THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LEARNERS’ ERROR

Error analysis plays an important role in second and foreign language teaching as well. It
helps teachers in understanding the new ways of teaching by giving the feedback on the
errors made by the learners. It is certain and understood that learners make mistakes in the
process of learning. These mistakes provide new insights and techniques to the language
teachers and linguists in sorting out the problems related to language learning. In short, the
role of the error analysis is no doubt very important in second and foreign language teaching
and learning.

Corder (1967) in his article "The significance of learners' errors" states that errors show the
learners' needs. He says that it is the learner who determines what the input is. The teacher
can present a linguistic form to a learner, which is not necessarily the input, but simply what
is available to be learned (cited in Richard, 1974:23). Keeping this point in mind, learners'
needs should be considered when teachers or linguists plan their syllabuses. Before Corder's
work, syllabuses were based on theories and not so much on learners' needs. Mager (1962)
points out that the learners' built-in syllabus is more efficient than the teacher's syllabus (cited
in Richard, 1994: 24). Corder (1967) adds that if such a "built-in syllabus" exists, then
learners' errors would confirm its existence and would be systematic. Furthermore, Corder
also showed to whom information about errors would be helpful and how.

 Error’s Implications for Learners

To the learner, this is a device which he uses in order to learn. Human learning
involves making mistakes (Brown 1980:164). A learner’s errors, then, provide evidence
of the system of the language that he is using (has learned) at a particular point in the
course. They are indispensible to the learner uses in order to learn. It is a way the learner
has of testing his hypotheses about the nature of the language he is learning. The making
of errors then is a strategy employed both by children acquiring their mother tongue and
by those learning a second language.
 Error’s Implications for Teachers
Teachers can benefit from the findings of error analysis in many ways. Errors tell the
teacher how far towards the goal the learner has progressed and what remains for him to
learn (Corder, 1987). Following the student’s progress, the teacher is able to carry on his
studies in accordance with what the learner needs to know and what part of the teaching
strategy to chance or reconstruct. Errors are a means of feedback for the teacher reflecting
how effective he is in his teaching style and what changes he has to make to get higher
performance from his students. Furthermore, errors indicate the teacher the points that
needs further attention. Additionally, errors show the way to be treated when their sources
are identified correctly.

 Error’s Implications for Syllabus Designers

Syllabus design of an English teaching course is a very important component of
teaching-learning process. There are many factors to be considered to decide on what to
teach to what level and age group. At this point, errors are significant data for syllabus
designers as they show what items are important to be included or which items needs to
be recycled in the syllabus. Keshavarz (1997) maintains that an error-based analysis can
give reliable results upon which remedial materials can be constructed. In other words,
analysis of second language learners’ errors can help identify learners’ linguistic
difficulties and needs at a particular stage of language learning. It is essential for a
syllabus to provide with the needs for learning appropriately and errors are important
evidence for that. Corder (1973) reminds of de Sassure’s words that language is a ‘self-
contained system’, in which each part is systematically related to another part. Then
learning of some new item requires the learning of all items that are already studied.
Eventually, this requires the necessity for a cyclical syllabus in language learning.
Error Correction and Error Analysis
At the beginning of the study, the question “why students make mistakes or commit
errors” was held. Now, some other questions rise: How should teachers correct students?
What kind of feedback should they give? Does each error need to be treated?
Error analysis has an important role in finding the answers to these questions.
In general, the teacher’s job is to point out when something has gone wrong and see
whether the student can correct himself, then, to find out if what the student say or write
is just a mistake, or it is global or local. However, the technique of correction is not
simply presenting the data repeatedly and going through the same set of drills and
exercises to produce the state of over learning. On the contrary, it requires that the teacher
understand the source of the errors so that he can provide appropriate remedy, which will
resolve the learner’s problems and allow him to discover the relevant rules. Thus, the
source of the error is an important clue for the teacher to decide on the sort of treatment.
Harmer (1998) suggests three steps to be followed by the teacher when errors occur. The
teacher first listens to the students, then identifies the problem, and puts it right in the
most efficient way.
Different kinds of tasks may require a different treatment. The reaction of the teacher
towards errors and the type of feedback to be given is usually determined by the position
of the error in the objective of the task.
Oral works are at crucial point in terms of corrections and feedback time. For oral
works, it is usually recommended that students making mistakes during a fluent speech
should not be interrupted, but be reminded of the mistakes and talk about the reasons. The
type of the feedback- form or content should be decided on according to the goal of the
study. If the goal is to make the students practice a certain grammar point, it may be
necessary to give a form feedback. Or else, if a pronunciation item is being practiced, the
teacher should correct the related mistakes without interrupting the speaker (Ur, 1996).
For correcting written works, it is accepted that the teacher should not correct the
students’ mistakes directly but instead, should put marks indicating there is something
wrong with that sentence, word, or punctuation. There are symbols to show the kind of
mistake that teachers use. For example, it is better to write ‘sp’ for spelling mistake near
the wrong word, to write ‘rw’ for the sentences need to be written once again, etc. than
writing the correct form. Thus, students are able to correct themselves looking for the
source of their mistakes.
 REFERENCES

Corder, S.P. (1967). "The Significance of Learners ' Errors", in Error Analysis: Perspectives
on Second Language Acquisition, edited by Jack C. Richards (1974), London : Longman

Contribution of Error Analysis to Foreign Language Teaching, by Vacide ERDOĞAN,

research assistant, Mersin University Faculty of Education

The Role of Error Analysis in Teaching and Learning of Second and Foreign Language by
Aqsa Jabeen, Department of English Language, University of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan