Pronunciation of english ending sounds an analysis of errors made by high school students = (phân tích lỗi về việc phát âm âm cuối tiếng anh của học sinh trung học phổ thông)

VINH UNIVERSITY
FOREIGN LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT

NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH

PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH ENDING SOUNDS –
AN ANALYSIS OF ERRORS MADE BY HIGH
SCHOOL STUDENTS
(PHÂN TÍCH LỖI VỀ VIỆC PHÁT ÂM ÂM CUỐI TIẾNG ANH
CỦA HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG)

GRADUATION THESIS
FIELD: METHODOLOGY
CLASS: 49A – ENGLISH

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Kim Anh, M.A

VINH - 2012

1


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to the great supports from my lecturers, my family and my friends
therefore I could complete my thesis.
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Nguyen
Thi Kim Anh, M.A, for her readiness at all time to discuss the problems and give me
useful advice and important materials for my thesis, without which my thesis would
have still remained uncompleted.
I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all of my teachers in the Foreign
Language Department of Vinh University for their lectures on the area, which enable

me to get a lot of theoretical as well as practical knowledge.
Finally, I am very grateful to my parents and my close friends who are always by
my side in order to help and encourage me while I was doing this thesis.
Vinh, 2012

Nguyễn Thị Bích

2


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements

i

Table of contents

ii

Table and diagram

v

Abbreviation

vi

Part A : Introduction

1

1. Justification of the study

2

2. Aims of the study

2

3. Methods of the study

2

4. Scope of the study

2

5. Format of the study

2

Part B: Development

4

Chapter 1: Theoretical background
1. Pronunciation in English
1.1.

The definition of pronunciation

1.2.

English standard pronunciation

1.3. Phonetics
1.3.1. The definition of phonetics

4
4
4
4
5
5

1.3.2. The English sounds

5

1.3.2.1. The English vowel sounds

5

1.3.2.2. The English consonant sounds

7

1.4. English stress

10

1.4.1. The nature of stress

10

1.4.2. Level of stress

10

1.4.3. The placement of stress within the words

11

1.5. Aspects of connected speech

11
3


1.5.1. Rhythm

11

1.5.2. Assimilation

11

1.5.3. Ellision

12

1.5.4. Linking

12

1.6. English ending sounds

12

1.7. Vietnamese ending sounds

15

2. Errors in language learning process

17

2.1.

The definition of errors

17

2.2.

Errors verus mistake

17

2.3.

The concept of errors analysis

19

2.4.

The significance of learners’ errors

20

2.5.

Factors causing foreign language learners to make errors

20

2.5.1. Interlingual errors

20

2.5.2. Intralingual errors

21

2.5.2.1. Over-genaralization

22

2.5.2.2. Ignorance of rule restriction

22

2.5.2.3. Incomplete application of rules

23

2.5.2.4. False concept hypothesized

23

Chapter 2: The study

24

1. Research questions

24

2. Research setting

24

3. The subject

23

4. Data collection

25

5. Procedure
6. Predictable errors and mistakes made by high school students
7. Preliminary results and data analysis

25
25
26

7.1.

Results of section 1

26

7.2.

Results of section 2

28

4


7.3.

Results of section 3

31

8. Errors and their causes

32

8.1.

Errors and their causes in section 1

32

8.2.

Errors and their causes in section 2

35

8.3.

Errors and their causes in section 3

39

8.4.

General tendency

42

Chapter 3: Findings and discussion

44

1. Research question review

44

1.1. Research question 1

44

1.2. Research question 2

44

1.3. Research question 3

45

2. Implications for teaching and learning English ending sounds
pronunciation
2.1.

45

Suggestion for teaching English ending sounds pronunciation

45

2.1.1. Suggestion for presentation

45

2.1.2. Suggestion for practice

47

2.1.3. Suggestions for production

49

2.2.

Suggestion for learning English ending sounds pronunciation

50

3. Suggestion for futher research

51

Part C: Conclusion

52

References

54

Appendix

56

Suggested answer

57

5


LIST OF DIAGRAMS AND TABLES
Diagram 2.1: Results of students’ performance in doing section 1

27

Diagram 2.2: Results of students’ performance in doing section 2

29

Diagram 2.3: Results of students’ performance in doing section 3

31

Table 2.1: Results of students’ performance in doing section 1

26

Table 2.2: Errors in section 1
Table 2.3: Results of students’ performance in doing section 2
Table 2.4: Errors in section 2
Table 2.5: Results of students’ performance in doing section 3

