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Error Linguistics and the Teaching and Learning of Written English in Nigerian Universities As a Second Language Environment
International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Invention (IJHSSI) ISSN (Online): 2319 – 7722, ISSN (Print): 2319 – 7714 www.ijhssi.org ||Volume 9 Issue 6 Ser. I || June 2020 || PP 61-68 Error Linguistics and the Teaching and Learning of Written English in Nigerian Universities as a Second Language Environment MARTIN C. OGAYI Department of English and Literary Studies Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. Abstract: Alarming decline of the written English language proficiency of graduates of Nigerian universities has been observed for a long period of time. This has engendered a startling and besetting situation in which most graduates of Nigerian universities cannot meet the English language demands of their employers since they cannot write simple letters, memoranda and reports in their places of work. Pedagogy has sought different methods or strategies to remedy the trend. Applied linguistics models have been developed towards the improvement of second or foreign language learning through the use of diagnostic tools such as error analysis. This paper focuses on the usefulness and strategies of error analysis as diagnostic tool and strategy for second language teaching exposes the current state of affairs in English as a Second Language learning in Nigerian sociolinguistic environment highlights the language-learning theories associated with error analysis, and, highlights the factors that hinder effective error analysis of written ESL production in Nigerian universities. The paper also discusses the role of positive corrective feedback as a beneficial error treatment that facilitates second language learning. Practical measures for achieving more efficient and more productive English as a Second Language teaching and learning in Nigerian universities have also been proffered in the paper. -
Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing
CY147/Kroll-FM CY147/Kroll 0 521 82292 0 January 15, 2003 12:46 Char Count= 0 Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing Edited by Barbara Kroll California State University, Northridge v CY147/Kroll-FM CY147/Kroll 0 521 82292 0 January 15, 2003 12:46 Char Count= 0 published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom cambridge university press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Ruiz de Alarcon´ 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa http://www.cambridge.org C Cambridge University Press 2003 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2003 Printed in the United States of America Typefaces Sabon 10.5/12 pt. and Arial System LATEX2ε [TB] A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Exploring the dynamics of second language writing / edited by Barbara Kroll. p. cm. – (The Cambridge applied linguistics series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-521-82292-0 (hardback) – ISBN 0-521-52983-2 (pbk.) 1. Language and languages – Study and teaching. 2. Composition (Language arts) 3. Rhetoric – Study and teaching. I. Kroll, -
The Study of Errors and Feedback in Second Language Acquisition
IIUC STUDIES ISSN 1813-7733 Vol.- 8, December 2011 (p 131-140) The Study of Errors and Feedback in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Research: Strategies used by the ELT practitioners in Bangladesh to address the errors their students make in learning English Md. Maksud Ali* Abstract: The study of errors and feedback is one of the major issues in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. The research in this area is so important because it gives the English language teaching (ELT) practitioners an opportunity to have an insight in understanding the nature of learners’ errors and in giving feedback to learners. Following quantitative method, this paper carries out an empirical cross-sectional survey research on errors and feedback in SLA in the context of Bangladesh in order to generalize the way in which the Bangladeshi ELT practitioners view their students’ errors and the ways they correct the errors. Key Words: Second Language (L2) Learners’ Errors, Mother Tongue (L1) Interference, Interlanguage, Contrastive Analysis (CA), Error Analysis (EA), Personal Competence, Fossilization, Feedback, Learner Autonomy 1 Introduction The study of errors made by the Second Language Learners (SLL) has been one of the major concerns in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research. Earlier, it was generally considered that Second language (L2) Learners’ errors were the result of mother tongue (L1) interference. However, later there was a reaction against the view and some researchers came up with a new orthodoxy that ‘vast majority of errors’ were not due to L1 interference but rather they were because of their ‘unique linguistic * Lecturer, Department of English Language & Literature, IIUC. -
Input, Interaction, and Second Language Development
CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Lancaster E-Prints SSLA, 21, 557±587. Printed in the United States of America. INPUT, INTERACTION, AND SECOND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT An Empirical Study of Question Formation in ESL Alison Mackey Georgetown University This study examines the relationship between different types of con- versational interaction and SLA. Long's (1996) updated version of the interactionist hypothesis claims that implicit negative feedback, which can be obtained through negotiated interaction, facilitates SLA. Similar claims for the benefits of negotiation have been made by Pica (1994) and Gass (1997). Some support for the interaction hypothesis has been provided by studies that have explored the effects of interaction on production (Gass & Varonis, 1994), on lexical acquisition (Ellis, Tanaka, & Yamazaki, 1994), on the short-term outcomes of pushed output (see Swain, 1995), and for specific interactional features such as recasts (Long, Inagaki, & Ortega, 1998; Mackey & Philp, 1998). However, other studies have not found effects for interaction on gram- matical development (Loschky, 1994). The central question ad- dressed by the current study was: Can conversational interaction facilitate second language development? The study employed a pre- test-posttest design. Adult ESL learners (N = 34) of varying L1 back- grounds were divided into four experimental groups and one control I am grateful to Susan M. Gass and Charlene Polio for insightful suggestions and help with this paper. I also want to thank Patsy Lightbown, Michael H. Long, Teresa Pica, and Merrill Swain for many helpful comments on the doctoral dissertation from which this paper arose. I am much indebted to Ian Thornton for assistance with the statistical analysis and discussions of many of the issues in- volved in this study. -
An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition
UCLA Issues in Applied Linguistics Title An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3165s95t Journal Issues in Applied Linguistics, 3(2) ISSN 1050-4273 Author Polio, Charlene Publication Date 1992-12-30 DOI 10.5070/L432005166 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California 344 Reviews An Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research by Diane Larsen-Freeman and Michael H. Lx)ng. London and New York: Longman, 199L xvii + 398 pp. Reviewed by Charlene G. Polio Michigan State University Over the past few years, applied linguistics has been trying to answer the question: what is applied linguistics? (See discussions on this question in Issues in Applied Linguistics, 1990, 1992.) Second language acquisition (SLA) has avoided the potentially polemic question: what is SLA? While there is little doubt that SLA is a field in its own right (see Gass, in press; Larsen-Freeman, 1991), what constituted mainstream SLA, or the core of the field, may not be agreed upon. As the field grows and fragments, this issue needs to be addressed. Nowhere is the issue of defining the field of SLA as pertinent as in the writing of an introductory SLA textbook. Ten years ago, such a task would not have been as formidable. Today, one must first ask what should be included and in what depth should it be covered? The most recent effort to introduce newcomers to the field of SLA is Larsen-Freeman and Long's Introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. In evaluating such an effort, one must consider what the authors chose to include and what to exclude. -
ESL Learners' Writing As a Window Onto Discourse Competence
PORTA LINGUARUM 35, enero 2021 277-294 ESL learners’ writing as a window onto discourse competence JONGBONG LEE Nagoya University of Commerce & Business Received: 4 August 2020 / Accepted: 21 November 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.30827/portalin.v0i35.15752 ISSN paper edition: 1697-7467, ISSN digital edition: 2695-8244 ABSTRACT: This study explores the relationship between writing strategies and the co- hesion of writing, and it compares how an ESL learner and a native speaker of English use strategies to organize their written narratives. A text analysis demonstrates that the ESL lear- ner used fewer connectives than the native speaker of English, and produced a less cohesive narrative. Next, taking a qualitative approach, the study explores how the differences in their written products are related to the writers’ uses of different writing strategies and processes. The ESL learner used the strategy of translation from L1 to L2 and focused on grammar and vocabulary; the native English speaker drew on a mental template to organize her narrative. The conclusion discusses implications for L2 writing instruction. Keywords: narrative, cohesion, discourse competence, writing strategies La escritura de estudiantes ESL escriben como una ventana a la competencia discursiva RESUMEN: Este estudio explora la relación entre las estrategias de escritura de los alum- nos de L2 y la cohesión en las narraciones. Emplea métodos de análisis cualitativos para investigar cómo un estudiante de ESL y un hablante nativo de inglés utilizaron estrategias similares o diferentes para organizar narraciones escritas. Los hallazgos demuestran que el estudiante de ESL usó menos conectivos que el hablante nativo de inglés, y la discusión explora cómo las diferencias se relacionan con los usos de los escritores de diferentes estra- tegias y procesos de escritura. -
Error Correction in the Second Language Classroom
