EA: Grammatical and Substance Error Taxonomies of Iraqi EFL Learners, Causes and Recommendations
Candidate: MOHANAD QASIM
Supervised by: Prof. Fan Wei Wei
Major: Linguistics and applied linguistics
Date: 2015
Introduction
In recent decades of research in the field of linguistics and applied linguistics. Error analysis EA increasingly engaging the interest of linguists and non-linguists for the reason that it yields insights into the process of language learning. EA, particularly in second language acquisition has become popular because it is considered as one of the best kind of linguistic studies that concerns about the learners’ errors. Linguist Corder states that EA has two objects, one theoretical to understand how and what a learners’ learns when they studies a second language and other applied object is to enable the learners’ to learn more efficiently and using the knowledge of their dialect for pedagogical purpose (Corder, 1967 cited in Sawalmeh, 2013). The objectives of error analysis is to know the learning strategies for learners’ and reasons for causing errors. Learners’ errors have provided the foundation of how to learn an EFL/ESL (Corder, 1967 cited in Huan, 2011). The language transfer is considered as an important part in applied linguistics and language learning studies, which concentrate on the source or interlingual cause of error and relates this case to the mother tongue language system. The transfer has attracted researchers of different
Many popular theories of second language acquisition have been analyzed throughout history. The socialization of L2 learners, their present emotional state that is present at time of acquisition, as well as the comprehensible input and output with the use of scaffolding play a major role in second language acquisition. Let us also not forget the importance of written expression as well as reading comprehension with these L2 learners. Each play a role in language development. However, I believe that in acquiring a language, one must use a variety of techniques that work together to create a balance within the learning environment. Furthermore, all L2 learners learn differently and so a variety of resources will need to be used based on the ability of each student. There are many theories that have been developed by highly qualified experts in the field on linguistics. However, I will address those areas that I agree with as I present my personal theories on second language acquisition.
Judie Haynes’ article, “Stages of Second Language Acquisition”, clearly states five stages that a new learner of English may go through. In Haynes’ theory, there are five stages in total, and they are pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. According to Haynes, new learners of English acquire language by going through the same stages. However, how much time each student spends at a particular stage may be different. Despite the different time length, the stages of people acquiring new language are worth discussing.
A speech therapist, a teacher, an expert witness in criminal case, an advertising copywriter, historian, literary scholar, dictionary writer, a group of civil servants, computer programmer, a zoologist, a medical sociologist and many more faces professional problems and need the help of Applied Linguistics for their solutions. According to Mouton de Gruyter, the scope of Applied Linguistics include: “Language Acquisition (L1 and L2), Psycho/Neuro - linguistics, Language Teaching, Sociolinguistics, Humor Studies, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis / Rhetorics, Text / Processing / Translation, Computational Linguistics – Machine Translation, Corpus Linguistics, Language Control / Dialectology” (Alan Davies, 2007). The scope of AL has widened up to a large extend and encompasses almost every field of life related to language, whether its language planning or language policies; language and gender or language and the media, etc. In short, Applied Linguistics has to do any and every thing with the
According to the study of Alba, Logan, Lutz and Stults (2002), this three-generation model of language shift was documented
Many are aware that language and vocabulary is very important to English Language Learners (ELLs), but something many are unaware of is the importance of vocabulary as an effective method of teaching ELL student’s mathematics. Success in today’s word for ELL students means understanding our society so that they can fit in. It is best said by Roberts (2009), “Mathematics tends to be a gatekeeper and a sieve for sorting students for future success, life experiences, and incorporation into society”.
Students who are more introverted may observe and listen to others until they are more confident of what to say. Teachers need to understand that the outgoing student may not be as fluent as he or she seems to be and that the more introverted student may be more proficient in their second language than they appear to be. Although it will take time, both types of students will learn to speak their second language proficiently. While these students are learning, they will make mistakes. The article states that if teachers correct the mistakes directly, it may discourage students from trying out their new language skills. Modeling the correct language is a much better way of correcting mistakes then using direct correction.
