second language acquisition and error analysis (arfan rai)

Err

or

Analy

sis

&Seco

nd

Language

Acq

uis

itio

n

The University of Lahore Pakpattan Campus

Presentation

Prepared by:

Muhammad Irfan Kosar Tasleem

Haider AliMuhammad Asif

Faisal nazeerTahir Hussain

arfanrai9@gmail.com

Second Language Acquisition

INTRODUCTION

It is quite observable that some learners

learn a new language more quickly than others,

because they are successful by virtue of their

strong determination, hard work and

persistence.

Yet, some other learners are not very

successful in learning a new language, and it is

obvious that there are some crucial factors

influencing success, which are mostly beyond

the control of the learner.

What is a Language?

Language is a set of Codes. These codes are used for human communication.

Language is a source of Communication among human beings.

LANGUAGE:The Object of Linguistics

“Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols.”--Edward Sapir (1884-1939):Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech (1921)

What is language?

“From now on I will consider language to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”--Noam Chomsky (1928- ): Syntactic Structures (1957)

What is language?

Linguist

Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition

:According to Krashen there are two independentsystems of second language performance: 'theacquired system' and 'the learned system'. The'acquired system' or 'acquisition' is the productof a subconscious process very similar to the

process children undergo when they acquiretheir first language. It requires meaningfulinteraction in the target language

Acquisition &

Learning

The 'learned system' or 'learning' is the productof formal instruction and it comprises aconscious process which results in consciousknowledge 'about' the language, for exampleknowledge of grammar rules.

Acquisition &

Learning

5 Stages of second

language acquisition

Pre-production (No English)- new learners of English with up to 500 known words, the silent period

Early production (Receptive English Only)- can speak one or two word phrases, have about 1000 known words

Speech Emergence (Survival English)- can communicate with simple phrases and sentences, have about 3,000 known words

Intermediate Fluency- beginning to use more complex sentences and are willing to express opinions and share thoughts, about 6,000 known words

Advanced Fluency (Proficient English)-near native in their language skills, takes 4-10 years

Factors Affecting second

language acquisition

1.Age

2.Personality

3.Motivation

4.Experiences

5.Cognition

6.Cultural

background

1. AGE

the age of the learner influences the 2LAChildren having strong literacy skills in their own language, seem to be in a better position to acquire a new language in a more effective way. Very motivated, older learners can do it, but usually they should try hard to become a native-like speaker.

“You can't teach an old dog new tricks” (Idiomatic Expression)

 Adults are superior to children in rate of acquisition

Older children learn more rapidly than younger children

With regards to morphology and syntax, the adolescents do best, followed by the adults and then the children

Grammar differences diminish over time, and children begin to catch up, but adults outperform children in the short term

Where pronunciation is concerned, adults do not always progress more rapidly than children do

Effects of age

on RATE of

second languag

e learning

2. PERSONALITY

A person who wants to acquire second Language is to be sincere with his learning. He must be hardworking. His attitude and behavior must be related to language acquisition.Logic, Interest, Motivation

"I know one thing, that I know nothing“ (Socrates)

3. EXPERIENCES

Learners who have acquired general knowledge and experience are in a stronger position to develop a new language than those who haven't.

4. Motivation and attitudes

Motivation can be defined in terms of two factors:

1. Learners’ communicative needs

2. Learners’ attitudes towards the second language community

Types of Motivation

1. Integrative motivation

(language learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment)

2. Instrumental motivation

(language learning for more immediate or practical goals)

5. COGNITION

Generally speaking, apparently students with greater cognitive abilities make a faster progress.

Some Chomskyan linguists suppose that there is a specific, innate language learning ability which is believed to be stronger in some students than in others.

LAD

6. Cultural background

There is some evidence that students under the condition in which their mother culture has a lower status than the target language’s culture that they are learning will make a slower progress.

II. EXTERNAL FACTORS

1. Curriculum

2. Instruction

3. Culture&Status

4. Motivation

5. Access to Native Speakers

2.1. CURRICULUM

Particularly for the ESL students, it is essential that the totality of thier educational experiences should be suitable to their needs. If learners are entirely submersed into a mainstream program without having any additional assistance, then language learning is less likely to occur.

2.2. INSTRUCTION

L2 instruction can have an effect on how learners acquire a L2 (Ellis 1991, Long 1983, 1988; Rutherford & Sharwood-Smith 1985)

"L2 instruction is effective in its own right" (Norris & Ortega 2000:480)

"while instruction may not always be necessary to achieve competence in the L2, it undoubtedly helps"(Ellis 2005: 725).

