Contrastive Analysis

Week 2

By Thuy Thanh Nguyen, Ph.D.

English Department
Hanoi University
Versions of CA

- Strong version

- Weak version

- Moderate version
Strong version

- Predicting errors
- Steps:

1. Description;

2. Selection;

3. Contrast;

4. Prediction.

(Whitman, 1970)
Strong version
A hierarchy of difficulties

1. Transfer - no difference

2. Coalescence - one item covering two in L1

3. Underdifferentiation - absence

4. Reinterpretation - different application of existing items

5. Overdifferentiation - new item

6. Split - two items covering one in L1

(Prator, 1967)
Weak version

● Only explains learners’ errors

● Steps for Error analysis

- Step 1: Collection of a sample of learner language

- Step 2: Identification of errors

- Step 3: Description of errors

- Step 4: Explanation of errors

Two kinds of errors
Psycholinguistic Sources of Errors (Ellis, 1994, p. 58)
Two kinds of errors

- Interlingual errors

- Intralingual errors

→ examples?
Interlingual errors
Zobl (1980)

1. Interference produces errors that are not developmental.

2. Learners depend on L1 as a crutch at a low level of L2 proficiency.

3. Learners use L1 to hypothesize about L2.

4. Learners are unable to separate L1 from L2.

5. Learners’ errors are due to L1 habits.

6. Learners employ an interlingual generalization.

Intralingual errors
Zobl and Liceras (1994)

1. Errors are similar to those made by native speakers.

2. Learners create similar rules to those of native speakers.

3. Errors reflect learners’ competence at a certain developmental stage.

4. Learners try to construct hypotheses about the L2.

5. Errors originate from L2.

6. Errors reflect general characteristics of acquiring language rules.

7. Learners use the strategies of simplification, generalization and reduction of grammatical

redundancy.
Weak version

● Steps for Error analysis

- Step 1: Collection of a sample of learner language

- Step 2: Identification of errors

- Step 3: Description of errors

- Step 4: Explanation of errors
Moderate version

- The problems caused by the similarity between L1 and L2

items.

- The stimulus generalization principle which states that a

person might respond the same way to two stimuli that
they consider similar → confusion

- Method = combination of strong + weak