Error Analysis and interlanguage.docx

Error Analysis and interlanguage.docx

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ErrorAnalysisandinterlanguage

ErrorAnalysisand

Interlanguage

S.P.Corder

OxfordUniversityPress

WaltonStreet,OxfordOX26DP

OxfordNewYorkToronto

DelhiBombayCalcuttaMadrasKarachiKualaLumpurSingaporeHongKongTokyo

NairobiDarEsSalaamCapeTown

MelbourneAuckland

andassociatedcompaniesin

BeirutBerlinIbadanNicosia

OXFORDisatrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress

ISBN0194370739

©S.PitCorder1981

Firstpublished1981

Thirdimpression1985

Thisbookissoldsubjecttotheconditionthatitshallnot,bywayoftradeorotherwise,belent,re-sold,hiredout,orotherwisecirculatedwithoutthe

publisher’spriorconsentinanyformofbindingorcoverotherthanthatinwhichitispublishedand

withoutasimilarconditionincludingthiscondition

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Allrightsreserved.Nopartsofthispublicationmaybe

reproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,or

transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutthepriorpermissionofOxfordUniversity

Press.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgementsaremadetothefollowingpublishersforpermissiontoreproducethepapersinthiscollection:

JuliusGroosVerlag,for‘TheSignificanceofLearners’Errors’,publishedintheInternationalReviewofAppliedLinguistics,VolumeVNo.~,1967,for‘IdiosyncraticDialectsandErrorAnalysis’,publishedinSvartvik,J.（ed.）（i~7~）Errata:

PapersinErrorAnalysisandintheInternationalReviewofAppliedLinguistics,VolumeIXNo.a,~andfor‘TheElicitationofInterlanguage’,publishedinaspecialissueofIRALontheoccasionofBertolMalmberg’ssixtiethbirthday.

CentreforInformationonLanguageTeachingandResearch,for‘DescribingtheLanguageLearner’sLanguage’,publishedinCILTReportsandPapers,No.6,1971.

Cornelsen-Velhagen&Klasing&Co.,for‘TheRoleofInterpretationintheStudyofLearners’Errors’,publishedinGermanas‘DieRollederInterpretationbeiderUntersuchungvonSchulfehlern’inFehlerkunde,editedbyG.Nickel,1972.

HochschulVerlag（Germany）,for‘TheStudyofInterlanguage’,publishedintheProceedingsoftheFourthInternationalCongressofAppliedLinguistics,Volumea,1976.

UniversitiitBernandtheIndianaUniversityLinguisticsClub,for‘“SimpleCodes”andtheSourceoftheSecondLanguageLearner’sInitialHeuristicHypothesis’,publishedinStudiesinSecondLanguageAcquisition,VolumeINo.i,1977,andfor‘LanguageDistanceandtheMagnitudeoftheL~inguageLearningTask’,publishedinStudiesinSecondLanguageAcquisition,VolumeIINo.i,1978.

Universit~deNeuch~telfor‘LanguageContinuaandtheInterlanguageHypothesis’,publishedintheProceedingsoftheFifthNeuchdtelColloquium,1977.

TheAssociationFinlandaisedeLinguistiqueAppliqu~e,for

‘StrategiesofCommunication’,publishedinAFinLA,No.23,

1978.

NewburyHousePublishersInc.,for‘FormalSimplicityandFunctionalSimplificationinSecondLanguageAcquisition’,publishedinNewDimensionsinSecondLanguageAcquisitionResearch,editedbyRogerAnderson,1980.

Contents

Introduction

1Thesignificanceoflearners’errors5

2Idiosyncraticdialectsanderroranalysis14

3Describingthelanguagelearner’slanguage26

4Theroleofinterpretationinthestudyoflearners’errors35

5Erroranalysisandremedialteaching45

6Theelicitationofinterlanguage56

7Thestudyofinterlanguage65

8Simplecodesandthesourceofthesecondlanguagelearner’sinitialheuristichypothesis79

9Languagecontinuaandtheinterlanguagehypothesis87

10Languagedistanceandthemagnitudeofthelanguagelearningtask95

11Strategiesofcommunication103

12Formalsimplicityandfunctionalsimplification107

Bibliography115

Introduction

Therehavealwaysbeentwojustificationsproposedforthestudyoflearners’errors:

thepedagogicaljustification,namelythatagoodunderstandingofthenatureoferrorisnecessarybeforeasystematicmeansoferadicatingthemcouldbefound,andthetheoreticaljustification,whichclaimsthatastudyoflearners’errorsispartofthesystematicstudyofthelearners’languagewhichisitselfnecessarytoanunderstandingoftheprocessofsecondlanguageacquisition.Weneedtohavesuchaknowledgeifwearetomakeanywell-foundedproposalsforthedevelopmentandimprovementofthematerialsandtechniquesoflanguageteaching.Thesepointsaremadeinthefirstpaperinthiscollectionanddevelopedinvariouswaysinlaterpapers.Roughlyspeakingonecouldsaythatthefirsthalfofthecollectionisconcernedwiththemethodologicalproblemsofthestudyoferrorsandaconsiderationoftheapplicationoferroranalysisinsecondlanguageteaching.Thesecondgroupofpapersoninterlanguageismoreconcernedwiththeoreticalproblems,particularlythoseofsecondlanguageacquisitionandthenatureofinterlanguage,orthesecondlanguagelearner’slanguageasatypeoflanguageanditsrelationtootherlanguagetypes.Thusthestudyofinterlanguagehasapurelytheoreticalvalueindependentofitsultimaterelevancetolanguageteaching.Itispartofthestudyoflanguageorlinguisticsinitsbroadersense.

Untilthelatesixtieswhenthefirstpaperinthiscollectionwaswritten,theprevailingtheoryconcerningtheproblemofsecondlanguagelearningwasbehaviouristicandheldthatthelearningwaslargelyaquestionofacquiringasetofnewlanguagehabits.ErrorswerethereforepredictedtobetheresultofthepePsistenceofexistingmothertonguehabitsinthenewlanguage.Mosterrorswereascribedtointerferenceandconsequentlyamajorpartofappliedlinguisticresearchwasdevotedtocomparingthemothertongueandthetargetlanguageinordertopredictorexplaintheerrorsmadebylearnersofanyparticularlanguagebackground.Whatwasoverlookedorunderestimatedweretheerrorswhichcouldnotbeexplainedinthisway.Inanycase,asfarasteachingwasconcerned,allerrorswhatevertheiroriginweredealtwithbyessentiallythesametechniqueoffurtherdrillingandexercise.Thefirstpaperinthiscollectiondatestoatimewhenthisessentiallybehaviouristicaccountofsecondlanguagelearningwascomingtobeseriouslyquestioned.Thiswastheresultoftheinterestwhichpsycholinguists,influencedbyChomsky,werebeginningtoshowinfirstlanguageacquisition.Itwasnaturalthatoneshouldaskwhetherthecognitiveprocesseswhichcameintoplayinfirstlanguageacquisitionwerethesameasthoseusedinsecondlanguagelearning,andindeedintheearlyseventies,whichmarkedthebeginningofseriousempiricalresearchintosecondlanguageacquisition,thiswasthequestionwhichwasuppermostinthemindsoftheresearchers.Withthegeneralabandonmentofthebeliefinaspecificlanguageacquisitiondevice,thisisnolongeraquestionwhichactivelyengagestheinterestofinvestigators.Atthesametimetheroleofthefirstlanguageinsecon4languageacquisitionhasbecomeamoreinterestingquestion.TheterminterlanguagewascoinedbySelinkerinthebeliefthatthelanguagelearner’slanguagewasasortofhybridbetweenhisL1andthetargetlanguage.Theevidenceforthiswasthelargenumberoferrorswhichcouldbeascribedtotheprocessoftransfer.Butwhensecondlanguageacquisitionresearchersbegantocollectdatafromlearnersnotreceivingformalinstruction,particularlychildren,theproportionoftransfererrorswasfoundgenerallytobequitesmall.Furthermore,theseerrorsseemedtobefoundinmostlearnersatthesamestageofdevelopmentandlargelyindependentofthenatureoftheirmothertongue.Clearlyinterlanguagewasnotahybridlanguageandhadadevelopmentalhistoryofitsown.Thespeculationaboutabuilt-insyllabusforsecondlanguagelearningmadeinthefirstpaperinthiscollectionin1967seemedtobereceivingempiricalsupport.Thenotionofa‘naturalsequence’forsecondlanguagelearningisnowwidelyacceptedwithconsiderablesupportfromexperimentalevidence.Therelevanceofthesefindingsforlanguageteachersisclear:

thatifwecouldestablishthenaturalorderinwhichaknowledgeofthesecondlanguageisgraduallybuiltupbythelearner,thenthematerials,particularlythestructuralsyllabus,couldbegradeduponamoresolidbasisthanthecurrentone,whichisamixtureofsomeconceptofusefulnessandsomeideaoflinguisticdependency,butcertainlynotonanypsycholinguisticevidenceoflanguagelearning.

Whileestablishingthepresenceandnatureofa‘naturalsequence’ofdevelopmentmaybetheprincipalobjectiveofsecondlanguageacquisitionresearch,thefieldhasbroadenedoutinitsscopetoincludeothertopics.Therehasbeeninrecentyearsashiftofemphasisinlanguageteachingfromapreoccupationwiththelearningofthelanguageasasystemtowardsthefunctionaluseofthatsystemforcommunicativepurposes.Thishashaditsinfluenceinsecondlanguageacquisitionresearch.Thereisnowagreaterawarenessthatundernaturalcircumstanceslanguagesareacquiredthroughtheneedandattempttocommunicate,thatisthroughconversation.Butwhatisthenatureofthatconversation?

Isitjustlikethatbetweennativespeakersordoesithavespecialcharacteristics?

Nativespeakersofalanguageinfactadapttheiruseoflanguageinanumberofwayswheninteractingwithlearnersandthisisthedataonwhichalearnerworkstocreateforhimselfhisknowledgeofthelanguagesystemanditsuseincommunication.Butthelearnerishimselfhamperedinhisattempttousehisinterlanguageforcommunicativepurposesbyitsrelativesimplicityandpoverty.Howdoesheovercomethesedisabilities?

Whatstrategiesdoesheadopttomini