Pedagogical Implication of Error Analysis in Foreign Language Acquisition

Procedures in Error Analysis
One of the common difficulties in understanding the linguistic systems of both first and second language learners is the fact that such systems cannot directly observed. They must be inferred by means of analyzing production and comprehension data. What makes the task even thornier, however, is the new instability of learners¡¯ systems. Systems are in a constant state of flux as information flows in and, through the process of subsumption, causes existing structures to be revised. Repeated observations of a learner will often reveal apparently unpredictable or even contradictory data. In undertaking the task of performance analysis, the teacher and researcher are called upon to infer order and logic in this unstable and variable system.
1.Identifying Errors
The first step in the process of error analysis is the identification and description of errors. Corder (1971) provided a model for identifying erroneous or idiosyncratic utterances in a second lang...