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Richards, Jack C.
A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis.
May 7037p.; Paper presented at the TESOL Convention, San
Francisco, March 1970

EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORSEDRS Price MF-$0.25 HC-$1.95
Bilingualism, Contrastive Linguistics, *English(Second Language), Interference (Language Learning),
Language Instruction, *Learning Processes, Learning
Theories, Linguistic Competence, *Second Language
Learning, Structural Analysis*Error Analysis

IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACTThis is a discussion of another phase ofbilingualism--structural difficulties in the target language of thestudent which impede his second language acquisition. The paper
focuses on errors in learning English which do not derive fromtransfers frcm another language, and which cannot be predicted fromcontrastive analysis. These are intralingual and developmental
errors; they reflect the learner's competence at a particular stage
and illustrate some of the general characteristics of language
acquisition. To best investigate and distinguish among interlanguage,
intralingual, and developmental errors, the author studied speakers
of varied languages; the diverse cross-section reduced greatly thepossibility of mistaking intralingual errors for language
interference. He concludes that an analysis of errors should lead toan examination of teaching materials and the underlying language
learning assumptions. There is an appendix of typical intralingualand developmental errors. (FB)U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION t WELFARE
OFFICE OF EDUCATIONTHIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRODUCEDEXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE
PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.
POINTS Of VIEW OR OPINIONSSTATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENTOFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATIONPOSITION OR POLICY.

A NON-CONTRASTIVE APPROACH TO
ERROR ANALYSIS

byJack C. Richards,

International Center for

Research on Bilingualism,
Laval University,
Quebec,Prepared for the TESOL Convention,
San Francisco
March, 1970.

CANADA.

INTRODUCTION

1.

DISTINGUISHING INTERLANGUAGE, INTRALINGUALAND DEVELOPMENTAL ERRORS

2.

SOURCES OF'THE PRESENT STUDY

3.

TYPES AND CAUSES OF INTRALINGUAL AND
DEVELOPMENTAL ERRORS

3.1

Overgeneralization

3.2

Ignorance of Rule Restrictions

3.3

Incomplete Application of Rules

3.4

False Concepts Hypothesizedr
CONCLUSIONSAppendix:

Tables IVI

Typical Intralingual and Developmental Errors

INTRODUCTION

The identification and analysis of interference
between languages in contact has traditionally been acentral aspect of the study of bilingualism.

The intrusionof features of one language into another in the speech ofbilinguals has been studied at the levels of phonology,
morphology and syntax.

The systems of the contact languages

themselves have sometimes been contrasted, and an important

outcome of contrastive studies has been the notion that they
allow for prediction of the difficulties involved in acquiring a second language.

"Those elements that are similar tothe [learner's] native language will be simple for him, andthose areas that are different will be difficult".

In

the last two decades language teaching has derived considerable impetus from the application of contrastive studies.

As recently as 1967 Politzer affirmed "Perhaps the least
questioned and least questionable application of linguistics
is the contribution of contrastive analysis.

Especially inthe teaching of languages for which no considerable and*111

I am grateful to William F. Mackey, Bernard Spolsky, andJohn Macnamara for comments on earlier versions of thispaper.
1. Robert Lado, Linguistics Across Cultures, Ann Arbor:
University of Michigan Press, 1957, p. 2.

2systematic teaching experience is available,

analysis can highlight and predict thecontrastive

difficulties of thepupils". (2)Studies of second language acquisition however

have tended to imply that contrastive

analysis may be most

predictive at the level of phonology, and least predictiveat the syntactic level.

A recent study of Spanish-English

bilingualism for example, states:"Many people assume,

following logic that is easy to understand, that the errors

made by bilinguals are caused by their mixing
English.

Spanish andOne of the most important conclusions this writerdraws from the research in this project isthat interference

from Spanish is not a major factor in the way bilinguals

construct sentences and use the language". (3)This paper focuses on several types of errors

observed in the acquisition of English as a second language,

which do not derie from transfers fromanother language.

Excluded from discussion are what may be called
errors;

INTERLANGUAGE

that is, errors caused by the interference of thelearner's mother tongue.

