c a s i o n a l and h a p h a z a r d and these can be c o r r e c t e d w i t h mo re or-less
c om plete a s s u r a n c e by the learners.
Be si de s errors, w h i c h are sys te ma ti c, the le arners
also c o m m i t m i s t a k e s an d l a p s e s . T hese dif fe r from er ro r s b e c a u s e they are i d e n t i f i e d as failures in p e r f o r m a n c e to use a k n ow n s y s t e m c o r r e c t l y and they are a result of some n e u r o p h y s i o l o g i c a l b r e a k d o w n or i m p e r f e c t i o n in the p r o c e s s of e n c o d i n g and
a r t i c u l a t i n g speech. T h e y are c a u s e d by tire d ne ss , n e r v o u s n e s s or some type of s i t u a t i o n of stress or u n c e r t a i n t y or w h e n our
att 'ntion is d i v i d e d or e v e n w h e n we are a b s o r b e d in some l i n g u i s t i c activity. T h e y are not of p a r t i c u l a r i m p o r t a n c e to the langua ge s t e a c h e r b e c a u s e the s p e a k e r is i m m e d i a t e l y aware of them.
To sum up w h a t has b e e n said, the s t u dy of e r r or s has led to the c o n s t r u c t i o n of th eo r i e s such as C o n s t r a t i v e and E r ro r A n a l y s e s w h i c h c o n c e r n t h e m s e l v e s w i t h an i n t e n s i v e c o n t r a s t i v e s tu dy of the sys te ms of the L 2 and the m o t h e r tong ue of the learner. B e s i d e s this, t h r o u g h th e ories the t ea c h e r s can find out areas of d i f f i c u l t i e s w h i c h the l e a r n e r w o u l d e n c o u n t e r and special care a n d e m p h a s i s can be g iven to o v e r c o m i n g these d i f f i c u lt ie s. T h e s e t h e o r i e s w i l l be u s e d in this study. In the n e x t s e c t i o n s the value of these t h e o r i e s w i l l be disc us se d.
in o rd er to dete ct the s t u d e n t s ' d i f f i c u l t i e s in u s i n g E n g l i s h p r e p o s i t i o n s as w e l l to e x p l a i n the p o s s i b l e so ur ce s of errors.
1.3 - C O N T R A S T I V E A N A L Y S I S
C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s as a s y s t e m a t i c b r a n c h of l i n g u i s t i c s ci e n c e is of recent date. Its real b e g i n n i n g is m a r k e d b y the p u b l i c a t i o n in 1957 of Rob er t Lado's "Lingui st ic s A c ro ss Cultures". In this book, Lado quotes Cha rl es Fries, the
A m e r i c a n s t r u c t u r a l i s t who a p p l i e d the p r i n c i p l e s of l i n g u i s t i c sc ie nc e to the t e a c h i n g of English. He says,
"The mo st e ff e c t i v e m a t e r i a l s are those that are b a s e d upon a s c i e n t i f i c d e s c r i p t i o n o f the
language to be learned^ c a r e f u l l y c o m p a r e d with a p a r a l l e l d e s c r i p t i o n o f the na ti v e language o f the l e a r n e r " ( N i c k e l ^ Gerhard. 1978: 3)
Thus the idea of c o n t r a s t i n g l a ng ua ge s for t e a c h i n g p u r p o s e s is not new. T r a d i t i o n a l g ra mm ar s make use of the
c o n t r a s t i v e a p p r o a c h w h e n they com pa re c o n s t r u c t i o n s or fu n c t i o n of the target la ng u a g e w i t h those of the sour ce l anguage. Such c o m p a r i s o n s h av e b e e n quite usef ul for p e d a g o g i c a l p u r p o s e but they s u f f e r from a general failure b e c a u s e the t r a d i t i o n a l g r a m m a r on w hich they are b a s e d is not s u f f i c i e n t l y e x p l i c i t to a l l o w e x a c t analyses.
C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s has b ee n the focus of c o n t r o v e r s y since it b e c a m e pa rt of a p p l i e d li ng ui st ic s. S ev e r a l Sc ho la rs such as Ri tc hi e (1967) , Lee (1968) , W a r d h a u g h (1970) , G r a d m a n (1971) ha ve a t t a c k e d its t h e o r e t i c a l bases, b o t h p s y c h o l o g i c a l and lingui st ic s, but S e l i n k e r thinks that it is curious that C.A.