“There are many instances, however, where reality and what we are taught do not correspond as to actual “correctness”, the actual acceptability, of what we are told to avoid”, states Hall (14). The liberal view is amoral because there is no standard for anyone using language and grammar. There is an attitude of nonchalance when analyzing what the linguist believes, therefore what is socially acceptable will work, for the linguist. Hall also states, “It is easy, on the one hand, to see that those who talk or advertise in this way and offer to cure our errors in pronunciation or grammar are simply appealing to our sense of insecurity with regard to our own speech.” The idea that linguists believe correct pronunciation and grammar usage being enforced affects one’s insecurity is amoral. The criticism of grammar and speech should encourage a person to use the correct rules and pronunciation which can lead to building confident speakers and writers. If linguist continue to find correcting affecting insecurities, individuals will never understand why preserving language is so
Language acquisition is very interesting topic, recently become part of our life and it helps the communication between people not only enables us to understand others. Also it has aids in developing relationships, as we know this language is crucial part of everyday life.
The informant’s language of Spanish can affect the grammar of English Acquisition. For example, Part Four focused on phonetics. Distinguishing different languages by using phonetics is important because it allows teachers to examine the differences between the sounds of source and target languages and explain this difference to learners. In Part Four, we noticed one of the dialectical differences between the English language and the Spanish language. The difference is that the Spanish language has accent marks in the letters. Accent marks are essential to how we pronounce words. This was also shown in Part Six. While observing the translation of sentences between Spanish and English, my partner and I noticed that some words were changed in Spanish to include accent marks. Accent marks change the letter sounds. They help to determine how a letter is supposed to sound in words. For example, “The white mouse at bread and crackers” translates to “El ratón blanco comió pan y galletas”. Another dialectic difference that we came across was the different alphabet. The Spanish alphabet contains letters that the English alphabet does not such as: ch, ll, ñ, and rr. Lastly, the Spanish language also appears to have a shorter sentence stress than the English language. Our informant said the words in her native language and during that time she did not elongate the vowels instead, she said them rapidly. In addition to how Spanish Grammar could affect English acquisition, Spanish
Children acquire language since they were born. They communicate with their parents. Furthermore, children and parents interact with each other using a language that we often call the first language or mother tongue. At an early age, children are only learning one language that is the mother tongue. By age and speech development, children improve to acquire a second language from the school or the environment around them. In terms of speed of langgauge acquisition, children are factorized by both the child and the child’s learning environment. Therefore, it is important to understand how children acquire second language. This paper is provided
The language related concerns are more associated to the colonization process. One of the most famous linguistic consequences of colonization has been the arrival of new varieties if English on a global platform. There are numerous phases from, which colonization of new varieties emerged through. These phases’ starts from transferring English to
Mistakes are an essential part of learning languages, there’s no way that you can reach fluency without making lots and lots of mistakes.
Effective language learning is the necessity of time. No matter in which discipline you are or what field of occupation you have effective language is a vital goal to success, which cannot be ignored. There are several standards, which determine the criteria for effective language and the learning processes. However, determining a standard is the first and foremost element in this regard. Language teaching and language learning are two entirely different fields, which have their
Actuality it of the problem. The given theme of the diploma paper is of current importance, because it deals with the following interesting notions: why there is a language, why people speak in different languages, though the speaker can meet various words from any language in his speech. These words are called borrowings, and the present work will observe how they came into our language. When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for their languages to influence each other. Languages normally develop by gradually accumulating internal differences until one parent language splits into daughter languages. This is analogous to a sexual reproduction in biology. Change due to language contact, in this analogy, is skin to the recombination that happens when separate organisms exchange genetic material.” We don’t just borrow on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary”
Selinker (1969) was one of the first who designed his studies to deal with language transfer. He asked few important questions: