Investigating error analysis in interlinguistic English language teaching and the consequences of contradictory analysis on teaching quality

Abstract

Students learning a foreign language meet with many kinds of learning problems dealing with its sound system, vocabulary, structure, etc. Linguists try to find out the causes of the problems to be applied in language teaching, to minimize the problems. They propose contrastive analysis, error analysis, and interlanguage theory. Contrastive analysis is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities between the first language and the target language based on the assumptions that: the similarities facilitate learning while differences cause problems. A counter-theory to contrastive analysis is error analysis. A key finding of error analysis is that many learner errors are produced by learners making faulty inferences about the rules of the new language. These errors can be divided into three subcategories: overgeneralization, incomplete rule application, and the hypothesizing of false concepts. In the mid-1970s, Corder and others moved on to a more wide-ranging approach to learner language, known as interlanguage. The scholars reject the view of learner language as merely an imperfect version of the target language. Interlanguage is continuum between the first language and the target language. Interlanguage is dynamic (constantly adapting to new information) and influenced by the learners.