Rajeev Sinha
Research Scholar
& Senior Lecturer in Comm. Skills Patel College of Engineering
Bhopal MP 462003
INDIA
We all have an idea of what grammar means though the concept is shrouded in a vague wrong headed notion and ill founded associations not only this we use the word “grammar “rather in a generalized sense in some expressions such as “grammar of music” “grammar of art” and so on .This underscores the core notion that grammar invariably refers to a set of rules that govern any system and arrangements of components. What is grammar? Is a very important question for our second language learners grammar is a system for them which shows how the sentences of English language are related .The emphasis here is on that particular creative power which enables them to generate definite sets of sentences with the help of definite sets of rules .how do we select, arrange and discourse words in a phrase, phrase in clauses and clauses in to sentences and sentences in to communicative approach is the purpose of teaching grammar
Helias has defined grammar as “the science “that shows how to write and speak correctly. In 13th century
Petrias hisparcus discussed language and defined grammar as “science of Sciences “and art of arts”.
Grammar triggers the stream of learning the language in a more systematic way
Language is a vehicle of expressing abstract thoughts and ideas. It is a means of self expression and routine communication. Recent linguistics related research studies have revealed a new insight into the language. In the process of teaching / learning both first language (Mother Language) and second language (target language) play significant role .First language or L1 is acquired in a natural way where as second language or L2 needs a favorable atmosphere in a perfect teaching learning environment.
Grammar which is also called as “the soul of the language” has been assigned a negligible role in an overall teaching programme by most of the proponents .Though they’ concede that internalization of grammar is an essential component of communication competence, they reject the need for teaching grammar “per se” and claim that grammatical competence can be achieved through the process of learning to communicate. This extreme position is symptomatic of a swing of a pendulum
In the process of learning second language, students frequently make erroneous attempts. Morgan (1956,
P70) has remarked that even “under the best of teachers, mishearing and misunderstandings will occur and the first lesson onward a pupil is likely to distort into incorrectness some of the language material that has been presented to him in correct examples of usage” .Many teachers are concerned with their pupils’ mistakes and have felt that to diagnose them quickly would be beneficial. For framing teaching strategies several researches have been undertaken in the past but a deep peep into the learner’s error and its remedial suggestions were totally neglected. With the help of linguistics, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics theories it is now possible to analysis errors committed by learners in a systematic way.
This study seeks rectifying impending imbalance by placing grammar in right perspective. Practicing
teachers have always recognized that effective communication entails two aspects of knowing a language…..
- Knowledge of language items and their organization.
- The ability to use these items in a variety of socio-cultural context.
Grammar from the Perspective of
A grammarian A +2 Student
I I
Has Has
I I
Scientific aim Utilitarian aim
I I
Study for his own sake study to throw light on the sentence
To learn a language certain rules and practices are to be carefully learnt, and such is the case with English. A textbook on grammar is not just a mere manual of several rules and norms – for learning skills and cultivating the act of writing, but to understand / generalize language deeply behind it.The amount of grammar to be taught will depend mainly on the objectives of learning and also on the age of the learners. The approaches to language learning mainly depend on the linguistic level and age of the learners
For Hymes, grammatical competence was a part of communicative competence, and several scholars closely
associated with the development of CL T have continued to stress More recently, Littlewoods has written that “communicative language use is only possible by virtue of the grammatical system and its creative potential” (Littlewoods 1985:40); and Widdowson has written that “a proper understanding of the concept of communicative competence would have revealed that it gives no endorsement for the neglect of grammar “(Widdowson 1990:40).
Functional grammar views language as an instrument of social communication. The area of grammar should not be limited to the linguistic patterns. It should also include the manner in which these patterns are inter linked with communicative function of language. “Formal and functional grammatical analysis differ in their approaches and assumptions. Formal analysis tends to be primarily interested in abstract representations and relationships between structures and less interested in meaning and context. Functional analysis tends to view language as a communicative resource and to be primarily interested in how linguistic structures express meaning”.
The difference between formal and functional approaches can be briefly and simply illustrated with the following sentences:
(1) I had also been rejected by the law faculty.
In analyzing the voice of this sentence, both formal and function Grammarians would agree in calling it passive voice sentence. However, a formal grammarian would be primarily interested in finding the best abstract representation of the structure of the sentence and in how it might be related to the structure of the active voice sentence:
(1) The law faculty had also rejected me.
For example, rules can be set out to show how sentence one may be derived from’ sentence one a These
would specify (1) the movement of the constituent the law faculty to a position at the end of the sentence following the preposition by: (2) the movement of the constituent me to the front of the sentence and its change in form to I: and (3) the change from had…. rejected (an active form of the verb) to had…. been rejected (a passive form of the verb).
The grammar taught in schools should be pure grammar, i.e. a grammar of function not of form .To be of real use of language learners and teachers, therefore a description of the grammar of a language needs to do more than simply layout the forms and structures of the language. It needs to show what they are for and
how they are used As already noted, the primary aim of a functional grammatical analysis is to understand how a grammar of a language serves as a resource for making and exchanging meanings. A functional grammar is therefore a kind of grammar most likely to have useful things to say to language learners and teachers
Language teaching derives sentence from linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, methodic, theories of education, educational technology, and from the experiences of successful classroom performers. Our aim in this paper is to examine one of its sub dimensions: the role of grammar in teaching and learning English as a second language in India. Many specialists have been saying that we don’t need to teach grammar. But grammar is the framework within which the language operates. It is like saying that you can have a chicken walking around without bones. When we say we don’t teach grammar, we mean we don’t stand there and give didactic explanations of grammatical rules.
In the existing ELT situation at tertiary level in non-English medium schools in India, grammar teaching
forms an independent component of the syllabus. Grammar is taught for its own sake as though it were an autonomous discipline like a content subject. This approach has done more harm than good ,in that a knowledge of the rules of grammar gives the students only some measure of algebraic “accuracy”, which by itself can, and perhaps generally does, help them to pass the examinations in English, but does not give them the ability to
Grammar as Dr. Sweet defines it is ‘the practical analysis of a language’ English grammar especially for school purposes-is ‘a description of the main laws of the structure of current English couched in terms which are sufficiently precise’. In order to understand the role of grammar in second language teaching it may be a good idea to try to answer the following five interrelated Wh- & Ho questions:
- Why grammar?
- Which grammar?
- How much grammar?
- How should we go about presenting the ‘facts’ of grammar?
Now we come to the First question: why grammar? Why grammar?
The answer to the question ‘why grammar’ will depend on the level at which we are teaching if we are teaching grammar at the high school level, we may have the following aims in view:
- to present a rapid review of the key grammatical patterns;
- to reinforce the patterns already introduced but not fully mastered by the learners. We realize that certain patterns or rules have not been firmly established and therefore pupils need to have extra practice in these areas;
- to organize remedial work (including categorization of errors).
(a),(b),(c) together would mean helping the learners move from one level of ‘interlanguage’ to another and
thereby approximate the systems of language in our increasing awareness of the socio-cultural components of language use, we have begun to consider errors as crucial to language learning and in fact a natural part of the gradual movement of the second language learners towards target language competence. At this level we will not teach grammar as an end in itself but as a useful aid in helping students improve and extend range of their communicative skill in English.
Which Grammar? Many books are there on English grammar. Grammar has two aspects formal and functional. There is more stress on functional and the student is to be trained well in spoken as well as written English.
A book like ‘Intermediate English Grammar and Composition’ (Dr. S. Laxmi Narayan and Pro. K. Subrahmaniam 1995). This text book is prepared strictly in accordance with the syllabus prescribed by the Boards of intermediate education of the government of A.P. It is in tune with national education policy of 1986 of the government of India so that it is suitable for M.P. Board intermediate learners as well.
It has dealt with exhaustively the rudiments of the language such as parts of speech, agreement between the subject and the predicate and the various forms of tense and their different uses to connote time and context and not only the present and past but the future too innately intertwined with the present. In this textbook both prescriptive and descriptive elements have been dealt with Reading make a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man becomes a reality for the students (Bacon).
‘Strengthen your English’ (Bhaskaran and Horsburgh O.U.P 1992) this is a practice book of Modern
English usage and a study book of English as it is spoken and written today. The students on his own can use it for private study. Contents are closely related with intermediate course.
‘Communication skills, A Practical Approach’ (Hema Srinivasan Frank Brothers and Co. 1994). This is a textbook of English grammar, usage and composition for learners at +2 level. This book provides
adequate material on this aspect of language learning prepared in accordance with the syllabus for classes 11th and 12th of the Central Board of Secondary Education and M.P. Board’s Education as well. The book follows the principle that all functional grammar is learned inductively that is from examples to generalization.
A Book Of Grammar Usage And Composition (And Krishnaswami Macmillan 1994)-An attempt has been made in this book to bring together grammar and composition, and at every stage the learner is asked to make use of the grammar he has learnt. The learning of grammar is an exercise in making generalizations and it becomes meaningful when the generalization starts functioning .In this book both grammar and composition move from simple to increasingly complex’ patterns and the learner is not asked to memorize and ‘store’ all the generalizations. This book represents a synthesis of the traditional and modern grammar and the principles of teaching English.
Communication in English (Bhatnagar and Bell Orient Longman 1979). This stress the learning of the
grammar of English as a code rather than the use of the code for the exchange of information i.e. forms has been emphasized at the expense of function. Such materials will be the means by which students can bridge the gap between classroom knowledge and an effective capacity to participate in real language events.
Collins Cobuilds Students Grammar Practice Material By Dane Willis 1994. This is a grammar of meanings as well as structures. Our focus in this paper is on that kind of description, which relates grammatical structure systematically to meanings, uses and situations. We have already said that a grammar of language is a description of the sentences of the language.
‘How much grammar’- the most difficult question to answer is how much grammar? Surely the answer will depend on the level at which we are teaching and a kind of grammar that we teaching it will depend on ‘consumers’. We have in M.P. a seven-year course in English, we should organize our teaching 9f grammar in such a way that our students become familiar with’ the basic rules of sentence formation- simple, complex, and compound sentences including interrogative, negative, imperative, and passive types and the use of ar1icles, prepositions, and tenses
How should we present these ‘facts’? We should be very careful about this aspect of grammar- the presentation of grammatical facts, for it tends either to become very dull or leads on to ‘grammar fatigue’. We have already said that we are not interested in the hollow shell of formalism. There is no point in resorting to the same old mumbo-jumbos. We are interested in helping our students use English effectively
in a variety of situations. At the school level it may be useful to present grammatical facts in the following order:–
- Presenting sentences in discourse and/or identifying sentences in textual Contexts,
- Helping students make significant generalization,
- Teachers and students together working out a formula as a mnemonic Device,
Producing sentences in discourse based on rules already learnt. What emerges out of this organization is a cyclic order:
Sentence in discourse rules
Rules Sentence in discourse For example, let us look at the following sets of sentences:
- (a) This table is very heavy.
(b) We can’t lift it.
- (a) This milk is very hot.
(b) We can’t drink it.
- (a) This problem is very difficult.
(b) We can’t solve it.
In each set, (a) and (b) sentences can be combined into one sentence, using too in place of very in (a) and making (b) a constituent of (a) by introducing certain changes in it. The sentences thus formed will be:
This table is too heavy (for us) to lift This milk is too hot (for us) to drink
That is, too comes before an adjective. The adjective is followed by the verb of the second sentence in its
infinitival form. Between adjective and infinitive we can have ‘for NP’ (e.g. this problem is too difficult for Joy to do) If this NP is general (like for us, for everyone) it may be deleted. Now the students may once again be given sets of situationally significant sentence and asked to combine the sentences in each set into one sentence by using too. We can think of variety of such non-mechanical contextual exercises
Why is grammar so popular in certain schools and with certain teachers?
First reason is that it is possible for a teacher to teach the grammar of a language although he has no real command over that language.
The second reason is that grammar is popular with examiner. It is difficult to test fluent speaking ability or writing ability grammar questions are easy to set and correct.
The third reason is that Directors of Education demands grammar. They observe that the children in the schools speak and write. Ungrammatically and say, “Therefore teach them more Grammar”.
Fourth, the educational theorist demands it, “Grammar gives a training in Reasoning”. In the present instance the aim is to enable the learner to listen and speak, to read and write English. But the grammar book and the grammar curriculum are like the luggage of an unskilled camper who does not know where he is going or what he is going to do there; so he has tumbled into the bag all sorts of useless articles. In order to get things right we have to unpack the grammarian’s luggage and repack it for him.
Teaching of grammar would not certainly help in removing these errors. This can only be done by repeated practice within a graded and controlled vocabulary
F.G. French, communication is not possible with the help of words only English language is based on three basic principles:-
A Word order
B Structural words C A few inflections
Of these three the word order is most important. Unlike Sanskrit and like Hindi and the most of the other languages the word -order in English is fixed and the plan of each model sentence depends upon this word –
order.. On the basis of one model sentence hundreds of other sentences can be made.
After word order and sentence patterns the next important thing in English is structural words. These are:
- the pronoun
- the preposition,
- the determiners,
- the auxiliaries and modals.
- Structural adjectives-articles, demonstratives and determiners (this, that, all, each etc.)
- Structural adverbs-ago, again, also, even, ever, no not, etc.
The word-form and word order that make up grammatical materials of language are just as necessary to express meaning, as are the words.
The man killed the bear. The bear killed the man.
In the above sentence mere change in the position of content words brought a considerable change in meaning.
The Essentials of Grammar-
There are certain parts of grammar, which would assist the teacher to lead his pupils to speak and write
good English these can be usefully taught The following syllabus is suggested tentatively:
A). The sentence:
- The structure of the simple sentence
- The structure of the complex sentence:
- The nature of noun, adjective, and adverb clauses.
- The difference between main and subordinate clauses.
- The function of each clause in a complex sentence.
- Parts of Speech: their classification by the functions they perform in the sentence
C). Analysis:
- of simple sentences into subject and predicate.
- of complex and compound sentences into clauses
D). Idiomatic Usages:
- the sequence of sentence of tenses
- Direct and indirect forms of speech.
- A rough idea of the usage of a (an) and the.
V) The use of particular prepositions with particular words.
The notion of ‘Error’: -The problem of learner’s errors and their significance has been dealt with only cursorily by most authors on the teaching of modern languages. They are normally considered as inevitable by-products of the process of learning a language. At the most with the application of linguistic and psychological theory to the study of language, errors are looked upon as the result of interference of the habits of the first language in the learning of a second language. The major contribution of linguists to language teaching would consist in an intensive contrastive study of the systems of the second language and the mother tongue of the learner and the prediction of areas of difficulty, which the teacher was likely to encounter, so that he could build a strategy to deal with them
“It has been stated as a principle of Applied Linguistics that all the mistakes of the language learners are due to the make-up of his native language. This is demonstrably false. Many -mistakes actually made have no parallel in the native language. In fact different learners with the same native language do make different mistakes”
The Problems of learners error is a matter of great concern because certain teachers and authors have dealt only cursorily with it .Much has been said about errors but no concrete step has been taken so far to eliminate errors completely .Some says it is a “by product” of learning process and occurrence of errors in it cannot be stopped .While some says it is due to interference of L1 with L2. While on the other hand some even tried to predict errors, but it is not possible because we cannot say which mistake will be made and when it will be made. Errors are in fact an index of learners progress actually these abnormalities in learning or errors lead to the path to analyze the root system of learning. An intensive contrastive study of the root system of the L2 And L1 can only predict the areas of difficulty so that a clear cut strategy could be framed to tackle the errors.
Errors are committed by false analogy in the L2 on account of sheer ignorance of the correct Pattern on the part of the learners. But we have another perspective also from the teacher’s view point that
if the teacher is perfect there would be no error
Some believes that errors are inevitable because teaching can never be perfect
Brown and Frazer point out that the best evidence that the child possesses construction rules is the occurrence of the systematic errors.