*
18
for s t u d y i n g the errors. H ow ev e r, W h i t m a n and o th er sc ho la rs c on tinue doing c o n t r a s t i v e s tudies in a b e l i e f that such studies p r o v i d e a v a l i d b asis for the d e v e l o p m e n t of la nguage le ar n i n g m a t e r i a l s . T h e y also b e l i e v e that the e m p i r i c a l success of C.A. s h o u l d be e x p l a i n e d , bu t J a c k s o n (1971) thinks that this e m p i r i c a l s u p p or t m a y be q u e s ti on ed .
In the last ten years, two d i f f e r e n t v e r s i o n s have a p p e a r e d c o n c e r n i n g C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s hyp ot he se s: (Sch ä ch te r 1977: 441-450). C. A. a p r i o r i , w h i c h is also c a l l e d "the
pTediati-ve or s t r o n g v e r s i o n ", and C. A. a p o s t e r i o r i , w h i c h is
k n o w n as "the e x p l a n a t o r y or w ea k v e r s i o n " .
In the C. A. A p r i o r i a p p r o a c h , the a n a l y s i s is made p o i n t b y p o i n t of the p h o n o l o g i c a l , m o r p h o l o g i c a l , s y n t a t i c or o th er s u b s y s t e m of two l an guages. The i n v e s t i g a t o r s can ana ly s e two d i f f e r e n t l an gu ag es and d i s c o v e r the s i m i l a r i t i e s and
d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n them. W h e n they do so, th ey can make p r e d i c t i o n s about the p o i n t s of d i f f i c u l t i e s for the s p e a k e r of la n g u a g e A w h o is a t t e m p t i n g to learn language B c o n s i d e r i n g that s i m i l a r i t i e s w i l l be e a s i e r to le arn and the d i f f e r e n c e s harder. Th ey also d e f e n d the idea that the p r e d i c t i o n of areas
of d i f f i c u l t y w i l l not a c c o un t for all of the l e a r n i n g p r o b l e m s that o cc ur in the clas sr oo m. P ro bl e m s can be c a u s e d by p r e v i o u s t e a c h i n g and m o t i v a t i o n ( S c h äc ht er 1977: 441).
H ow e v e r , C. A. a p o s t e r i o r i is said to be a s u b c o m p o n e n t of E r r o r A n a l y s i s , that is, the i n v e s t i g a t o r m a k e s an a n al y s i s of the c o n s t r u c t i o n s in la ng ua g e B, and the c o m p a r a b l e construction in language A, in o r d er to d i s c o v e r w h y the e r r or s occur. Here, e rror an alysis w i l l show the i n v e s t i g a t o r just the d i f f i c u l t i e s that the l e a r ne r has in the t ar g e t la ng ua ge and these difficulties will show up erro rs in p r o d u c t i o n . Mo re o v e r , the f r e q u e n c y of
o c c u r r e n c e of s p e c i f i c errors w i l l in dicate their re la ti ve difficulty.
I n v e s t i g a t o r s such as Lee (1957) , Ri tc h i e (1967) , K. J a c k s o n (1972), G r a d m a n (1971) argue that only C. A. a p o s t e r i o r i has any v a l i d i t y for the i n v e s t i g a t i o n of s e c o n d l an g ua ge
ac qu is it io n. T h e y d e f e n d the idea that C. A. apr io ri s om e t i m e s p r e d i c t s d i f f i c u l t i e s that do not o c c u r e s p e c i a l l y in syntax, r e s u l t i n g in a w a s t e of time in the classroom. If such a thing is true, then this a p p r o a c h is wrong. The s e c o n d a r g u m e n t is that C. A. a p o s t e r i o r i allows the r e s e a r c h e r to dir ec t his
a t t e n t i o n to those areas c o n s i d e r e d by e r r o r a n a l y s i s to be the d i f f i c u l t ones.
As b o th a pp r o a c h e s have their w e a k n e s s e s , the on ly a p p r o a c h that p r o v i d e s answers to the q u e s t i o n s about s e c o n d la nguage a c q u i s i t i o n w o u l d be a c o m b i n a t i o n of a pp r o a c h e s , C. A. a priori and e r r o r an a ly si s w h i c h w i l l give us i n f o r m a t i o n on wh at the L 2 l e a r n i n g p r o ce ss is all about.