VOLUME 11 ISSUE 2 FALL 2007 FeatURED THEME: Error correction in the second ERROR CORRECTION language classroom by Shawn Loewen The topic of error correction in the second language (L2) classroom tends to spark controversy among both language teachers and L2 acquisition researchers. Teachers may have very strong views about error correction, based on their own previous L2 learning experiences, or they may be more ambivalent, particularly if they have been following the debate among L2 researchers on the topic. Depending on which journal articles a teacher reads, he or she will find error correction described on a continuum ranging from ineffective and possibly harmful (e.g., Truscott, 1999) to beneficial (e.g., Russell & Spada, 2006) and possibly even essential for some grammatical structures (White, 1991). Furthermore, teachers may be confronted with students’ opinions about error correction since students are on the receiving end and often have their own views of if and how it should happen in the classroom. Given these widely varying views, what is a teacher to do? This article will address this question by exploring some of the current thinking about error correction in the field of L2 acquisition research. Before going further, it is important to clarify the context in which error correction will be considered. Second language instruction can be conceptualized as falling into two broad categories: meaning-focused instruction and form-focused instruction (Long, 1996; Ellis, 2001). Meaning-focused instruction is characterized by communicative language teaching and involves no direct, explicit attention to language form. The L2 is seen as a vehicle for learners to express their ideas. -
The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition
ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOKS The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition Edited by Susan M. Gass and Alison Mackey The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition ‘The editors, Susan M. Gass and Alison Mackey, have done a sterling job with this Handbook. The biggest names and rising stars in the fields of second language teaching and language learning have contributed to this “magnum opus”.’ Jean-Marc Dewaele, Birkbeck, University of London, UK The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition brings together fifty leading international figures in the field to produce a state-of-the-art overview of second language acquisition. The Handbook covers a wide range of topics related to Second Language Acquisition: language in context, linguistic, psycholinguistic, and neurolinguistic theories and perspectives, skill learning, individual differences, L2 learning settings, and language assessment. All chapters introduce the reader to the topic, outline the core issues, then explore the pedagogical application of research in the area and possible future development. The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition is an essential resource for all those studying and researching second language acquisition. Susan M. Gass is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Languages at Michigan State University. She is the author of many titles and co-author of Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, Third Edition (Routledge, 2008), with Larry Selinker. She co-edits the series, Second Language Acquisition Research (with Alison Mackey, for Routledge). Alison Mackey is Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Georgetown University. She is the author of many titles, and co-author of Data Elicitation for Second and Foreign Language Research (Routledge 2007), with Susan M. -
Multilingualism in the United States: a Less Well-Known Source of Vitality in American Culture As an Issue of Social Justice and of Historical Memory
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE NANZAN REVIEW OF AMERICAN STUDIES Volume 31 (2009): 59-75 Proceedings of the NASSS 2009 Literature and Culture Multilingualism in the United States: A Less Well-Known Source of Vitality in American Culture as an Issue of Social Justice and of Historical Memory Werner SOLLORS HARVARD UNIVERSITY [The talk takes its point of departure from current signs of multilingualism in American Census 2000 and American culture, examines some “language rights” issues, and ends with an anthology that has collected cultural expression in America from the 17th century to today in languages other than English. I am grateful to Kelsey LeBuffe for her research assistance and to Professors Jun Furuya, Konomi Ara, Eric Muller, and Keiko Sakai for their comments.] I. The world now has more than six and a half billion inhabitants (on June 17, 2009, the estimate was exactly 6,787,163,241) who live in 193 countries and speak 6,912 languages (http://www.un.org/esa/population/unpop.htm, http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=area). One could indulge in the fantasy that creating more nation states with only one single shared language would make for more harmony (“we have room but for one language,” Theodore Roosevelt famously said)―but from about 200 countries to nearly 7,000 languages is a long way to go. Of course, the vast majority of languages have very few speakers, making the average of 35 languages per country a misleading calculation. Yet the simple fact remains that most countries―even in Europe and America, the continents with the smallest number of languages―have speakers of more than one language. -
The Role and Significance of Error Linguistics in a Second Language Environment Studies (AJLLS) Vol
