The Interlanguage Analysisof Spanish learners’ interview in English

Agung Diah Wulandari (2014001023)

Ardiansyah (2014001024)

Eka Uliyanti (2014001029)

1.Introduction

1.1. When we use a foreign language, we may make mistakes because ofinfluence from our mother tongue, mistakes in pronunciation, grammar, andother levels of Language, often referred to as interference. This is why booksin grammar and phonetics for foreign students with a particular mothertongue usually focus a lot on differences between the mother tongue – or L1– and the target language – or L2 (Johansson, S. 2008, p. 9).

Brown (1994) points out that CAH stressed the interfering effects of the firstlanguage on second language learning and claimed, in extreme case, CAHconsiders that second language learning is a process of acquiring whateveritems are different from the first language (p. 255).

Contrastive analysis (CA) is the systematic comparison of two or morelanguages, with the aim of describing their similarities and differences. CA hasoften been done for practical/pedagogical purposes (Johansson, S. 2008, p.9).

The importance of CA• Describe and compare the mother tongue / L1 /source

language And the foreign language / L2 / targetlanguage.

• Predict points of difficulty.• Use the results in order to improve teaching materials.

Johansson, S. (2008, p.10)Fries (1946) states that the most efficient materials arethose based upon a scientific description of the languageto be learned, carefully compared with a paralleldescription of the native language of the learner (p. 9).The plan of the book rests on the assumption that we canpredict and describe the patterns which will causedifficulty in learning and those that will not causedifficulty. (Lado, 1957, p. vii)

Some terms under CA

• Larry Selinker, as cited by Tarone & Swierzbien(2009), puts forward that interlanguage refersto “the linguistic system evidenced when anadult second language learner attempts toexpress meanings in the language he/she islearning (p.12).

• The underlying paradigm of error analysis isdue to the fact that learning is basicallyinvolves the failing/mistakes done by thestudents, despite the fact that all those thingsare actually important aspects in acquiring askill or information (Brown, 1994, p. 257).

• Brown (1994) believes that it is imperative to distinguish betweenmistakes and errors, which are actually two very differentphenomena (p.257-258).

• “A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a randomguess or a "slip," in that it is a failure to utilize a known systemcorrectly. All people make mistakes, in both native and secondlanguage situations. Native speakers are normally capable ofrecognizing and correcting such "lapses" or mistakes, which are notthe result of a deficiency in competence. These hesitations, slips ofthe tongue, random ungrammaticalities, and other performancelapses in native-speaker production also occur in second languagespeech”.

• “Mistakes, when attention is called to them, can be self-corrected.Mistakes must be carefully distinguished from errors of a secondlanguage learner, idiosyncrasies in the language of the learner thatare direct manifestations of a system within which a learner isoperating at the time. An error, a noticeable deviation from theadult grammar of a non-native speaker, reflects the competence ofthe learner”.

Types of Errors

According to Richards as cited by Pooneh & Bagheri (2012),errors can be broadly categorized such as:

• Interference errors: errors resulting from the use of elements from one language while speaking/writing another,

• Intralingual errors: errors reflecting general characteristics ofthe rule learning such as faulty generalization, incompleteapplication of rules and failure to learn conditions underwhich rules apply, and

• Developmental errors: errors occurring when learnersattempt to build up hypothesis about the target language onthe basis of limited experiences.

Further, Richards as cited by Pooneh & Bagheri (2012) divides sub-categorizes of intralingual errors into the followings:

• Overgeneralization errors: the learner creates a deviant structureon the basis of other structures in the target language (e.g. "He cansings" where English allows "He can sing" and "He sings").

• Ignorance of rule restrictions: the learner applies rules to contextwhere they are not applicable (e.g. He made me to go rest" throughextension of the pattern "He asked/wanted me to go").

• Incomplete application of rules: the learner fails to use a fullydeveloped structure (e.g. "You like to sing?" in place of "Do you liketo sing?").

• False hypothesis: the learners do not fully understand a distinctionin the target language (e.g. the use of "was" as a marker of pasttense in "One day it was happened").

Transfer is the process of acquiring languagein which the result can be either negative (ifthe L1 is different from L2 ) or positive if theL1 is not really different from L2.

Transfer is actually derived from behavioristicconcept in which the learners receive thelanguage under several circumstances, e.g.stimulus, response, etc. (Saville-Troike, 2006,p. 35)

1.2. The objectives of analysis

1.2.1. Analyzing the contrast between thelearner’s L1 and L2 in several aspects; plural “s”on nouns, copula “be”, and auxiliary “be” inEnglish.

1.2.2. Analyzing possible causes affecting thelearners’ L2 performance.

2. The Summary of Previous Studies

The typical case of the use of copula “be” in English by the NNS is mostly typified with the“missing copula” e.g. “they hungry”, uniquely this error happens not only to those whohave differences (between their L1 and L2) but also happens to NS who acquires Englishnaturally/as their first language (Dulay & Burt, 1973, p. 249).

In the use of auxiliary “be”, the cases vary due to the differences of mistakes done by thestudents, e.g. the missing of “be”, just in the case of “I singing”, or the incorrect pattern ofauxiliary “be”, e.g. just in the sentence “birds was singing”. Above all, there are also somestudents who are able to use the pattern correctly (Bergvall, 2006, pp. 18-19).

The typical case of the use of plural “s” on Noun signifies the case of overgeneralization inwhich the learners (either NS and NNS who learn TL) tend to overgeneralize the noun theyuse in fact the specific noun should be treated differently (Bergvall, p. 12).

Spanish has two forms of copula “be”; ser & estar. Used in permanent & temporaryproperties (Maienborn, 2005).

In Spanish, auxilaries play no part in forming negative sentences (Swan & Smith, 2001,p.100)

3. Method of analysis

Library ResearchThis research uses CA in which the analysis is conducted based on the contrast between the twolanguages and EA in which the analysis will also highlight the errors committed by the speakers. The EAwill be based on Richards (1971) and Brown (1994). The analysis will be conducted as follows:

Source of DataThe data will be taken from transcript of the interview from the two Spanish learners (Rodrigo, andAntonio).

The data will be in the form of plural “s” (noun), copula “be”, and auxiliary “be”.Data collection technique will be conducted by way of:1. Watching the videos2. Reading the transcript3. Identifying the data4. Highlighting the data from the transcript5. Listing them

Data analysis is conducted based on the commonly recognized English standard and rules.

Line Number Phrase with Error (copula be) Target Language Reformulation (s) Cause of Error

15 The teacher he are The teachers are …

They are …..

He is ……..

The teacher is ………

Intralingual/developmental

error

27 No is good It is not good….. Interlingual/interference

error

30 American people difficult Americans are difficult to

speak with

It is difficult to speak with

Americans

Intralingual/Ignorance of the

rules

Data Analysis

Rodrigo’s Interlanguage Analysis

Line Number Phrase with Error (copula be) Target Language Reformulation (s) Cause of Error

13 It’s English very easy English is very easy Intralingual/

developmental error

75 First noun and and second

an adjective

First is noun and second is

adjective

Slip of the

tongue/incomplete

application

75 Here it’s first adjective In America (here), the first is

adjective

Intralingual/

developmental error

Antonio’s Interlanguage Analysis

4. Findings and discussions

• Basically Spanish and English have somesimilarities, especially in the use of copula“be”, and plural “s”.

• Possible mistakes/errors might come becauseof intrerlingual and intralingual errors.

Conclusion

Based on the data analysis (Rodrigo and Antonio’s interview transcript):

We did not find the problem in the use of plural “s”.

Basically, Spanish has the use of copula “be” and the use of plural “s”.The problems mostly come from the use of copula “be” which are incorrectly used.

The possible errors might not be to the difference between L1 and L2 but because ofintrerlingual and intralingual errors (false hypothesis, slip of the tongue, incompleteapplication or ignorance of the rules).

References Bergvall, V. (2006). Young Swedish students’ knowledge of English grammatical morpheme.

Karlstad University Library. 1-29.

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Cresswell, J. W. (2008). Educational research. (3rd Ed) New Jersey: Pearson.

Dulay, H., & Burt, M. (1973). Should we teach children syntax? Language Learning, 23. 245-258.

Fries, C.C. (1945). Teaching and learning English as a second language. Ann Arbor: University ofMichigan Press.

James, C. (1998). Errors in Language Learning and Use: Exploring error analysis. London:Longman.

Johansson, S. (2008). Contrastive analysis and learners’ language. Oslo: University of Oslo.Retrieved from: http://www.hf.uio.no/ilos/forskning/grupper/Corpus_Linguistics_Group/papers/contrastive-analysis-and-learner-language_learner-language-part.pdf

Lado, R. (1957). Linguistics Across Cultures: Applied linguistics for language teachers. Ann Arbor:University of Michigan Press.

Maienborn, C. (2003). A discourse-based account of Spanish ser/estar. Linguistics. 43–1, 155–180.

Pooneh, H. P., & Bagheri, M. S. (2012). Error analysis: Sources of L2 learners’ errors. Theory andPractice in Language Studies, 2 (8), 1583-1589.

Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing second language acquisition. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Swain, M., & Smith, B. (2001). Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and otherproblems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Tarone, E. & Swierzbin, B. (2009). Exploring learner language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.