| Chapter 2: | Theoretical Background |
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of habit formation but rather of rule formation. L2 began to be viewed as the hypothesis formation of the (target) language rules/system and testing. Consequently, errors committed by the L2 learner were regarded as a reflection of the current system of the target language that one was aiming to learn. In order to discover the learner’s current system of the L2, analysis and evaluation of the learner’s errors were claimed to be very important (Corder, 1971). This led to a new approach to SLA, known as error analysis (EA), which made a significant contribution to SLA research by shifting the focus from the teaching process to the learning process. An important notion in SLA was introduced by Selinker (1972), that of interlanguage (IL). IL is the type of language produced by the L2 learner who is in the process of L2 learning. Selinker claimed that the learner’s IL is systematic and rule-governed because the learner’s language at any point of time reflects the rules which the learner has created.
In order to discover the learner’s IL system, EA researchers such as Corder (1971) tried to classify the errors. They assigned a grammatical description to each error in order to discover the psycholinguistic cause of the error. The kinds of errors L2 learners make include the following (classification and examples taken from Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991, p. 59):
- 1. Interlingual interference (i.e., L1 interference; Richards, 1971), which shows borrowing of patterns from the mother tongue.
- 2. Intralingual overgeneralisation (Richards, 1971), which is caused by L2 language systems, such as extending patterns within the target language, rather than by L1 influence.
- 3. Simplification (George, 1972), which does away with semantically redundant elements, such as plural marking on nouns when occurring with a numeral (i.e., when both indicate the plural).
- 4. Communication-based errors (Selinker, 1972), where the learner puts priority on successful communication over grammatical accuracy, for example, coining the word ‘air ball’ for balloon.
- 5. Induced error (Stenson, 1974), where it is the teacher’s instruction that creates confusion.