Selection of Developmental Errors by Students with Different L1 Backgrounds

Abstract

Since the end of the 1960s there has been a gradual & consistent change in English as a foreign/second language instruction, based on the assumption that an analysis of "learning strategies" should take priority over interest in "teaching methods." One result has been examination of student errors. In a study of English language errors made by several adult students from different countries, Jack Richards (Error Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition, London: Longman, 1974) proposed that a large number of student errors are due to learner strategies & mutual interference of target-language items. Here, errors are treated as a measurable variable. A multiple-choice test involving 19 error types related to English verb structure was administered to primary students having Chinese, Malay, or Tamil as a native language (N = 464). Ss were asked to select the appropriate answer for a question in a series of "mini dialogues." Results show that developmental errors are a measurable variable. No significant differences in score were found between speakers of different native languages. The diagnostic validity of developmental errors is confirmed. Modified HA.