ELEMENTS WITHOUT PRIOR INSTRUCTION (EWPI), A NEW CATEGORY FOR ANALYSING SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: A PANORAMIC REVIEW OF ERROR ANALYSIS

Abstract

This article presents a panoramic review of Error Analysis and Interlanguage studies, with the aim of reflecting on the need to include a new taxonomic category in said research. If formal second language teaching is an important factor in learning, there is no doubt that research on students' interlanguage should reflect this importance. This can be formulated through an operational category in formal learning contexts that allows the student's data to be classified, depending on whether the element of analysis has been previously instructed or not. This category gives great importance to the entire production and opens new paths in the dialogue with the influence of non-formal learning and with the positive impact of related languages, regardless of whether it is the mother tongue. It also highlights the importance of observing, quantifying and describing linguistic phenomena that are not necessarily produced in large absolute numbers, but that might still be relevant to explain the evolution of second language acquisition.