International Conference IPBA 24-26 September 2002

GETTING STUDENTS TO USE ENGLISH WITH FEWER ERRORS

By

Haja Mohideen Mohamed Ali

International Islamic University Malaysia

Introduction

English has become the lingua franca of the 21st century. In order to promote and
facilitate intelligible and clear communication we need to emphasize the usage of the
language in a way which is understood worldwide by most people. The acquisition of
standard English as a second (L2) or foreign language (FL) has become all the more
urgent with countries opening up their markets and protectionist policies giving way to
world trade and globalization. English language educators have a professional role to
play in equipping their students to use the language productively in the areas of speaking
and writing. Spoken English (SpE) and written English (WE) have to be emphasized as
both are related to the communicational needs of students for academic and occupational
purposes.

Definition of Error

A language error may be defined as a systematic and consistent deviation from the
standard norm or norms or models of language. The standard norm is often determined
by a country’s high-ranking education officers bearing in mind the country’s historical
experience and its relations with the outside world. In Malaysia, for instance, the school
education system stipulates that we teach our pupils standard British English (SBE) in
terms of its grammar and pronunciation. In tertiary institutions, no official standard has
been prescribed. The use of American English (AE) is also common. This is evident
from the materials used for listening practice.

Example of errors

1. I saw the sad news in the face of doctor.

It should be written as:
I saw the sad expression in the face of the doctor.
There is a vocabulary and grammar error respectively.
2. Do you have any problems regarding to your study.
There is no need for the preposition – to
3. Certificates shall be provided
There is a collocation error here, although the sentence is grammatically correct.
Certificates are awarded, rather than provided.

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Definition of mistake

A mistake is very often referred to synonymously with an error. They are not the same.
A mistake is not a systematic deviation, but systematic, unlike an error. The deviation
from the standard norm is not consistent but inconsistent, not like that of an error. The
departure from the standard model of language is irregular, while the error is a regular
occurrence. An error is produced due to lack of knowledge of the target language
structures, lexis and phonology. Learners will not be able to correct their errors even
when their attention is drawn to the incorrect items. But mistakes, learners can correct.
Mistakes were not made due to their ignorance, but more as a result of oversight or
carelessness, for example: I have two brothers and three sister.

Sources of Error

The major sources of error are:

1. Native language Interference
2. Overgeneralization
3. The Teacher
4. The Teaching Materials
5. Printed Materials
6. Inherent Difficulty
7. Speakers of pidgin English
8. Spelling pronunciation
9. Pronunciation spelling
10. Plain Ignorance

Native language interference

Most of our learners are bilingual and many are also trilingual. Bilinguals have to
contend with two languages, especially with the non-native language they are aiming to
be proficient in. A learner cannot escape from his/her dominant first language (L1). The
L1 exerts a strong influence on learners who have yet to sufficiently acquire proficiency
in the target language (TL). The influence of the native language (NL) is positive as well
as negative. But it is the negative aspect that is worrying. The negative role includes
transferring features of the NL on to the TL resulting in erroneous utterances, direct
translation and unacceptable language switch. Various studies of L2 English grammar
between 1971 and 1983 indicate a percentage of 33% of interference errors (Ellis, 1985).

Overgeneralization

The term overgeneralization refers to extending TL rules to areas where they cannot be
applied. The strategy that learners use is false analogy. If on the basis of house, we can
have the plural form houses, horse – horses, mouse - * mouses may be correct. If the past
tense form of kick is kicked, play is played, can we not have *throwed and *catched as
past these forms.

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The teacher

It is very unfortunate that the teacher who should be the model for his/her pupils is
sometimes responsible for some of the errors committed by the learners. The most
important role for a language teacher is to serve as an acceptable model of the TL in
class. However, there are some non-native speaker (NNS) teachers, whose “own
command of the TL is often a cause for grave concern…..” (James, 1998 : 191). There
have been letters in newspapers complaining about teachers who are inadequate in certain
components of the language, for example, in pronunciation and grammar. The present
researcher is personally aware of many instances of error related to the NNS teacher of
English.