A different class of errors are

2. Robert L. Politzer, Toward Psycholinguistic
Models of
Language Instruction, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 2.3, p. 151.
3. Gail McBride Smith, "Some comments on the English of
Eight Bilinguals", in A Brief Study of Spanish-English
Bilingualism, Donald M. Lance, Texas AoM University, 1.969.

represented by sentences such as did he comed,,what you

are doing, he coming from Israel, make him to do it,
to speak French.

I canErrors of this nature are frequent regard-

less of the learner's language background.

They may becalled INTRALINGUAL and DEVELOPMENTAL errors.

Rather thanreflecting-the learner's inability to separate two languages,
intralingual and developmental errors reflect the learner's

competence at a particular stage, and illustrate some of thegeneral characteristics of language acquisition.

Theirorigins are found within the structure of English itself,
and through reference to the strategy by which a second
language is acquired and taught.

1.

DISTINGUISHING INTERLANGUAGEERRORSINTRALINGUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL

Before we can analyze intralingual and developmental

errors, we need to be able to distinguish them from interlanguage errors in a sample of second-language speech.
Initially, contrastive analysis or a knowledge of thelearner's mother tongue, allows for identification of instanceswhere the characteristics of one language are being carriedover into another.

We then locate errors which are common tolearners who have quite different mother tongues.

They mayalso occur with childrenacquiring_English as a mother tongue

4

and with deaf children learning written English. (4)Asample of such errors is shown in Tables I-VI (seeappendix).

These are representative of the sort of errors

we might expect frah anyone learning English as a second
language.

They are typical of systematic errors in

English usage which are found in numerous case studies of
the English errors of speakers of particular mothertongues.

They are the sort of mistakes which persist fromweek to week and which recur from one year to the next
with any group of learners.

They cannot be described .as

mere failures to memorize a segment of language, or as
occasional lapses in performance due to memory limitations,fatigue and the like. (5)In some learners they represent

final grammatical competence;in others they may be

indications of transitional competence.

2.

SOURCES OF THE PRESENT STUDY

Tables I-VI are taken from studies of English
errors produced by speakers of Japanese, Chinese, Burmese,
French, Czech, Polish, Tagalog, Maori, Maltese, and the

4. Cp:

Vivian Cook, The Analogy between First and Second
Language Learning, MAL Vol. 7, p. 207-216: H.H. Stern,
Foreign Language Learning and the New View of First Language Acquisition, Child Study 30/4, 25-36: Paula
Menyuk, Sentences Children Use, Massachusetts: MIT
Press, 1969.

5. S.P. Corder, The Significance of Learner's Errors, IRAL
Vol. 5, p. 161-169.

5major Indian and West African languages. (6)From thesesources, I have selected those errors which occurred ina cross-section of the samples.

By studying intralingualand developmental errors within the framework of a more

adequate theory of second language learning than a purely
contrastive approach suggests, and through examining
typical cases of the teaching of the forms from which
they are derived, it may be possible to see the way

towards teaching procedures that take account of the learner's strategy for acquiring a second language.

3.

TYPES AND CAUSES OF INTRALINGUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL ERRORS

An examination of the:errors in Table I-VI suggeststhat intralingual errors are those which reflect thegeneralcharacteristics of rule learning, such as faulty generaliz-

6. Major sources for Tables I-VI are: F.G. French, Common
Errors in English, London: Oxford U.P. 1949; L. Dadkov4,
On Sources of Errors in Foreign Language Learning, IRAL
Vol. 7, p. 11-36; J. Arabski, A Linguistic Analysis ofEnglish Composition Errors Made by Polish Students,
Studia Anglica Posnaniensia Vol. 1, Nos. 1 & 2, p. 71-89;
C. Estacio, English Syntax Problems of Filipinos, Proceedings of 9th Int. Congress of Linguists. Mouton, The
Hague, 1964, p. 217-223 (esp. comments by Meyerstein andAnsre); Jack Richards, Language Problems of Maori children, Comment (9ellington, N.Z.)., No. 36, 1968, p. 28-32;
A.W.S. Bhaskar, An Analysis of Common Errors in P.U.C.
English, Bulletin of the Central Institute of English(Hyderabad, India), No. 2, 1962, p. 47-57; S. Grelier,
Recherche des principaZes interferences dons les systames
verbaux de l'anglais du Wolof et du frangas, Senegal,
Centre'de Linguistique Appliquee de Dakar, No. 31; E.F.
Aguas,, English Composition Errors of Tagalog Speakers and
Implications for Analytical Theory, D. Ed. dissertation,
University of California, Los Angeles, 1964.
,

.