Error analysis
Error analysis as a branch of applied linguistics is of a relatively recent origin. That a large number of errors
would indicate defective learning, whereas an absence of errors would denote satisfactory achievement. The
presence of errors has thus amounted to a punishable offence or an undesirable and avoidable shortcoming in the learner’s performance. It deals with how the error of any kind systematic or non systematic is committed by learner. Different investigators have different approaches regarding what an error is Corder (1967) has distinguished between systematic and non systematic errors by describing the phenomenon of deviant language item such as lapses, mistake and errors (Corder 197(a), 1974
This particular field of applied linguistics was initially an application of concepts derived from linguistics theory of the first language acquisition .EA and inter language studies help in solving learners errors .EA is
an intensive contrastive study of the system of the L2 and the mother tongue of the learners predicting difficulty prone areas. EA is a strategy to deal with such situations Error or linguistics analysis suggests that practical technique should be adopted to achieve the desired goal by penetrating structural and systematic description of English as L2 it is analyses that there is a presence of interference between the structural difference of native language and second language In the process of learning.
.
The sole purpose of the EA is to find factors responsible for committing grammatical errors and suggest some remedial measures so as to eliminate maximum errors.
EA is a branch of applied linguistics is a new concept .it is assumed that:
More errors — Defective learning Fewer errors —Satisfactory achievement No errors —— Effective teaching.
It is studied that proper grasping of the different areas may decrease or completely eliminate the errors in language learning .but this is not always true errors still continue to persist .at this moment role of EA comes in to picture. it studies how the actual error found in the language learning.
EA thus an offshoot of contrastive analysis concerned with 3 aspects of error in second language learning
.they are
Source of errors
Language learning strategies
Development process
An approach to error identification & analysis
A three step approach designed by the authors is adopted to enable, identifying and analyzing errors of
students.
Where is the problem? Identification of errors
Without sentence containing the error (highlight word/phrase/clause which shows the error) He are hungry (^are)
He hit car (are)
What is the type of problem? Definition & classification of error.
- State type of error
e.g. (Part of speech, N, P, Preposition, adverb adjective, Verb)
- Classify error type
e.g. (Omission, over generalization, wrong combination)
How can you explain the problem? Explanation of the rule and exemplification.
- State the grammar rule which has been violated
E.g. singular subject (he) must take a singular verb) is
- Give correct form to show contrast with inappropriate form
- Give examples showing the rule in action She is tired
Knowledge of grammatical terms such as countable/uncountable noun, transitive/intransitive verb static/Dynamic verb Main/subordinate clause enables the teachers to begin describing and discussing the
errors identified. The classification of error type was facilitated by the use of broad term such as ‘omissions’ ‘over-generalization’ unnecessary insertion, which acted as prompts in guiding teachers to
explain the nature of error identified. The teachers at the training level commented that the use these leading prompts gave them the confidence to begin tiling about the errors identified and provided them a sharper focus in analyzing the errors.
Much before Lado’s1 landmark in Contrastive Analysis, French2 (1949) made an elaborate study of
common errors in English, i.e. errors commonly found in the English performance of learners coming from varied linguistic backgrounds. He located three major classes of errors caused by
- Slips
- Vocabulary failure
- Pattern failure
Slips arise from insecure visualization, faulty pronunciation or misconception of meaning. These are errors
of immaturity and are not habitual.
Vocabulary failure includes failure to recall the correct words in the context and inability to discriminate
between words more or less alike. This may be caused by the learner’s ignorance of the word needed to express the thought exactly.
Pattern failure is the most important of the three classes and includes:
- Failure to recall the correct grammatical usage of words.
- Omission, insertion or wrong use of structural words.
- Confusion between structural verbs, verbal, concords and tenses.
Pattern failure results from the pupils’ insecure control over four aspects of his material:
- He is in difficulty about sentence- patterns and about ensuring that each component of a sentence is constructed in accordance with the part it has to play, e. g. ‘this is the horse which he rides it’ where the qualifier is wrongly constructed.
- He is shaky in the construction of patterns and collocations less than sentences, e.g., In ‘it is time
for going’ he is confused about the infinitive and gerund pattern.
- He fails to discriminate English conventions regarding tense usage involving time, probability,
condition, concession, indirect speech etc. As in ‘I wish it is Sunday today’ where actual time and condition are confused.
- He is uncertain in the grammatical requirements of structural words, such as ‘neither, each, one, so’ etc. Thus French pointed out that it is the target language itself and not the learners’ native language,
which is the most important source of errors.
