Name: Valerie Ann T.
Delicano
Subject: ENGLISH 2- Second Language Acquisition
College of Teacher Education, Central Philippines State University
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Chapter 2
Three Steps in Analyzing Errors in Learner Language
Identifying Errors
This is in fact easier said than
done. We have to compare the
sentences learners produce
Learner Language with what seem to be the
and ERRORS normal or ‘correct’ sentences in
the target language which
correspond with them.
Sometimes this is fairly
straightforward.
Course and Year: BSED-English 2
Describing Errors
Once the errors have been identified,
they can be described and classified into
types. One way is to classify errors into
grammatical categories. Another way
might be try to identify general ways in
which the learner’s’ utterances differ from
the reconstructed target-language
utterances. Classifying errors in these
ways an help us to diagnose learners
learning problem at any one stage of their
development and, also, to plot how many
changes in error patterns occur over time.
Order of Acquisition
Submitted to Mrs. Cristina G. Juarez
Explaining Errors
The identification and description of errors are preliminaries to the much more
interesting task of trying to explain why they occur. Errors are, to a large extent,
systematic and, to a certain extent, predictable. Errors are not only systematic;
many of them are also universal. Of course, not all errors are universal. Some
errors are common only to learners who share the same mother tongue or
whose mother tongues manifest the same linguistic property. Errors, then, can
have different sources. Some errors seem to be universal, reflecting to learners’
attempts to make the task of learning and using the L2 simpler.
Sequence of
Acquisition
Name: Valerie Ann T. Delicano Course and Year: BSED-English 2
Subject: ENGLISH 2- Second Language Acquisition Submitted to Mrs. Cristina G. Juarez
College of Teacher Education, Central Philippines State University

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Chapter 2
In time, though, learners do begin to learn the grammar of the L2. Do When learners acquire a grammatical structure they do so
learners acquire the grammatical structures of an L2 in a definite gradually, moving through a series of stages en route to acquiring
Learner Language order? To investigate the order of acquisition, researchers choose a the native-speaker rule. The acquisition of a particular grammatical
and its number of grammatical structures to study. They then collect samples structure, therefore, must be seen as a process involving
DEVELOPMENTAL of learner language and identify how accurately each feature is used transitional constructions.
PATTERNS by different learners. This enables them to arrive at an accuracy order.

Variability SYSTEMATICITY
Learners have access to two or more linguistic forms for realizing a Reflects a variable system of form-function mappings. The question arises as to
Learner Language
single grammatical structure but they do not employ these arbitrarily. whether all variability in learner language is systematic or whether some is
Rather their choice is determined by a variety of factors such as indeed random.
and its
linguistic context, the situational context, and the availability of
SYSTEMATICITY
planning time.
and VARIABLITY
Name: Valerie Ann T. Delicano Course and Year: BSED-English 2
Subject: ENGLISH 2- Second Language Acquisition Submitted to Mrs. Cristina G. Juarez
College of Teacher Education, Central Philippines State University

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Chapter 2