Error Analysis and Foreign Language Teaching

Abstract：English is considered as a foreign language instead of a second language in China, but language learning has a lot in common. As a non-English major collegeteacher, this thesis is intended to have an analysis of the common errors made by non-English major college students and try to detect their possible sources which mirrors the strategies that learners use to acquire a language, and make an present some suggestions on how to avoid certain kinds of errors for the attempt to language learners.

Key words：Error AnalysisInterlingual Errorscorrection1Introduction

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research, which took place around the endof 1960s, has come to occupy an important place in the development of our understanding of the human capacity for language. An appropriate starting point in SLA research is through the analysis of learner errors or Error Analysis (EA). Error Analysis has led to a whole new era of second language research and teaching.

2Theoretical background

Error Analysis has a long tradition.In the 1950s and 1960s the favored model for studying foreign or second language teaching and learning was Contrastive Analysis. The procedure involved first describing comparable features of mother tongue and target language, and then comparing the forms and meanings across the two languages in order to identify the mismatches that would predictably give rise to interference and error.

In the 1970s EA became an alternative to CA. EA involves first independently or objectively describing the learners Interlanguage and the target language itself, followed by a comparison of the two, so as to locate mismatches. The novelty of EA, distinguishing it from CA, was that the mother tongue was not supposed to enter the picture. The claim was made that errors could be fully described in terms of the TL, without the need to refer to the L 1 of the learners.

3Findings and analysis

3.1 The Definition of Errors

What is a language error? In order to get a much clearer picture of the definition of errors; different versions made by different researchers are presented as follows:

a.An error can be defined as a deviation from the nouns of the target language. (Rod Ellis, 1994:51)

b.Errors are deviations in pronunciation, structure, or vocabulary fromwhat is considered to be normal bynative speakers (Friedenberg, 991:55)

c. Errors are the flawed side of learner speech or writing. They are those parts of conversation or composition norm of mature language performance that deviate from some selected ((Dulay et.al, 1982:138)