2.3. CULTURE&STATUS

Students under the condition in which their mother culture has a lower status than the target language’s culture that they are learning will make a slower progress.

Social factors can affect motivation, attitudes and language learning success.

Children, just like adults, are quite sensitive to social dynamics and power relationships.

2.4. ACCESS TO NATIVE SPEAKERS

Since native speakers can act as linguistic models and since they can provide effective feedback for the learners, it is very advantegous to have the opportunity to interact with the native speakers, not only in the classroom setting, but also outside of it.

Affective factors are emotional factors which influence learning.

1.Self-Esteem

2.Inhibition

3.Risk Taking

4.Anxiety

5.Empathy

AFFECTIVE FACTORS

SELF-ESTEEM

Self-esteem refers to a personal evaluation and judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the individual's attitude toward him or herself or toward his or her capabilities. Low motivation, low self-esteem, and debilitating anxiety can combine to 'raise' the affective filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition. (Krashen cited by Schütz, 2007)

INHIBITION

Inhibition in a person arises as he/she tries to defend or protect their self-image. If the learner perceives the mistakes that he/she makes in the second language as a threat to their emotional well-being and self perception, then acquisition will not occur or will occur much more slowly.

RISK TAKING

One of the characteristics that has been found to exist in "good" language learners is the willingness to guess. If the learner is less inhibited, he/she is more willing to take a chance on producing a "correct" utterance in the second language.

ANXIETY

Anxiety is associated with the feelings of uneasiness, self- doubt, worry or fear that a person feels under certain circumstances. A threatening environment does not promote language acquisition. Factors such as an emphasis on competition between students or forcing students to produce in the second language before they are ready can cause anxiety.

ANXIETY

Three components of foreign language anxiety (often with negative impact)

1. communication apprehension (inability to express mature thoughts and ideas)2. fear of negative social evaluation (how one is viewed by others)3. test anxiety

EMPATHY

Empathy refers to an individual's ability to put him/herself in the other's shoes. When a learner is acquiring a second language, he or she is also acquiring, in a sense, a new personality, and a new culture. Is the ability of a learner to open him or herself to new cultural experiences and adopt these experiences as their own is essential in the language acquisition process..

GOOD LANGUAG

E LEARNER

S:

Find their own way, taking charge of their learning

Organize information about language

Are creative, developing a “feel” for the language by experimenting with its grammar and words

Make their own opportunities for practice in using the language inside and outside the classroom

Learn to live with uncertainty by not getting flustered and by continuing to talk or listen without understanding every word

14 characteristics summarized from Rubin(Rubin & Thompson, 1982)

GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNERS:

Use memory strategies to recall what has been learned

Make errors work for them and not against them

Use linguistic knowledge, including knowledge of their first language, in learning a second language

Use contextual cues to help them in comprehension

Learn to make intelligent guesses

Learn chunks of language as wholes and formalized routines to help them perform “beyond their competence”

Learn certain tricks that help to keep conversations going

Learn certain production strategies to fill in gaps in their own competence

Learn different styles of speech and writing and learn to vary their language according to the formality of the situation

Good Language Learners:

Being successful in second language acquisition depends on many factors. Age and motivation factors are among the most important ones. In studies, it has been found that if a learner has a competency in his or her own language, he or she is more advantageous than those who lacks competence in his first language. As to motivation, it has been revealed that motivated students are more successful in second language acquisition than those who are demotivated. Also, the role the psychological aspects play in gaining an extra language cannot be denied.

Conclusion

What four things I hope you remember . . .

1. Encourage first language development.

2. Know your own attitudes and beliefs about language learners in general. They will come through in your lessons.

3. Take a second and third look at the whole student, not just their language ability.

4. “It depends”

An historical background

Error analysis, a branch of “applied linguistics” Pit Corder is the father of Error AnalysisError Analysis emerged in the 1960s by S.Pit

Corder

Error Analysis

VIEW OF AN ANAYLIST

Crystal (2003) defines EA as a “technique for identifying, classifying and systematically interpreting the unacceptable forms produced by someone learning a foreign language ,using any of the principles and procedures provided by linguistics”.

ERRORS

WHAT IS AN

Error?

An error is a learner language form that deviates from, or violates, a target language rule.

Learner errors and

error analysis

Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes.

They form an important aspect of learning virtually any skill or acquiring information.

Language learning is like any other human learning. L2 learning is a process that is clearly not unlike L1

learning in its trial-and-error nature.

Learner errors and

error analysis

4 Explanation of errors

Establishing the source of error

Error source Taylor (1986)

Psycholinguistic (nature of L2 knowledge system, and difficulties to use it in the production)

Sociolinguistic (ability to adjust the language in accordance to social context)

Epistemic (lack of world knowledge)

Discourse structure (problems in the organization of information into a coherent text)

ERROR ANALYSIS

Error analysis

Error analysis is a type of linguistic analysis that focus on the errors make learners.

Ea was emerged in the answer of contrastive analysis which aim to find the learners error due to native language.

It consists of a comparison between the errors made in the target language and second language

It is a technique to explain the learners language error.

Error analysis is the examination of those errors committed by the students in both the spoken and written medium.

Ea defines the reinforcement areas of learners.

Steps of Error Analysis

According to linguist Coder, the following are the steps in any typical Error Analysis research:

collecting samples of learner language

identifying the errors

describing the errors

explaining the errors

evaluating/correcting the errors

1. Weaknesses in methodological procedures

2. Limitations in scope

The limitations of error analysis

Error analysis

fails to provide a complete picture of learner language

most studies are cross-sectional in nature

provides a partial picture

takes no account of what learners do correctly or their development over time

Conclusions: a reassessment of Error Analysis

Error Analysis replaced Contrastive analysis

First serious attempt to investigate learner language in L2.

It is continuous to be practiced as a mean for investigating a specific research question.

Contrastive analysis

Contrastive analysis

CA is a technique used to define the learners errors that are occurred in his L2 due to the transfer of L1.

Transfer can be of two types

1. Negative; when structure of two languages is different and learner consider them as same.

2. Positive; when structure of two languages is same and learner consider them as same.

Errors & Mistakes

The distinction between learner’s errors and mistakes has always been problematic for both teachers and researchers

Error/mistake

Errors are systematic and that can not be corrected by the learners.

Mistakes are occurred due to the lake of competence in the learners language.

Classification of Errors

Orthographic Errors

Sound/letter mismatch

Same spelling. Different pronunciation

Similar pronunciation. Different spelling

Ignorance of spelling rules

Phonological Errors

Lack of certain L2 phonemes in the learner’s L1

Differences in syllable structures in L1 and L2

Spelling pronunciation of words

The problem of silent letters

Classification of Errors

Lexico-semantic Errors

(related to the semantic properties of lexical items)

* I am working 24 o’clock each week.

* English is alive language by which everyone can convey his ideas.

Morphological-syntactic Errors

Wrong use of plural morpheme

Wrong use of tenses

Wrong word order

Wrong use of prepositions

Errors in the use of articles

TYPES OF ERRORS

Forms of errors

Omission; leaving out some required linguistic elements

* My father is doctor.

Additions; redundant use of certain elements in a sentences

* Please answer to my letter soon.

Substitutions; replacement of incorrect elements for correct ones

*I am not afraid from dogs.

Why error analysis?

The idea made the researchers of applied linguistics devote their studies largely to the comparison of the native and the target language in order to make explanations about errors.

It is done to evaluate the learners error in their second language.

Errors are ‘systematic”

Like; its occur repeatedly and not recognized by the learner.

Errors are of different types

Errors cannot be self corrected by learners

Nature of

errors

Methodology of

ERROR ANALYSIS

Collection of error

Identification of error

Classification of error types

Statement of relative frequency of error types

Identification of the areas of difficulty in the L2

Determination of the source of error

Determination of the seriousness of the error

Remedy by the teacher in the classroom

IMPORTANCE OF ERROR ANALYSIS

Importance;

Error analysis helps to understand the process of SLA (second language acquisition)

Error analysis shows the troublesome linguistic areas or errors that L2 learners encounter in learning

It showed that Contrastive Analysis was unable to predict a great majority of errors.

The errors give valuable feedback to both teachers and learners regarding strategies and progress.

The error also provides research with insights into the nature of SLA process

Importance;

Importance;

Error analysis is useful in second language learning because it reveals to us.

Teaching strategies

Syllabus designing

Textbook writers of what the problems areas are.

conclusion

Error analysis is a useful technique to define the learners errors of second language.It is beneficial to the learner and the teacher bothIt is compulsory to evaluate the current status of the learner It also indicate the problem areas and the solutions of themIt explores the reinforcement areas of the learners

It helps to acquire linguistic rules of second language

Any Question??????