Some c r i t i c i s m s a d d r e s s e d to C. A. are c e n t r e d a r o u n d the f o l l o w i n g points:
First, l oo k i n g at la n gu ag e d i f f e r e n c e s C. A. ignores m a n y other factors w h i c h a f f e c t the s e c o n d la nguage lear ne r' s p e r f o r m a n c e , such as his own l e a r n i n g s tr a t e g i e s , the t r a i n i n g p r o c e d u r e s , o v c r g e n e r a l i z a t i o n of the rules and so on.
Second, C. A. can not p r e d i c t the types of e r ro r c a u s e d b y i n t e r f e r e n c e fr om the m a t e r i a l s p r e v i o u s l y studied.
Third, the o b j e c t i v i t y of C. A. m e t h o d o l o g i c a l pr oc e d u r e s is q u e s t i o n a b l e . E v e r y c o n t r a s t i v i s t felt free to use his p r e f e r r e d model of l an g ua ge s t r u c t u r e w h i c h led to d if fe re n t re su l t s p r e s e n t i n g d i f f e r e n t p r e d i c t i o n s .
20
learner's d i f f i c u l t i e s has b e e n d i v i d e d in two groups: on the one hand, C. A. led by Gradman, H a m p , Ri tchie, W o l f and Wilki n s, and on the o th er hand, E. A. w h i c h arose as a r e a c t i o n to C. A. led b y Di Pietro, Rivers, Strevens, Pit Corder, F e r g u s o n and m a n y others. T he se p r o p o s e d a s o p h i s t i c a t e d e r r o r an al y s i s that i n v o l v e d b o t h an ad equate l i n g u i s t i c c a t e g o r i z a t i o n of err or s and s t a t i s t i c a l t re at me nt of t he m r e v e a l i n g the p a r t i c u l a r d i f f i c u l t i e s of a s pe c i f i c groups of students.
S u m m i n g up this se ct i o n so far. C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s is a series of s t a t e m e n t s about the s i m i l a r i t i e s an d d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n two languages. Its m a i n c o n c e r n is the c o m p a r i s o n of the p e r f o r m a n c e of the le ar n e r of var io us tongues. But it has been c r i t i c i z e d b e c a u s e it only p r e d i c t s the d i f f i c u l t i e s in l e a r n i n g a fo re i g n language. It is b a s e d on two m a i n a ss um pt io n s: that the nati v e l an guage i n t e rf e re s w i t h the l ea rn in g of a SL, and that the g r e a t e r the d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n NL and the TL, the more d i f f i c u l t it is for the learner.
It has b e e n p o i n t e d out that C. A. as a s c i e n t i f i c tool in the i n v e s t i g a t i o n of va ri ou s t ongues is of some value, but w h e t h e r the findi ng s are of much mo re va lue in s e c o n d
language learning, there are still m a n y q u e s t i o n marks.
H ow ever, C. A. can be useful in r e c o n s t r u c t i n g the e x p l a n a t i o n s of c e r t a i n types of e r ro r such as; *We like o^
orses very m u c h , " e t c . , w h i c h ha ve some c o n n e c t i o n w i t h the m o t h e r ; ng ue . For this reason this a p p r o a c h w i l l be n e e d e d in the present . t u d y .
1.4 - E R R O R A N A L Y S I S
E r r o r A n a l y s i s a p p e a r e d as a r e a c t i o n to C o n t r a s t i v e A n a l y s i s and it is a m eans o£ f i n d i n g in a s h o r t e r w a y the
a n a l y s i s of learner's d i f f i c u l t i e s in fo re ig n l an guages. As C.A. has ;J)een c r i t i c i z e d b e c a u s e its an a ly si s of p r o d u c t i o n err or s only shows that they are a t t r i b u t a b l e to m o t h e r tongue
i nt er fe re nc e, E. A. a p p e a r e d to reveal that not all s e c o n d
language error s have th eir s ources in the m o t h e r tongue. Be si de s this, E. A. has been well r e c e i v e d b e c a u s e it follows the
p s y c h o l i n g u i s t i c v ie w of la nguage a c q u i s i t i o n that at t em pt s to e x p l a i n the cr ea t i v e nature of the language a c q u i s i t i o n p r o c e s s as d e s c r i b e d by C h o m s k y (1965).
1.4.1 - The A i m of E r r o r A n a l y s i s
The p r i m a r y aim of e r r o r an al y s i s is to a na l y z e the l ea rn er 's e rr o r s to give e v i d e n c e of his c o m p e t e n c e in the f o r ei gn l an gu ag e and to d et e c t the learn er 's d i f f i c u l t i e s at d i f f e r e n t stages.
P r o p o n e n t s of E r ro r A n a l y s i s have a r g u e d for its u s e f u l n e s s b ot h on t h e o r e t i c a l and p r a c t i c a l grounds. Th ey
have s t a t e d that only a ca re fu l s tudy of a large corpus of errors m ad e by s pe a k e r s of the target language pr o vi d e s e m p i r i c a l data
for d e v e l o p i n g a syllabus.
In r e l a t i o n to E r r o r A n a l y s i s functions, we can say that for t h e o r e t i c a l p u rp os es , it gives the t e a c h e r a b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f s e c o n d language learning. For p e d a g o g i c a l p urposes, it can h el p to assess the d i f f i c u l t i e s and errors by
looking at a q u a l i t a t i v e l i n g u i s t i c c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of e r r o r (e. g. a nalyze the levels of l i n g u i s t i c de sc ri pt io n: pho no l og y.
22
syntax, etc) and q u a n t i t a t i v e aspects of the f r e q u e n c y of each
type of e r r or p r e s e n t e d in p e r c e n t a g e s . W he n this is done the t e a c h e r has a v i e w of w h a t d i f f i c u l t i e s and erro rs there are and can h e l p the learner to o ve rc o m e them. Thus, the sy ll ab us can be f o r m u l a t e d b a s e d on the r e l a t i o n s h i p of the learner's g eneral k n o w l e d g e about language s t r u c t u r e and the s t r u c t u r e of the fo re ig n language.
1 .4.2 - T h e U s e s of E r r o r A n a l y s i s
As to the use of E r r o r A n al ys is , Ja ck Ri ch ar ds has e m p h a s i z e d the s i g n i f i c a n c e of err or s in three di ff e r e n t ways. First, for the t e a c h e r , b e c a u s e they p r o v i d e f ee d b a c k and tell h i m s o m e t h i n g about the e f f e c t i v e n e s s of his t e a c h i n g m a t e r i a l s and t e c h n i q u e s as w e l l as s h o w i n g h i m w h a t p arts of the s yl la b us have b e e n i n a d e q u a t e l y taught. Second, for the r e s e a r c h e r ,
b e c a u s e they p r o v i d e ev id e n c e of h o w language is l e a r n e d or
acquired, w h a t s t r a t e g i e s or p r o c e d u r e s the l e a r n e r is e m p l o y i n g w h e n they are l e a r n i n g the language. Third, for the l e a r n e r ,
they are a w a y for him to test his h y p o t h e s e s ab out the natur e of the langu ag e he is learning; bes id es b e i n g a device he uses in o r d e r to learn the language.
1.4.3 - P ro c e d u r e s of E r r o r A n a l y s i s
With respect to the p r o c e d u r e s to be u se d to detect the le ar n e r ' s d i f f i c u l t i e s , the first t hi ng to do is to choose the corpus. Then, the errors s h o u l d be re co gn iz ed , re c o n s t r u c t e d , c l a s s i f i e d and their f re q u e n c y stated. The final stage is the e x p l a n a t i o n of errors and of the f r e q u e n c i e s of d i f f e r e n t errors. This w il l be our p r o c e d u r e in the s t u d y of students' d i f f i c u l t i e s of p r e p o s i t i o n s w h i c h wi ll be p r e s e n t e d in the th ird chapter.
W he n we talk o£ a " c o r p u s " we m e a n the tests of w r i t t e n
and oral p r o d u c t i o n in the f or e i g n language. Th e amount of m a t e r i a l depends on the n a t ur e of the r e s e a r c h topic. W he n the r e s e a r c h e r d el imits the corpus, he s h o u l d take care to include all i n f o r m a t i o n a bout the learners w h i c h m i g h t be r e l e v a n t in e x p l a i n i n g the o c c u r r e n c e of errors made by d i f f e r e n t learners. The group of s tu d e n t s s h o u l d be as h o m o g e n o u s as p o ss ib le .
M c K e a t i n g (1981: 220) asserts that r e c o g n i t i o n of an e r r o r depends on i n t e r p r e t a t i o n i.e., "on what we know, (or assume) the learner m e a n t " as well ’as"on wh a t s t a n d a r d o f p e r f o r m a n c e is c o n s i d e r e d to be a c c e p t a b l e " . Co nt e x t is all i m p o r t a n t in
r e c o g n i z i n g an e r ro r b e c a u s e w i t h o u t k n o w i n g the co nt e x t we can not assu me w h e t h e r a cert ai n item to be us ed is cor re ct or not. T hu s i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is central to the w h ol e p ro cess, b e c a u s e our
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of w ha t we t hink the st ud e n t m e a n t m a y h e l p us to r e co gn iz e an e r r o r and w i l l d et e r m i n e our r e c o n s t r u c t i o n .
D ou g l a s M c k e a t i n g gives some clues to i nt e r p r e t and r ec o g n i z e an error: 1) the g eneral context; 2) a k n o w l e d g e of sim lar err or s made by si mi l a r students; 3) a k n o w l e d g e of the
students' M T and the p o s s i b l e results of p h o n o l o g i c a l i n t e r f e r e n c e or direc t t r a n s l a t i o n into English; 4) direc t q u e s t i o n i n g , perhaps in the M T, as to w h a t the st ud e n t meant.
lie also e m p h a s i z e s two point s in r e c o n s t r u c t i n g errors: 1) the n e e d to d i s t i n g u i s h someti me s w h a t the n a t i v e s pe a k e r w o u l d have p r o d u c e d in the same c o n t e x t from w h a t the le ar ne r was try in g to produ ce , that is, the E n g l i s h forms he was ai mi n g
at but g e t t i n g wrong; 2) The mo st ob vi ou s r e c o n s t r u c t i o n for the t ea ch er is not n e c e s s a r i l y the v e r s i o n at w h i c h the s t u d e n t was aim in g bu t the one w h i c h i nv olves the least al t e r a t i o n . For example, if the s t u d e n t p r o d u c e s a s e n t e n c e like: "*H.e threw
24
some m a n go es with a s t i c k " this can be readily changed to "he hit some m a n g o e s wi th a s t i ck " c o n s i d e r i n g that this is the most
obvious r e c o n s t r u c t i o n for the t e a ch er or for the n a t i v e - E n g l i s h S p e a k e r .
In o rder to make a c l a s s i f i c a t i o n one m us t first d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n errors and m i s t a k e s and d e t e r m i n e that an e r r o r is in fact present. T h e n it is also n e c e s s a r y to adopt an o bj e c t i v e s y s t e m of c l a s s i f i c a t i o n to compare the o c c u r r e n c e and f r e q u e n c y of di f f e r e n t types.
In d e s c r i b i n g an error, we are e x p l a i n i n g it in terms of the l i n g u i s t i c p r o c e s s or rules w h i c h are b e i n g f o l l o w e d b y the speaker.
A c c o r d i n g to Pit Corder, the d e s c r i p t i o n of e r r o r can be m ad e at var i ou s degrees of depth, g e n e r a l i t y or a bs t r a c t i o n . The m os t s u p e r f i c i a l level m e r e l y d e sc ri be s erro rs in terms of the p h y s i c a l d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n the learne r' s u t t e r a n c e and the r e c o n s t r u c t e d version. Thus one of the systems of c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of e r r or s a d o p t e d by Pit Co rd e r c o m pr is es four c at eg ories;
o m i s s i o n of some r e q u i r e d elements; a d d i t i o n of some u n n e c e s s a r y element; s e l e c t i o n of an in c o r r e c t e l e m e n t and m i s o r d e r i n g of eleme nt s. This c l a s s i f i c a t i o n is usef u l b e c a u s e it can be u s e d
for any k i n d of test: tr an s la ti on , c o m p o s it io ns , oral reports, cloze tests, etc. It's w o r t h m e n t i o n i n g that this c l a s s i f i c a t i o n w i l l be a d o p t e d for two tests of my research: the oral report
and c o m p o s i t i o n , since in c r e a t i n g their own contexts, the s tu de nt s can add, s u b s t i t u t e or even omit an a p p r o p r i a t e p r e p o s i t i o n .
M o r e o v e r , a l i n g u i s t i c c l a s s i f i c a t i o n of err or s also involves d e t e r m i n i n g them to v a r i ou s levels of l i n g u i s t i c
o r t h o g r a p h i c (spelling and p u n c t u a t i o n ) , s y n t a c t i c ( g r a m m a t i c a l ) , l e x i c o - s e m a n t i c (choice o£ v o c a b u l a r y a f f e c t i n g m e a n i n g ) ,
sit' at io na l or s o c i o - l i n g u i s t i c (appropriacy) . M a n y times it is not p o s s i b l e to d et e r m i n e an e r r o r to only one level of
d e s c r i pt io n. For e x a m p l e errors i n v o l v i n g p r e p o s i t i o n s so m e t i m e s involve b o t h s y n t a x and sem an ti c s. The f o l l o w i n g s e n t e n c e contains an e r r o r of this type. The s u b s t i t u t i o n of one p r e p o s i t i o n for a n o t he r can have import an t s e m a n t i c and s y n t a c t i c c o n s e q u e n c e s as in: *Paul w e n t iji the s c h o o l ”, w h e r e the verb "to " ^^requires
As was s t a t e d above, the b es t w a y to d e s c r i b e the l i n g u i s t i c n a t u r e of errors is to detec t t h e m in the u t t e r a n c e s p r o d u c e d by le arners w h e n they are t r y i n g to c o m m u n i c a t e w i t h
others. To do so, Pit C o rd er su gg es ts that:
"... it r e q u i r e s that the t e a c h e r u n d e r s t a n d the source o f errors so that he can p r o v i d e the
a p p r o p r i a t e data and o t h e r i n fo rm at io n^ s om e t i m e s com pa ra ti ve , w h i c h w i l l r es o l v e the learner's p r o b l e m s a n d a l lo w him to d i s c o v e r the r el e v a n t r u l e s " . ^ (Corder. 1979: 292)
As to the f r e q u e n c y of errors, this m us t be b a s e d on the n u m b e r of p o s s i b l e mi st a k e s . The f r e q u e n c y of erro rs s h o u l d be b a s e d on c o u n t i n g re cu r r e n t or s y s t e m a t i c errors. If an error occ ur s w i t h the same lexical item in the same tests it s h o u l d be c o u n t e d as a sing l e error; two or more m i s t a k e s of the same g r a m m a t i c a l rule in the same test s h o u l d be c o u n t e d s e p a r a t e l y if they o c cu r w i t h d i f f e r e n t lexical items.
It's i mp or t an t to r e m e m b e r that er ror g r a v i t y sh ou l d serve as a b asis for r em ed i al t e a c h i n g si nce the p a r i t y of an e rror lies in the e xt e n t to w h i c h it interferes w i t h c o m m un ic at io n.
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e x p l a n a t i o n of the causes of errors w h i c h is mu ch mo re s p e c u l a t i v e than ob jective.
The n ex t s e c t i o n w i l l p r e s e n t the sev er a l p o s s i b l e causes or sources an d types of errors a c c o r d i n g to v ar i o u s linguists' p o i nt s of view.
1.5 - TH E S O U R C E S O R C A US ES OF E R R O R S
It's not an easy task to e x p l a i n the causes of errors, b u t it is g e n e r a l l y m a i n t a i n e d that m a n y erro r s are a t t r i b u t a b l e to the i nf l u e n c e of the m o t h e r tongue or an o t he r la ng ua ge the lea rn er knows, b e c a u s e w h e n the le ar ne r is f ac ed w i t h the n e e d to c o m m u n i c a t e s o m e t h i n g w h i c h re quires k n o w l e d g e or skill in the language w h i c h lies b e y o n d wh at he po ss e s s e s , he w i l l have to resort to the m o t h e r tongue. The a s s u m p t i o n is that w h a t can be s a i d in one l a ng ua ge can be s ai d in a n o t h e r but l anguages d i f f e r in their w a y of e x p r e s s i n g the m es sage.
Thus, one e x p l a n a t i o n for erro rs is that these may o cc ur not o nl y b e c a u s e of the d i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n NL and FL but also b e c a u s e c o n s t r u c t i o n s are d i f f i c u l t in the fo re ig n la ng ua ge itself. Fu r t h e r m o r e , c e r t a i n erro rs ma y o c c u r b e c a u s e of general l ea rn i n g s t r a t e g i e s in the L 1 and L 2 learner. So, we can
e x p l a i n m o s t of the errors: 1) by c o n t r a s t i n g L 1 and L 2 and
2) by aiming at the foreign l an guage itself.
W h e n the n o n - o c c u r r e n c e o f erro rs exists, this c o u l d be due to the fact that the c o n s t r u c t i o n has b e e n w e l l t au g h t and n o t to the fact that it is i n h e r e n t l y easy. A n d li ke wi se a h i g h
f re q u e n c y of erro rs m a y res ul t f ro m i n a d e q u a t e t e a c h i n g
m a t e r i a l s or m e t h o d s * I t ' s q ui te l i k el y that the d i f f i c u l t i e s faced b y d i f f e r e n t le ar ne rs v a r y in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h age, p e r i o d