Teaching Materials

Teaching materials also, unfortunately, induce errors. Norrish has stated that it was not
uncommon for English teaching materials to teach the progressive aspect with “a series
of pictures illustrating a sequence of actions ….in this context is unnatural” (1983 :33).
Richards (1974) too has much earlier commented on the unnatural use of English where
the continuous form has been used for a sequence of events taking place at the moment
instead of the present tense. James (1998) has also found certain items in learning
materials to be a cause of error.

Printed Materials

Students come into contact with printed materials such as promotional leaflets which
contain erroneous language. It may be possible that these also influence our students’
English. The mistakes in the advertisements in newspapers too could become a cause if
they are in the habit of reading English language newspapers.

The following illustrate:

1. You will feel relax, pamper, invigorated each time you are at __________.
2. New cameras and equipments always attract attention.

Inherent Difficulty

Every language is unique. Each language has simple and complex features. The
complexities related to grammar, vocabulary and phonology can be very difficult and
confusing for the learners. As far as English is concerned, the verb system is inherently
difficult. It has a vast vocabulary, the meanings of words which appear synonymous are
not similar. Morphemes which are spelt the same do not always have the same sounds.

Speakers of Pidgin English

In Malaysia, pidgin English is widely used among many people of different ethnic
groups. Pidgin English in Malaysia is a kind of English which shares the features of the

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native languages of the speakers. A pidgin is a contact language which has been created
to serve the needs of people from different language backgrounds. It is not the native
language of any group of people. But Malaysian pidgin English (MPE) appears to be a
dominant language of a number of people in urban areas, especially Chinese and Indians.
These two groups of people use MPE quite distinctively reflecting their ethnic
background. The following are examples of MPE usage:

1. Why you so like dat?

2. You think so easy to enter university aa.
3. He too muchlah.

Spelling Pronunciation

Learners are known to pronounce words in English according to how they are spelled.
English is not a language which has a neat correspondence between the spelling and
pronunciation. We can think of Bahasa Malaysia as a language which has a good match
between the spelling and sounds of a word. As a result of the mismatch between the
orthography and phonology in English with reference to certain words,
mispronunciations such as the following are heard:

Word Mispronunciation Norm

Etiquette Etikwiti Etiket
Quay Kwey Ki:
Brevity Bru:witi Breeveti
Boatswain Boutswein Beusn
Extraordinary Ekstra : rdinari Ekstr:dnari

Pronunciation spelling

Pronunciation spelling refers to the orthography of words according to how the sounds
are produced. This is the reverse of spelling pronunciation. Students are known to write
‘kolej’ for ‘college’ ‘teknologi’ for ‘technology’, and ‘akademik’ for ‘academic.’ When
learners have the wrong pronunciation of words, that too leads to misspelling, for
example, ‘immitation’ instead of ‘imitation’, ‘there’ for ‘their’ and ‘quite’ for ‘quiet’.

Plain Ignorance

Learners produce errors due to plain ignorance of the TL. They are not sufficiently
exposed and have little or no knowledge of the deviant items involved.

How to Overcome Errors

Language educators may be able to overcome errors by identifying the sources and
causes of errors. Native language negative influence is strong. It is not easy to be not
affected at all. However, a student who is determined to excel in the TL can put the nL
on hold in specific situations where it is not required. Students should really immerse

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themselves in the TL, for our purposes, English. The language should be used in all
appropriate domains. Students should use the language widely in education, in
interpersonal communication between friends of different racial backgrounds, and at the
home too, if there is a favourable environment. Such efforts by students should not be
misconstrued as they trying the lesson the role played by their NLs. Wherever there is
acceptance of English, they should use the language.

Overgeneralization may be minimized by highlighting exceptions to the rules. While

most plural forms in English end in-s, there are also exceptions. There are also words
which are collectively plural. The plural of knife is knives, sheep is sheep and child is
children. Words like equipment and staff do not have plural forms.