ANSU Journal of Language and Literary The Role and Significance of Error Linguistics in a Second Language Environment Studies (AJLLS) Vol. 1 No. 5 - Joseph-Kenneth (Joe-ken) Kelechi Nzerem PhD & Prisca Odinakachi Bob 1 The Role and Significance of Error Linguistics in a Second Language Environment By Joseph- Kenneth (Joe-ken) kelechi Nzerem PhD Imo- State University, Owerri & Prisca Odinakachi Bob Evangel University, Akaeze, Ebonyi State Abstract Despite the fact that learners of the English language in non-native environments strive to attain native speakers’standard, their performance is replete with various forms of errors capable of causing infidelity in communication. This study investigates the significance of error linguistics in a Second Language environment. It states that errors are inevitable parts of language learning. They are indications that there exists a learning process. The study argues that although the making of errors is significant in the learning process, there is need to identify, locate, quantify and assess errors committed by learners. Therefore, error linguistics becomes a tool in the hands of linguists to unravel the mystery surrounding the making of errors. The study hinges on the behaviourist theory which is a psychological theory that emphasizes on observable behaviour. It was propounded by J. B. Watson, E. L. Thorndike and B. F. Skinner. The causes of errors as stated in this studyinclude: lack of motivation, First Language interference, translation of idiomatic expressions and overgeneralization. The study classifies errors into inter-lingual and intra-lingual as well as distinguishes between errors and mistakes. It therefore presents procedures used for error analysis in error linguistics which hopefully would reduce the number of errors committed by a Second Language learner of the English language. -
The Role of Error Analysis in Second Language Acquisition (English)
ISSN 1799-2591 Theory and Practice in Language Studies, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 1027-1032, May 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/tpls.2.5.1027-1032 Error Analysis and Second Language Acquisition Ali Akbar Khansir Bushehr University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Iran Email: [email protected] Abstract—Error Analysis is one of the major topics in the field of second language acquisition research. Errors are an integral part of language learning. The learner of English as a second language is unaware of the existence of the particular system or rule in English language. The learner’s errors have long been interested for second and foreign language researchers. The basic task of error analysis is to describe how learning occurs by examining the learner’s output and this includes his/her correct and incorrect utterances. There are two major approaches to the study of learner’s errors, namely contrastive analysis and error analysis. Error analysis cannot be studied properly without touching upon the notion of contrastive analysis. Contrastive analysis and error analysis have been commonly recognized as branches of Applied Linguistic Science. This paper examines in detail the three most influential error theories: Contrastive analysis, Error analysis and Interlanguage theory. Corder (1978) maintains that interlanguage can be seen as a restructuring or a recreating continuum and, therefore; evaluates their role in second language acquisition. Index Terms—error, contrastive analysis, error analysis, and interlanguage I. INTRODUCTION The term applied linguistics seems to have originated in the United States in the 1940‟s. The creation of applied linguistics as a discipline represents an effort to find practical applications for modern scientific linguistics (Mackey, 1965). -
Error Analysis and Second Language Strategies. PUB DATE 24 Feb 71 NOTE 27P
DOCUMENT RESUME ED, 048 579 AL 002 764 AUTHOR Richards, Jack T1ZTLE Error Analysis and Second Language Strategies. PUB DATE 24 Feb 71 NOTE 27p. EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Child Language, *English (Second Language), *Error Patterns, Interference (Language Learning), Learning Theories, Linguistic Competence, Linguistic Performance, *Psycholinguistics, *Second Language Learning ABSTRACT Discussed in this paper are reasons why people who speak second languages may not speak or write them with native-speaker-like fluency. These second-language deficiencies may be the results of(1) interference, the use of aspects of another language at a variety of levels; (2) strategies of learning such as over overgeneralization and analogy by means of which the learner tests out his hypotheses about the structure of the language; (3) strategies of assimilation, in which the learner makes his learning task easier; and (4)strategies of communication, whereby the learner adapts what he knows into an efficient communication model, producing an optimal utility grammar from what he knows of the language. In addition to understanding these deficiencies, it is necessary to distinguish between performance and competence errors. The former are occasional and haphazard and are related to such factors as fatigue and memory limitations. The latter are systematic and may represent either a transitional stage in the development of a grammatical rule or the final stage of the speaker's knowledge. While knowledge about second language learning is still largely speculative, excluding the possibility of prescribing recipes for teachers, this account of errors and learning strategies may suggest some of the reasons for errors.