Thus the sources of errors found by Duskova were:
- Interference of the native language due to negative transfer or non-existence of certain features in the mother tongue, and
- Interference from other forms of the target language
She concluded that categories that exist in both languages but display differences in their functions and distribution, although giving rise to many errors, do not seem to be the most potent source of errors. What proves to be more difficult is a category non-existent in the mother tongue? Here the learner has no frame of reference to which he can relate his expression in the foreign language. He is faced with the problem of developing intuition for the foreign language category independently of the mother tongue.
Buteau’s study concerned factors that set degrees of difficulty in second language (French) learning at the
intermediate level, and the ordering of difficulty based on the results of the best.
Thus the major sources of error found by Buteau were:
1 Inadequate understanding of the functional relationship within the target language;
- Confusion within the target language systems, resulting in wrong anagogic patterns, i.e., confusion of cues;
- Inability to make proper choices resulting from improper generalizations, and
- In the absence of perceived signals, conscious or unconscious resource to native language patterns.
Various factors, interfere with the progress of learning. These factors may be linguistic, sociological or psychological. The linguistic factors may be intralingual or interlingual, while the sociological and psychological factors may be called non-lingual. These difficulties may cause a temporary breakdown in learning, but not the learner’s failure or a state of despair. To summarize, two different approaches to the problem of difficulty in second language learning have been considered-the contrastive analysis approach and the error analysis approach. The contrastive analysis approaches aim at predicting the areas of difficulty in second language teaching with reference to interference of the first language. The error analysis approach takes up the actual errors and tries to describe them in linguistic terms and explain some of the probable sources of errors.
According to Corder (1973 :277), errors fall into four main categories: omission of some required elements:
addition of some unnecessary or incorrect elements: selection of an incorrect element and mis-ordering of elements,
This study proposes to make a beginning in the higher secondary students of Bhopal division in MP by focusing on the types of errors they make.
The following are the objectives of this study
- To identify some of the errors in selected areas of English grammar made
by a group of 150 higher secondary students of Bhopal division in MP
- To describe them in linguistic terms indicating what rules of grammar and
Usage have been violated with pedagogical notes for remediation and
- To explain some of the probable sources of errors
It was found that the student being fed with the routine grammar does not fulfill their future requirements. This grammar does not touch the practical or communicative aspects Certain grammatical items are totally remained untouched in order to justify their objectives of the research work students are drilled with hand Picked pin pointed and target oriented examples so their standing and concept clearance could be analyzed
. the strategy behind framing such test pattern is that by doing so perfect analytical results could be obtained
. the students are tested right from basic fundamentals of grammar to the most difficult (as also prescribed
in MP board syllabus) Each test paper consists of sequentially arranged examples in increasing order of complexity. Presenting test paper in such a way helped them to gather their knowledge to get the examples solved
Data was collected from the four schools affiliated to M.P. Board Bhopal: Two kinds of materials are generally used in error analysis:
- Free composition and
- A prepared test.
Most error analyses use composition, translation etc. as a tool for testing. Free composition gives the
student complete freedom to Write what he likes within the limits of the given topic but he can avoid those structures and elements of language in respect of which he is not confident. A prepared test on the other
hand forces the student to use those structures in which the investigator is particularly interested and which may be avoided by the student in a free composition exercise. It is however important to supplement such textual data by data drawn form various types of elicitation procedures. Students sitting for the same examinations usually form a heterogeneous group with widely different backgrounds’ and learning characteristics. Furthermore, examination material often provides inadequate data
for many linguistic categories and for individual students, total competence. Test material is suitable for
forming hypotheses about the learner’s language, and, on the basis of such
primary analyses, we can construct illuminating and adequate elicitation tests to shed light on precisely
those points we are interested in.
It was therefore decided to divide the test given to the students into five papers:
- Test paper one is about noun. Pronoun and adjectives
- Test paper two is about Determiners and Articles
- Test paper three is about Preposition, Modals and infinitives
- Test paper four is about BE/Possessive forms of simple verb and tenses e. Test paper five is
about S/V agreement voice, simple future verbs and conditional participles sentences The following considerations determined the areas of investigation for this study:
a. Areas of errors found in some of the studies reviewed (Bhaskar; 1962; BlIlt, 1975;BUlt and Kiparsky 1972, 1975; Duskova, 1969; George, 1972; Richards, 1971b; Selinker, 1972);
b Teaching items included in the Higher Secondary syllabus of the Board of Secondary Education, M.P., Bhopal; and
c. Significance of language items for the students’ ability to use the English Language in a socio functional approach effectively.
After a careful review of the above factors the following areas were selected for investigation:–
Error in the use of word formation and its derivations
Errors in the use of pronominal and basic forms of verb (BE)
Errors in the use of articles Errors in the use of determiners
Errors in the use of preposition, modals and simple future verb Errors in the use of tenses (syntax)
Errors in the use of infinitives (to + verb) and voices Errors in the use of agreement between subject /verb
Errors in the use of conditional sentences Errors in the use of participles.
For the Collection of data prepared test papers were administered for five days The types of exercises are asked according to their board exam question paper based on their syllabus in grammar section, but more emphases is given to the context in those exercises. Test papers of those students who attempted all five papers were considered for analysis. Each paper was carefully read and errors were marked in red ink. Then each paper was once again examined for errors and any sentence containing an error was transferred to a card index. All doubtful cases were listed separately. Errors belonging to one of the ten areas listed in 3.1.4 went on to one set of cards. At this stage of analysis each area was considered a category. Once listing of errors was over, then errors in each of the ten categories were reexamined very thoroughly for further sub- categorization. Sub-categories were established in terms of the rules of grammar or usage violated rather than in terms of sources. Each subcategory was described with reference to the rules of English grammar and usage following the suggestion of Halliday et. al. (1964, p.119): “an error can be described with complete accuracy by reference solely to the description of English
The purpose of this study is to find out in an erroneous sentence that is any word, phrase or sentence which deviates from its manner of use by an educated native speaker of standard British English or violates any rule of Contemporary English Grammar and Usage. Each erroneous sentence was thus regarded as deviant by comparison with an. authoritative interpretation of the error in conformity with the rules of Standard English Grammar and Usage.
The collected data was organized and analyzed by editing, clarification, and tabulation etc. to draw proper
inference to serve worth while purpose. The study of the tabulated material was done in order to determine inherent facts or meanings
Recognition of errors is the most important step in error analysis. The investigator must find out what the learner wants to communicate. If it is speech analysis and the learner is present. he can be asked to explain what he means to say whenever the investigator finds an unclear utterance in his corpus. But with written test papers the problem of interpretation becomes more difficult. The only help is the context in which an utterance is used.
What a grammatical error is? In most cases, this was not difficult, since the degree of deviation from the
normal form was such as to leave no doubt of the unacceptability of the form in test items. Difference between errors and mistake was the clearly deviant forms, which were regarded as errors, and the normal forms there was a whole scale deviant forms vary in the degree of deviation. In the case of form displaying a low degree of deviation, it was hard to decide whether or not to regard them as errors. Interpretation of test papers will bring the correct ratio of percentage of making errors and mistakes by the students of the +2 level. Their results will show their proficiency in using this foreign language, which is target, in the school of Bhopal District as a 2nd language. Morphological errors were found in this exercise. Learners failed in using the correct suffixes to change the verbs adjectives and noun forms. Most of the errors due to their lack
of linguistic competence. but some are mistakes due to their performances. learners failed in using the correct noun ,adjective in place of the words in brackets these errors and mistakes showed their lack of proficiency in using the foreign language. the low frequency showed students unawareness about the comprehension of noun phrases .It appears that as if learners are not exposed to basic grammatical skills necessary for their strong base to understand target language. Learners committed errors because majority of them are not aware of the correct preposition due to lack of knowledge .The higher frequency of
errors shows interference of mother tongue and target language.