The teacher need to explain the difference between regular and irregular nouns and verbs.
Exceptions to the rule and alternative possibilities ought to be mentioned. The teacher is
not the only language model for the students. But it is the teachers who provide more
exposure to the language than others. The quality of teachers and the quality of language
teachers provide cannot be underestimated. The teacher has to constantly update himself
or herself professionally to acquire near-native speaker competence. In an ESL situation
like Malaysia and Singapore it cannot be less.

Using computers and multimedia is beneficial. But it is the teachers’ grammatical and
communicative competence that can help to serve as desirable language for the students.
James laments that “….in many places young trainees’ expertise in up-to-date
methodology is a in excess of their command of the TL itself” (1998 :191). Teachers of
ESL/EFL should expose themselves to standard native models and authentic language.
Opportunities for this are aplenty.

Teaching materials should not have only idealized language for teaching spoken English
or for listening purposes. Students must be exposed to real language as spoken by real
people. They need to be able to use language naturally. The teaching materials ought to
prepare students for communication outside the classroom. They should be familiar with
different levels of formality and be exposed to influential international varieties of
English which they are likely to benefit from.

Pronunciation spelling may be avoided by extensive reading and writing practice.

Checks with the dictionary ought to be made frequently to confirm that the spelling of the
target words is correct. In American English, a number of words are spelt according to
how they sound, e.g. check for cheque, program for programme, honor for honour, and
English spelling is in some cases inconsistent. There is no shortcut to acquire correct
spelling other than to gain mastery by remembering and practicing a lot.

Spelling pronunciation can be avoided by listening to good models of the language.

Listening to radio stations and programmes which use English natively may be a big help
to refrain from pronunciation which is based on spelling. Students would do well to
listen extensively and intensively to the standard norms of language they are expected to
have a good pronunciation of.

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Learners should be proactive and seek out spoken language interactions with speakers of
the language who use the language natively and naturally. They have to be maximally
exposed to the TL in order to excel in the language and make fewer errors in their spoken
and written mode.

Remedial Treatment

Remedial treatment is recommended for pupils with difficulties in the language. We

need to raise their consciousness and awareness of errors. We need to provide both error
awareness and conscious raising (CR) exercises and activities. We have to devise ways
and means to improve their competence and performance. According to James
“…practice is for improving performance ….while CR is for inculcating cognitive
structure or competence. Practice is supposed ….to enhance implicit knowledge, while
CR is supposed to improve explicit knowledge of the L2” (1998 :256-7). Learners
should make use of standard reference works to improve their knowledge of grammar,
vocabulary, discourse and pronunciation. Constant reference to them will create greater
awareness of acceptable language usage and contemporary language expressions.

Error awareness can be inculcated by being told or exposed to deviant items as used by
people who have inadequate knowledge of the language. There are many books on the
errors committed by learners of various backgrounds. Many such books have practice
material for the learners, e.g Haja Mohideen (1991), Hughes and Heah (1989) and
Holden & Jagjeet (1993).

The activities for remedial instruction need include a combination of identification of

errors, being able to provide the correct form and produce language at discourse level i.e
beyond the sentence level.

Teachers need to provide constructive feedback with regard to students’ erroneous

language items. They should promote inductive learning as it encourages students to
discover the correct use of language. Explicit instruction, at times, contrasting the NL of
the pupils and the TL can be very helpful to highlight the differences between the two so
that there would be no or minimal interference for the NL.

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Bibliography

Ellis, R. 1985. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. Oxford : Oxford University

Press.
Haja Mohideen 1991. Common Mistakes in English. Petaling Jaya : Pelanduk
Publications
_____1995. “Becoming Professionally Competent Language Teachers” in The English
Teacher Vol XXIV, October : 13-21
Holden, A. and Jagjeet, S. 1993. Remedial English Grammar and Usage. Kuala Lumpur:
Fajar Bakti.
Hughes, R. and Heah, C. 1989. Common Errors in English. Petaling Jaya : Fajar Bakti.
James, C. 1998. Errors in Language Learning and Use. Harlow : Longman
Norrish, J : 1983. Language Learners and their Errors. London : Macmillan.
Richards, J. 1974. Error Analysis. London: Longman