An Analysis of the Common Errors in Oral-English Learning and Its Counter-measures

【Abstract】We all know that oral practice plays an very important part in EFL. While make errors in the process of oral practice is inevitable and normal. Using Error analysis to analyse errors which will be made in language learning and operating， then three causes of errors are found out： Interlingual Transfer， Intralingual Transfer， Cultural Interference. Then found out that the method how the teacher do with students oral-English error could improve students oral-English learning in this field.

【Key words】error analysis; studentsoral-English learning

【作者簡介】胡文睿，河南省三门峡中等专业学校。

Obviously， the target of learning a foreign language is to communicate with each other. That is to say the oral English learning play an important role in the process of the foreign language learning. The English teacher should pay much attention to their oral English teaching， especially to find out the sources of the errors which the students caused in the process of language learning and analysis the errors， apply the proper correcting strategies to help students to improve their oral-English.

1. Introduction to the Theory of Error Analysis

Error Analysis， a non-contrastive approach， came with a rich source of explanation for the many unexplained by frequently observed student errors. It can be characterized as an attempt to account for learner errors that could not be explain or predicted by Contrastive Analysis. It has brought multiple origins of learner errors to our attention. It has succeeded in promoting the status of errors from complete unpleasantly to the relatively special status of research object， curriculum guide， and indicator of learning stage.

The procedure of error analysis according to Corders（1974） exposition includes five steps： First， to collect materials that mainly come from foreign language learners， either of their oral expressions or written materials. And also， we can collect materials by way of making a listening investigation. Second， to distinguish errors， according to grammar and communicative function， if the sentence is not grammatically organized， it must be wrong; if it is grammatical， we shall go further to check if it is suitable for the context. Third， classify the errors. There are two ways： one is to set up categories previously according to the series of preconceptions which were made on basis of the common problems in learners learning process and then classify the errors. The other way is to collect errors first， then category the errors according to grammar rules and syntactic rules. Forth， seek for reasons. That means to find out the causes of errors and to try to explain why the learners commit such errors. The last step is to evaluate the errors to see if the errors can cause trouble in communicating. Some errors will not cause any problems， while others will cause misunderstanding or even stop the communication.

Corder（1974） point out， from the language-teaching angle， the significance of Error Analysis lies in three aspects：

One is that language teachers can get a view about at which stage of learning process the learners are what are to be learnt in future through a systematic study about learners errors. Another is that learners errors can provide evidence to researchers so that they can get to know that how the learners are learning the target language and what learning strategies they are making use of. And still error analysis is necessary for learners themselves， as committing errors is thought to be a learning strategy.

Delay and Burt（1982） have ever marked the errors during L2 acquisition with development errors， interferential errors and unique errors. Before long， together with Krashen， they classified errors， in one way， comparatively as development errors， interlingual errors， ambiguous errors and other errors. In the other way， they classified errors as global errors and local errors.

Soon， Brown（1994） gave another indication about errors indirectly. He divided the interlanguage development into four stage： random stage， emergent stage， systematic stage and stabilization stage. In the meanwhile， he described the different features of errors at each stage systematically.

All in all， there have been many different opinions on the classification of errors in linguistic research field. It means that learners errors have long been taken into account by language researchers.

2. Sources of Errors

We all know， if the teacher wants to correct the errors， the teacher should diagnosis the cause of the errors. The author use the procedures of error analysis to identify errors in second language learner production data， the important step in the analysis of learner speech is that of determining the source of error. Errors as overt manifestations of learners system arise from several possible general sources： interlingual errors of interference from the native language， intralingual errors within the target language， the social-linguistic context of communication. Here are belief introductions about three cases and analysis their occurrence.

2.1 Interlingual Transfer

The beginning stages of learning a second language are characterized by a good deal or interlingual transfer from the native language， or， interference. As has proved， interlingual transfer can be positive or negative. Interlingual interference refers to the negative transfer of the learners mother tongue to their organization of the target language data. When communicating in the target language， the learner sometimes resorts to their mother tongue experience in phonetics， word meaning， and grammatical structure of cultural customs as a means of expressing themselves. Beginners are more frequently affected by this type of interference because they have less previous target language knowledge to draw on. When the mother tongue expressions referred to differ from the target language expressions， the transfer became an interlingual interference. The following are cases in point： “His work is often very busy.” Obviously the speaker want to say that the person is very busy with his work， but he wrongly borrows the seemingly equivalent Chinese expression. And also， we have all heard English learners say “sheep” for “ship”， “below” for “blow”， and many of them say “the public medical care” for “free medical care” etc.