The purpose of this study is to find out in an erroneous sentence that is any word, phrase or sentence which deviates from its manner of use by an educated native speaker of standard British English or violates any rule of Contemporary English Grammar and Usage. Each erroneous sentence was thus regarded as deviant by comparison with an. authoritative interpretation of the error in conformity with the rules of Standard English Grammar and Usage. The collected data was organized and analyzed by editing, clarification, and tabulation etc. to draw proper inference to serve worth while purpose. The study of the tabulated material was done in order to determine inherent facts or meanings
Recognition of errors is the most important step in error analysis. The investigator must find out what the learner wants to communicate. If it is speech analysis and the learner is present. he can be asked to explain what he means to say whenever the investigator finds an unclear utterance in his corpus. But with written test papers the problem of interpretation becomes more difficult. The only help is the context in which an utterance is used. We have been assuming that errors are the surface phenomena which demonstrate the existence of an underlying system and that our task is to specify the components and relationships between the component parts of that system. There may or may not be some psychological reality in our description
i.e. it may minor what happens in the user’s mind and if it does so much the better but its purpose is no more
than the efficient description of a logical way in which the data can be accounted for the prime requirement of the description of error is that it should demonstrate what the learner produces is rule-governed and not random
Where identification of errors are matters which pertain to linguistic, explanation of errors is a psycho-
linguistic problem. It involves explaining errors in terms of linguistic processes or rules being followed by the learner. The investigator’s task is to account for the appearance of the error in terms of its sources. It is an investigation into the reasons why the learner has broken disregards or ignored rules of the target language.
The methodology followed, however, poses many problems. In a group study, one can deal only with those errors, which are reasonably systematic and ignore individual and unsystematic deviations. While attempting an analysis of a group’s errors, the investigator cannot account for individual attitudes and motivational factors. Nor can be dealt with factors of age, intelligence and socio-cultural backgrounds in an adequate manner. Use of wrong suffixes and spelling mistakes are also seen in some of the examples. They are also not familiar with the phonological conditioning of morphemes. And the second language learners have only inter language exposure for the foreign language. So that they do not produce erratic use of language.
Analysis of basic grammatical items shows that learners are incompetent in changing simple verb to noun
.it appears that word building ability of students has not arisen even an inch . they could not gather idea of
changing them as per requirement .for example for please they make pleased or made error like wise they don’t know the concept of deep to depth nearly 120 made mistake
Mistakes / Errors in the use of pronominal are interlingual. Some learners made mistakes in the area of third person masculine and third person feminine in all the three cases i.e. masculine, feminine and genitive.
This is due to mother tongue interference
Errors in the use of articles.
Errors in the use of Verbs and Tenses: Wrong choice of auxiliary verbs. Errors in the use of Time and Tenses
Error in supplying subject according to Verb
Errors in the use of articles, prepositions and adverbial particles
Some Worth mentioning Miscellaneous discussions
Errors in syntax or word order which could be directly attributed to mother tongue interference are
found in the following types of usage
Indirect interference of mother tongue \vas also noticed in a few cases where the learners appeared to be mixing up the two languages mostly reflected in erroneous word order
They were not familiar with the subject operator inversion rule. Similarly they were not familiar with the positions of adverbial phrase in a sentence. Too much practice is to be given only then they may use such sentence correctly. lnterlingual and intralingual both are the reasons behind these errors.
It has been observed that even the learners are theoretically familiar with the grammar of a target language;
they have difficulty in constructing sentences in that language. Most or the sentences are incorrect. They are unaware or the transformational rules. Learners’ analogy reflects that they have failed in generalizing the rules while they were taught. It was due to the unscientific approach applied for teaching of structures in the schools. They are also wrong in using unless in the sentence. Is unless she is not invited she won’t go. Passivizations of a sentence was wrongly done by most of the students.
Language teachers have always been concerned about the errors of their students. The traditional attitude to errors was that “all errors other than those made by native speakers are abnormalities” (Palmer, 1917:81). But in recent years, particularly in the wake of the Chomskyan revolution in linguistic, this traditional view of learners’ errors as deficiencies has given way to a more rational view. Errors are now viewed as evidence of the learner’s progress towards acquiring the target language. The learner is now seen as constructing for himself a mini-grammar of the target language on the basis of the linguistic data to which he is exposed. He tries out this mini-grammar whenever he performs in the target language and produces errors. The learner’s errors, therefore, give us an insight into his system at a particular stage of learning.
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