6

ation, incomplete application of rules, and failure tolearn conditions under which rules apply.

Developmental

errors illustrate the learner attempting to build up
hypotheses about the English language from his limited
experience of it in the classroom or text-book.

For

convenience of presentation, Tables I-VI will be discussed
in terms of:

1. Over-generalization;

restrictions;

3. Incomplete application of rules;

2. Ignorance of rule
4. False

concepts hypothesized.

3.1

OVER - GENERALIZATION

Jakobovits defines generalization or transfer, as"the use of previously available strategies in new situations.
In second language learningsome 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." (7)Over-generalization covers

instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on thebasis of his experience of other structures in the target
language.

For example (see Table 1.1,3,4,8.) he can singe, weare hope, It is occurs, he come from.

Over-generalization

generally involves the crention of one deviant structureinplace of two regular structures.

It may be the result of the

7. Leon A. Jakobovits, A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Second Language Learning and Bilingualism, Institute of Communications Research, Illinois, 1969, p. 32.
See also,
Jakobovits "Second Language Learning and Transfer Theory",
Language Learning 19, 55-86.

7learner reducing his linguistic burden.

With the omissionof the third person (-s), over-generalization

removes thenecessity fur concord, thus relieving the learner ofconsiderable effort.

Dugkovi, discussing the omission of

third person (-s) notes "Since [in English]
all grammaticalpersons take the same zero verbal ending except the third person
singular in the present tense
ommissions ofthe( -s) in the third person singular may be accounted

by the heavy pressure of all other endinglessforms.

forThe

endingless form is generalized for all persons, just as theform was is generalized for all persons andthe past tense....

both numbers in

Errors in the opposite direction likethere does not exist any exact rules may be explained

eitheras being due to hypercorrection... or as being due to generalization of the 3rd person singular ending for the 3rd
person plural". (8)Over-generalization is associated with redundancy
reduction.

It may occur, for instance, with items which

are contrasted in the grammar of the language, butwhich donot carry significant and obvious contrast for thelearner.

The (-ed) marker in narrative or in other past contexts,
often appears to carry no meaning, since pastness is usuallyindicated lexically in stories, and the essential notion ofsequence in narrative, can be expressed equally wellin thepresent.

Yesterday I go to. the university and I meet my new

8. Dugkovi, ibid. (see 6, above).

8

professor.

Thus the learner cuts down the tasks involved

in sentence production.

Ervin-Tripp suggests that "possibly

the morphological and syntactic simplifications of second
language learners correspond to some simplifications common
among children [i.e. mother-tongue speakers] learning thesame language". (9)Certain types of teaching techniques increase thefrequency of over-generalized structures.

Many pattern

drills and transform exercises are made up of utterancesthat can interfere with each other to produce a hybrid
structure:_,Teacher

Instruction

Student

He walks quickly.

Change tocontinuous form

He is walks quickly.

This has been described as overlearning of a structure. (10)At other times, he walks may be contrasted with he iswalking, he sings with he can sing, and a week later, without
any teaching of the forms, the learner produces he can sings,
he is walks.

9. Susan M. Ervin-Tripp, Comments to "How and When do Persons
Become Bilingual" in Description and Measurement of
Bilingualism, L.G. Kelly, editor. University of Toronto
Press, Toronto 1969, p. 33.
10. David. K. Wolfe, "Some Theoretical Aspects of Language
Learning and Language Teaching" Language Learning Vol. XVII,
3.4, p. 180.

9

3.2

IGNORANCE OF RULE RESTRICTIONSClosely related to the generalization of deviant
structures, is failure to observe the restrictions ofexisting structures, that is, the application of rules tocontexts where they do not apply.

The man who I saw him(Table III, 2) violates the limitation on subjects instructures with who.

I made him to do it (Table IV) ignores

restrictions on the distribution of make.

These are again atype of generalization or transfer, since the learner ismaking use of a previously acquired rule in a new situation.
Some rule restriction errors may be accounted for in termsof analogy;

other instances may result from the rote learn

ing of rules.

Analogy seems to be a major factor in the misuseof prepositions.

(Table IV).

The learner, encountering a-particular preposition with one type of verb, attempts byanalogy to use the same preposition with similar verLs.
Re showed me the book leads to he explained me the book;he said to me gives he asked to me;
therefore we

discussed about it;

make him to do it;

we talked about it,

ask him to do it produces

go with him gives follow with him.

Somepattern exercises appear to encourage incorrect rules being
applied through analogy.

Here is a pattern exercise which

practices enable, allow, make, cause, permit.

(11)

11. A.J. Herbert, The Structure of Technical English, London:
Longmans, 1965, p. 10.

examine very small objects.

1. The microscopetoenables3{ measure body temperature.

the doctor}

2. A thermometer

land in the city
centre.

passengers

Helicopters) enabletothe factory

4. Good production methods

manufacture morecars.

expand or contract.

the pipes

5. Expansion joints

permitthe steam

6. Safety valvesescape from the boiler.

to

allow
cool slowly.

the metal

7. We

{l
the metal

8. The heatcaused
9. Weakness in the metaltofracture under tension.

it

10. The heat

the metal melt.

11. Weakness in the metal

it fracture under tension.

It is followed by an exercise in 'which the student

is instructed to complete a number of statements using verbs
and prepositions from the table.

The rise in temperature

the mercury

rise upthe tube.

The risk clan explosion

the workers

leave

the factory.

The speed of the train
the curve....

itleave the rails on

11

From a class of 23 with mixed language backgrounds, nofewer than 13 produced sentences like the rise in temperature made the mercury to rise up the tube.

Practising

make in the same context as allow it to, permit it to,enable it to, precipitates confusion.

Other instances ofanalogous constructions may be less easy to avoid.

Table

III, 2, includes this is not fit to drink it, the man who

Isom him.

By analogy with the learner's previous experience of Subject+VerbtObject constructions, the learnerfeels that there is something incomplete about that's theman who I saw, and so adds the object after the verb, as hehas been taught to do elsewhere.

Failure to observe restrictions in article usage
may also derive from analogy, the learner rationalizing adeviant usage from his previous experience of English.

This

may happen even when the mother tongue is close to theEnglish usage.

F.G. French gives the following example of

how a common article mistake is produced by rational analogy. (12)In English we say The sparrow is a small bird.
small birds.

Sparrows are

Since the statements are exactly parallel alogical substitute for the second sentence would be:
sparrows are small birds.

In Burmese, the equivalents would be

sa gale thi

nge thannget

pyi t thithe sparrow

small

bird

is

12. French,

ibid.,

p. 9
_ 0

The

(see 6 above):--12and in the pluralsa gale mya thi

nge thaw

nget mya

pyit kya thi

Vie sparrows

small

birds

are

Instead of following the fora of the mother tongue, however,the learner, having first produced The sparrows are from The

sparrow is, sees a parallel between sparrows and birds, andproduces the common error, The sparrows are the small birds.
A similar example is noted by Aguas, from Tagalog-speaking
students. (13)In her study, she found a number of examples

where sentences such as Robot is like a human being were
produced, instead of A Robot is Zike a human being.

Aguas

rules out the possibility of transfer from Tagalog, since thiswould have required a determiner before the noun.

Angrobot (ay)(M-m) robot

parangtao.

likehuman being.

Here the analogy is from a somewhat comparable structure suchas Robots function Zike human beings.

3.3

INCOMPLETE APPLICATION OF RULES

Under this category we may note the occurrence ofstructures whose deviancy represents the degree of developmentof the rules required to produce acceptable utterances.

13. Aguas, ibid., p. 49. (see ( above) .

For

13

example, across background languages systematic difficultyin the use of questions can be observed.

A statement form

may be used as a question, one of the transformations in aseries may be omitted, or a question word may Simply be
added to the statement form.

Despite extensive teaching ofboth the question and the statement forms, a grammaticalquestion form may never become part of competence in thesecond language.

Redundancy may be an explanatory factor.

The second-language learner, interested perhaps primarily incommunication, can achieve quite efficient communication
without the need for mastering more than the elementaryrules of question usage.

Motivation to achieve communic-

ation may exceed motivation to produce grammatically correctsentences.

A further clue may be provided by classroom useof questions.

The use of questions is a common teaching device.

Typically they are used, not to find out something, but as
Alternatively the state-a means of eliciting sentences.

ment form may be used as a means of eliciting questions
through a transform exercise.

Classroom observationsuggests that the use of questions maybe unrelated to theskills it is meant to establish.

TEACHER'S QUESTION

Do you read much?
Do you cook very much?
Ask her what the last film
she saw was called.

Here are some examples:

STUDENT'S RESPONSE
Yes I read much.
Yes I cook very much.
What was called the last film
you saw?

14

She saying she would ask

What was she saying?

him.

What does she tell him?
What's he doing?
Ask her how long it takes.
Will they soon be madly?
How much does it cost?
What does he have to do?
What does he ask his
mother?

She tell him to hurry.
He opening the door.
How long it takes?
Yes they soon be ready.
It cost one dollar.
He have to do write theaddress.
He ask his mother for theaddress.

As the above sample illustrates, when a question is used
to elicit sentences, the answer often has to be correctedby the teacher to counteract the influence of his question.
Some course books proceed almost entire1of questions;through the use

others avoid excessive use of questions byutilizing signals to indicate the type of sentence required.
These may reduce the total number of deviant sentences
produced.

3.4

FALSE CONCEPTS HYPOTHESIZEDIn addition to the wide range of intralingual

errors which have to do with faulty rule learning at various
levels, there are a class of developmental errors which
derive from faulty comprehension of distinctions in thetarget language.

These are sometimes due to poor gradationof teaching items.

The form was, for example, may be interpreted as a marker of the past tense, giving one day it was

happened (Table I, 2) and is may be understood to be thecorresponding marker of the present tense:
French (Table I, 1).

He is speaks

In Table II, 5, we find the continuousform instead of the simple past in narrative;elsewhere

we encountez confusion between too, so and very, between
come and go and so on.

In particular instances I havetraced errors of this sort to classroom presentation, andto presentation which is based on contrastive analysis ofEnglish and another language or on contrasts within English
itself.

Here is anof how the present continuous

came to be understood as a narrative tense.

The simple

present tense in English is the normal tense used foractions seen as a whole, for events which develop according

to a plan, or for sequences of events taking place at the(Thus the sport's commentator's Now

present moment. (14)Anderson takes the ball. passes it to Smith... and thecooking demonstrator's I take two eggs, now I add the sugar....
-How do we find this use represented in text books for teach-ing English as a second language?

Typically one finds that Zhe continuous form has
been used instead for these functions.

A recent audio-visualcourse contains many sequences like the following:(15)

14. W.H. Hirtle, The Simple and Progressive Forma, Quebec:
Laval U.P., 1967, p. 40-41. R.A. Close, Concerning the
Present Tense, English Language Teaching Vol.. 13, 1959,
p. 59.
15. L.G. Alexander, The Carters of Greenwood, Elementary
Workbook, Cineloop II. London: Longmans Ltd., 1966.

16

The lift is going down to the ground floor. Tedis getting out of the Zift. He is leaving theoffice building. Ted is standing at the entranceof the office building. He is looking up at thesky....

This is not a normal use of English.

The usualtense for a sequence of events taking place "at the moment"is the present tense, the continuous being used only when asingle event is extracted from a sequence, the sequence
itself being indicated by the present forms.

This present-

ation of the continuous form led a number of my students toassume that the continuous form in English is a tense fortelling stories and for describing successions of events inpresent or the past.

either the

The reasons for the occurrence of untypical verb

uses in many course books appears to be related to a contrastive approach to language teaching.

In this example, thecourse designer has attempted to establish the use of thecontinuous form in a context in which the present form isappropriate.

It is often felt that a considerable amount oftime should be devoted to the continuous form, since it does
not exist in most learner's mother tongues.

Excessive

attention to points of difference at the expense of realistic
English is a characteristic of much contrastive-based teaching.

My experience of such teaching confirms Ritchie's pre-diction.

"A course that concentrates too much on 'the main

17

trouble spots' without due attention to the structure of
the foreign language as a whole will leave the learnerwith a patchwork of unfruitful, partial generalizations...." (16)

It is evident why this is often the case.

Thelinguist who writes a contrastive description of two
languages is interested primarily in the areas where thetwo languages differ.

When such a description is used as

the basis for teaching materials, we may well misrepresent
the actual facts of English usage, since the parts of thelanguage which are most often needed are not necessarily
those which are most different from the learner's mothertongue.

The translation of techniques of language descript-

ion into techniques of language teaching has been a major
feature of many schools of applied linguistics.

The fadfor minimal pair drills, for example, was largely based on

the fallacy that, since phonological distinctions dependon the criterion of meaning, distinctions of meaning must
depend on phonological distinctions, and that failure to

maintain all the distinctions in a second language will
mean failure to communicate.

Many courses progress on a related assumption,.1.-mely, that contrasts within the language are an essential

16. William C. Ritchie, "Some Implications of Generative
Grammar", Language Learning Vol. XVII, p. 129.

18

aid to learning.

"Presenting items in contrast can lighten

the teacher's and the student's work and consequently speed
up the learning process". (17)Here are some examples ofactual learning from materials thought out in terms ofcontrast.

George notes that a frequent way of introducing
the simple and continuous forms is to establish the contrast:

is = present state, is + ing = present action. (18)The contrast is in fact, quite false to English.

When thepast is introduced it is often introduced as a past state.
He was sick.

This lays ,the groundwork for the learner tocomplete the picture of present and past in English by analogy:

is = present state

was = past stateis + ing = present action.
was + ing = past action.

Thus was or was+ing may be used as past markers. Used together
with the verb +. ed it produces such sentences as he was climbed
the tree.

Interpreted as the form for "past actions" it gives

I was going down town yesterday instead of I went down town
yesterday.

Table III shows examples of the confusion of too, so,

17. Ruth Hok, Contrast: An Effective Teaching Device, English
Language Teaching Vol. 17, 3, p. 118.

18. H.V. George, Teaching Simple Past and Past Perfect, Bulletinof the Central Institute of English (Hyderabad, India), No. 2,
p. 18-31.

19

and very.

Other substitutions are common, such as the useof teach for learn, of do for make, of come for go, of
bring for take.

Learners often feel that the members ofsuch pairs are synonyms, despite every attempt to demonstratethat they have contrastive meanings.

Such confusion is some-times attributable to premature contrastive presentation.

Here are*the occurrences of too and very in a first
reader which tells the story of a group of children who lighta fire in the snow in front of 'an old house: (19)The house is empty because it's old.... I'm verycold. England is too cold....
The fire is very
It'i very big. It's a very big fire. The
big....
firemen are going to put water on the fire because
it's too big.

The course designers intended to establish acontrast between too and very, but in so doing they completely

confuse the meaning of the two forms.

From the presentation-- and from the viewpoint of a young learner -- they have thesame meanings.

Thus we have the parallelism between:

It's too big and it's dangerous.
It's very big.
The fire is dangerous.

How could a child, following such a presentation, avoid saying

This is a too big house? Too would be more safely taught out

19. Scope, Reader 7,-School Council Publications Co., London,
1969.

20

of association with very, and in contexts where it did notappear to be a substitute for very, as, for example, in a
structure with too + adjective + infinitive -- this box is
too heavy to lift.

Other courses succeed in establishing confusion
between too, so, and very by offering exercises like these:(1) Reword the following sentences, using too.
This coffee is so hot that I can't drink it.
I've got so fat that I can't wear this dress now....
Example.

This soup is very hot.

I can't drink it.

This sf,.1..t, is too hot (for me) to drink.

(2) Remake these sentences using too.
This hat is very big; he's only a little boy.
This grammar is very difficult: a child can't(20)
understand it.

This type of exercise leads to the errors in Table III, 4.
The common

confusion of since and for (Table IV, 4) issometimes reinforced by similar exercises, such as thosewhich require choosing the correct preposition in sentences
like:I have been here (for/since) a week.
We have been in Canada (for /since) 1968.

Constant attempts to contrast related areas of English canthus have quite different results from those we intend.