2.2 Intralingual Transfer

Beside that， intralingual transfer （within target language itself） is a major factor in second language learning. Over-generalization is the negative counterpart of intralingual transfer.

Over-generalization is defined as “the use of previously available strategies in new situations… In second language learning… some of these strategies will prove helpful in organizing the facts about the second language， but others， perhaps due to superficial similarities， will be misleading and inapplicable” （Jakobovits， 1970）.

A Chinese student usually searches for the patterns and regularity in learning English in an effort to reduce the learning load by formulating rules. But he may over-generalize his rules and fail to take exceptions into account because his exposure to the language is limited and he has insufficient data from which he can derive more complex rues. For instance， the sentence “*She explained me hoe to mend it”. May be an over-generalization of the sentence pattern of “*A showed/ told/ taught me how to mend it.”

This sentence contains the verbs that Chinese learners have met and used before they meet the exceptional “explain”.

Another reason for over-generalizing may be having found a rule that appears to work well， Chinese students are not inclined to go looking for exceptions that will only complicate matters. Or in the interests of simplicity， he may just ignore counter-examples to his rules. This has the effect of simplifying or regularizing the language， accounting for the familiar “goed， buyed， foots， mans” ect.. These are over-generalized due to the regularity of the past ending of  “-ed” and the pural ending of  “-s”.

2.3 Cultural Interference

Some linguistic errors or pragmatic failures are caused by cultural factors. Learners who are lack of background knowledge about the target language inclined to resort conventionally to their habitual expressing way with their native cultural background.

Native English speakers seem to have a ready “*thank you” on their lips. They use it for even the smallest service. A husband may say “*thank you” to his wife who has just made coffee for him; a child may say “*thank you” to his parent who has passed her an egg across the table. The formula “*thank you” is used for strangers or close friends and family members， to the superior as well as the inferior， for trifles or for important favors， or even when there is no favor extended at all. A man may thank his friend who has handed him a news thesis; a customer might thank a waitress who hands him a bill.

M. Coulthard（1985） stated that“…English emphasizes negative face by using ‘please and ‘ thank you extravagantly， even between intimates， and the culture enshrines the pratice in stories for children…”. Rubin defines such expression of thanks as “*bald ” thank you--- the quick and almost automatic thanks. The “*bald thank you ”is used so automatically that it becomes， in English-speaking societies， America in particular， a social lubricant in communication， the lack of which will give offence.

In China， however， the expression “*xiexie”（thank you） is rarely used in response to small favors， which Chinese view as meriting no gratitude at all. It would seem sarcastic to them to use the expression in response to the small favors for which native English speakers thank. It would also seem too distant or formal to express thanks among friends， relatives and family members.

Consequently， when these two different norms of expressing appreciation clash in cross-cultural interactions， speakers of one language might negatively stereotype those of another， Chinese will think that their English-speaking counterparts are over-polite about trifles and not polite enough about important favors they have done. And most native speakers of English would believe the opposite： that the Chinese are not appreciative enough about trifles yet sometimes too polite to be sincere.

The teacher occupies a very important and most prominent position in class. It is the teacher who will lead Chinese students to fulfillment in the acquisition of their second language. So analysis the causes of the errors and category accurately played will help teacher find out the proper teaching method in the process of English teaching.

3. How should teacher do with students oral-English error 

We should lay strong emphasis on the training of language teachers due to their leading role in students Oral-English Learning . So my nest suggestion in remedying students oral-errors is to pay the same attention to and lay the same emphasis on teacher training or teacher development and error correcting.

English teachers should have a good command of English and Chinese so that the errors their students have to overcome can be accurately identified and correctly analyzed. Teaching language requires the teacher to possess not only certain solid linguistic knowledge and various skills but also the knowledge of pedagogical theory and practice of EFL and the knowledge of the theories concerned with linguistics. These expected competencies appear formidable to most students who have had neither native social milieu nor that of an early start and a long sequence of effective language learning under formal instruction. For such teachers in service who desire to improve， an effective remedial program is not only necessary but also urgently needed. To sum up， the more English language knowledge an EFL teacher acquires and the more near-native proficiency he holds， the more qualified and effective he will be in dealing with student errors in the acquisition of EFL.

References：

[1]Corder， S. P. The significance of learnerserrors[J]. International Review of Applied Lingistics，1967（4）：22-25.

[2]Corder， S. P. Idiosyncratic dialects and error analysis[J]. International Review of Applied Linguistics，1971（2）：35-37.

[3]Corder， S. P. Introducing Applied Linguistis[J]. Harmondsworth： Penguin Books，1973.

[4]Hendrickson Error Correction in Foreign Language Teaching： Recent Theory[J]. Research and Practice.