Asyet, there is no substantial confirmation that a contrastive

20. These examples are taken from Paul Nation, Too, So Veryworking paper, English Language Institute, Victoria
University of Wellington, 1967.

21

approach to teaching is likely to be "a priori" more effective than any other approach.

Classroom experience and common
sense often suggest that a safer strategy for instruction is
to minimize opportunities for confusion by selecting nonsynonymous contexts for related words, by treating them at
different times,

and by avoiding exercises based on contrast

and transformation.

CONCLUSIONSAn analysis of the major types of intralingual anddevelopmental errors -- over-generalization, ignorance ofrule restrictions, incomplete application of rules and thebuilding of false systems or concepts -- may lead us to
examine our teaching materials for evidence of the language learning assumptions that underlie them.

Many current teach-ing practices are based on the notion that the learner will

photographically reproduce anything that is given to him, andthat if he doesn't, it is hardly the business of the teacher
or text-book writer.

It has been remarked that "Very surpris-

ingly there are few published descriptions of how or whatchildren learn.

There are plenty of descriptions of what theteacher did and what materials were presented to the children
but little about what mistakes the children made and how these22

can be explained, or of what generalizations and learning
strategies the children seem to be developing....

It maybe that the child's strategy of learning is totally or
partially independent of the methods by which he is beingtaught".

(21)

Interference from the mother tongue is clearlya major source of difficulty in second language learning,and contrastive analysis has proved valuable in locatingareas of interlanguage interference.

Many errors however

derive from the strategies employed by the learner inlanguage acquisition, and from the mutual interference of
items within the target language.
for by contrastive analysis.

These cannot be accounted

Teaching techniques and pro-cedures should take account of the structural and developmental conflicts that can come about in language learning.

21. J. Dakin, The Teaching of Reading, Applied! Linguistics
and the Teaching of English, Fraser and O'Donnell (Ed.),
London: Lomgmans, 1969, p. 107-111.

Appendix
Tables 1-VI

Typical Intralingual andDevelopmental Errors

TABLE I

Errors in the Production of Verb Groups

1.

be + verb stem for verb stem

We are live in this but
The sentence is occurs
We are hope

Be is speaks French
The telegraph is remain

We are walk to school every day.

be + verb stem + ed for verb stem + ed

Farmers are went to their houses.
Be was died last year.
One day it was happened.
The teacher was told us.
They are opened the door.

3.

wrong form after do'Ili did not found.

Be did not agreed .

.

.

.

.

The man does not cares for his life.
Be did not asks me.

Be does not has(cont'd.)II

TABLE I (Cont'd.)

4.

wrong form after modal verb

Can be regard as
We can took him out.
I can saw it.

It can drawing heavy loads.
They can used it.

It can use in state processions.
She cannot goes.

She cannot to go

They would became
We must made.

We can to see.

We must worked hard.

5.

be omitted before verb + stem + ed (participle)

He born in England
It used in church during processions.
They satisfied with their lot.
He disgusted.

He reminded of the story.

6.

ed omitted after be +partici:pie verb stem

The sky is cover with clouds.
He was punish.

Some trees are unroot(cont'd.)III

Table I (cont'd.)

7.

be omitted before verb + ing

They running very fast.
The cows also crying.

The industry growing fast.

At 10.30 he going to kill the sheep

8. verb stem for stem + a

He alway talk a lot.

Become from India.
She speak German as wellIV

TABLE II

Errors in the Distribution of Verb Groups

be + verb + ing for be + verb + ed

1.

I am interesting in that.

,

The country was discovering by Columbus.
I2.

be + verb 4 ing for verb stem

She is coming from Canada.

I am having my hair cut on Thursdays.

3.

be + not + verb 4 ing for do + not + verb

I am not liking it.

Correct rules are not existing.

In French we are not having a present continuous
tense and we are not knowing when to use it.

4.

be j- verb +- ing for verb + ed in narrative

.

.

.

in the afternoon we were going back.

On

Saturday we were going down town, and we wereseeing a film and after we were meeting mybrother.

5.

verb stem for verb+ed in narrative

There were two animals who do not like each other.
One day they go into a wood and there is no water.

The monkey says to the elephant.

(coned.)V
Table II (Cont'd.)

6.

have .4- verb + ed for verb + ed

They had arrived just now.
He had come today.

I have written this letter yesterday.

Some weeks ago I have seen an English film.
He.has arrived at noon.

I have learned English at school.

7.

have + be + verb + ed for be + verb + ed

He has been married long ago.
He has been killed in 1956.

8.

verb (+ ed) for have + verb + ed

We correspond with them up to now.

This is the only country which I visited so far.

9.

beverb + ed for verb stem

This money is belonged to me.
The machine is corned from France

VI

TABLE III
Miscellaneous Errors

1.

Wrong verb form in adverb of time

I shall meet him before the train will go.

We must wait here until the train will return.

2.

Object omitted or included unnecessarily

We saw him play football and we admired.
This is not fit to drink it.

This is the king's horse which he rides it everyday.

That is the man who I saw him.

3.

Errors in tense sequence

He said that there is a boy in the garden.

When the evening came we go to the pictures.
When I came back I am tired.

4.

Confusion of too, so, very

I am very lazy to stay at home.
I am too tired that I cannot work.
I am very tired that I cannot go.

When I first saw him he was too young.
Honey is too much sweet.

The man became so exhausted and fell on the floor.

TABLE TV

Errors in the Use of Prepositions

1.

with instead of0

met with her, married with her

fromsuffering with a cold

againstfight with tyrannyofconsist withatlaughed-wIttrmy-wordt.

2.

in instead of

0

on

with

for

3.

4.

at instead offor instead of.

entered in the room, in the next day
in T.V.

fallen in love in Ophelia
in this purposeatin this timeto

go in Polandbythe time in your watch0

reached at a place, at last yearbyheld him at the left arm

inat the evening; interested at ittowent at Stratford

forat the first time0

serve for God

inone bath for seven daysofsuspected for, the position for Chinesecooliesfroma distance for one country to anothersincebeen here for the 6th of JuneVIII
Table IV (Cont'd.)5.

on instead of0

played on the piano for an hourinon many ways, on that place, going on
cars

instead of7.

to instead ofaton the end

withangry on himofcountries on the world

topays attention on it

0

aged of 44, drink less of wineinrich of vitaminsbybook of Hardyondepends of civilizationfora reason of it0

join to them, went to home, reached to the
place

for

an occupation to themof

his love to her

IX

TABLE V

Errors in the Use of Articles

Omission of the(a) before unique nouns

Sun is very hot

Himalayas are(b) before nouns of nationality

Spaniards and Arabs(c) before nouns made particular

At the conclusion of article

in context.

.

She goes to bazaar every day

She is mother of that boy(d) before a noun modified by a

Solution given in this article

participle(e) before superlatives

Richest person(f) before a noun modified by

Institute of Nuclear Physics

an ofphrase2.

the used instead of 0(a) before proper names

The Shakespeare, the Sunday(b) before abstract nouns

The friendship, the nature, thescience(c) before nouns behaving like
abstract nouns(d) before plural nouns

After the school, after the
breakfast

The complex structures are stilldeveloping.

(e) before some

The some knowledge(coned.)X

Table V (Coned.)3.

4.

a used instead of the(a) before superlatives

a worst, a best boy in the class(b) before unique nouns

a sun becomes red

a used instead of 0(a) before a plural noun

qualified by an adjective(b) before uncountables(c) before an adjective

5.

a holy places, a human beings, a
bad news

a gold, a worktaken as a definite

omission of abefore class nouns defined byhe was good boy

adjectives

he was brave man

XI
TABLE VI

Errors in the Use of Questions

1.

Omission of inversion

What was called the film?

..

How many brothers she has?

What she is doing?
When she will be 15?
Why this man is cold?

Why streets are as bright as day?

2.

be omitted before verb 4 ing

When Jane coming?
What she doing
What he saying?

3.

Omission of do

Where it happened?
How it looks like?
Why you went?
How you say it in English
How much it costs?

How long it takes?
What he said?

(Cont'd.)XII

Table VI (Coned )Wrong from of auxiliary, or wrong form after auxiliary

Do he go there?
Did he went?
Did he finished?
Do he comes from your village'

Which road did you cape by?

5.

Inversion omitted in embedded sentences

Please write down what is his name .
I told him I do not know how old was it.
I don't know how many are there in the box.