Table 2.6: Errors in section 3

27
28
30
30
32

Table 2.7: Number of error causes in section 1

34

Table 2.8: Number of error causes in section 2

39

Table 2.9: Number of error causes in section 3

42

Table 2.10: Total of number error causes in the survey

43

6


ABBREVIATIONS
Eg: example
N: number

Q: question
ESL: English as a Foreign Language
GA: General American

7


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Justification of the study
As we know, English is an international language. It has become the most
powerful language in the world. It is also the official language of 45 nations. A lot of
people speak English as mother tongue in their daily life. Moreover, English is used
widely in many fields such as: entertainment, technology, education, communication,
etc. Lots of TV programmes are broadcast in English, most of magazines, newspapers,
books are published in English. Especially, almost websites on Internet are written in
order to approach the world’s development, widen our knowledge about what is
happening around us. That is one of the reasons why there is an increasing demand for
learning English. Most people learn English not only to communicate but also to reach
the source of human’s information.
The second reason for conducting this research is the importance of pronunciation
in communication. The goal of learning a foreign language is communicating, so clear
pronunciation is very important. Poor pronunciation often prevents communication. If
a student mispronounces a sound, a stress or a word, or wrongly uses the rhythm and
intonation of his utterances, he will surely cause misunderstanding, even no
understanding for his partner. While studying English there are many pronunciation
errors that learners are likely to make: word and sentence stress, intonation, length of
vowel sounds etc. However, I realize that errors with pronunciation of ending sounds
are the typical pronunciation problem for Vietnamese learners. Lack or wrong ending
sounds in pronunciation will lead to the problem in communication as written above.
Finally, because of the influence of Vietnamese mother tongue, in which the

Vietnamese consonant sounds are never paid attention to. Vietnamese learners tend to
make errors with ending sounds. They either simply omit them or pronounce them
wrongly. Moreover, when teaching a foreign language, teachers mainly pay attention

8


to grammar, reading skill, writing skill instead of pronunciation in general and ending
sounds in particular.
From the reasons above, it is essential to study the errors of ending sound
pronunciation made by high school students in this thesis.
2. Aims of the study
The study reported in this thesis aims to:
- Identify the pronunciation errors of English ending sounds made by high school
students.
- Analyze the major causes and sources of errors made by high school students.
- Suggest some activities and sollutions for teaching and learning pronunciation of
English ending sounds.
3. Methods of the study
In the study, we use both qualitative and quantitative methods.
First, we search for information, read books, materials related to the study.
Then, we collect the data of errors made by students when pronouncing the
English ending sounds.
Next, we find and analyze the errors.
Lastly, we give some applications and suggestions to learners and teachers about
ending sound pronunciation.
4. Scope of the study
The study focuses on the errors made by high school students when pronouncing
the English ending sounds.
In order to conduct the research, we observe the students’ pronunciation at class

and collect data related to the errors with ending sound pronunciation.
5. Format of the study
The study is divided into three main parts:
9


Part A: Introduction
This part deals with the justification, aims, methods, scope and format of the study.
Part B: Development
This part is presented in three chapters:
Chapter 1: Theoretical Background
This chapter gives theoretical background of the study including theory of
pronunciation and phonetics as well as errors in language learning process.
Chapter 2: The study
This chapter focuses on finding and analyzing the errors made by students when
pronouncing the ending sounds in English. The statistics of the data are also stated.
Chapter 3: Finding and discussion
In this chapter, we propose some findings and suggestions in teaching and learning
ending sound pronunciation.
Part C: Conclusion
In this part, we summarize major findings of the study and give some suggestions for
further study.

10


PART B. DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1 – THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1. Pronunciation in English
1.1. The definition of pronunciation

Since the author aspires to investigate the pronunciation errors with ending sounds
in English, the definition of English pronunciation is exceedingly important. In order
to do error analysis, a Standard English pronunciation should also be defined to base
on.
According to Crowther and Jonathan (1992), pronunciation is simply put as “the
way in which a language is spoken”. As Houghton Mifflin (2001), pronunciation as
“a way of speaking a word, especially a way that is accepted or generally understood”
( as cited in Nguyen, 2008:06).
1.2. English standard pronunciation
Standard English is the most prefered accent in any social setting and to teach
students. It is considered to be neutral, easier to remember and imitate as compared to
regional accents and it is heard on radio and TV. In 1914, H.C.Wyld introduced the
term “Received English” (RP) to cover the meaning of generally accepted in the best
society. Until now, this term has been widely used to convey the meaning “accepted
and approved” (Nguyen, 2008:07). Sometimes RP is referred to as the English of
English people, which is used by BBC TV broadcasting channels. However, nowadays
English has become the common means of communication. It is no longer the own
property of British people. Hence, pronunciation of English varies from place to place,
and therefore, a standard pronunciation in one place may not be as much as standard in
others. It seems that the goal Standard English has been somewhat changing to a
universally intelligible language as English is becoming international . However, it can
not be denied that a native-like English pronunciation is still what non-native learners
are looking forward to.
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Standard English pronunciation can be any dialect of English that is widely used
and accepted in the world. It is common knowledge that there are two major varieties
(or dialects) of English that command respect in their countries and elsewhere in the
world: RP in the United Kingdom and General American (GA) English in the United

States. They are two main dialects for international broadcasts and in social and
business setting. However, Vietnamese people tend to follow non-rhotic accent (like
RP English) in which the /r/ sound is not pronounced at the end of words, so it is more
reasonable to choose RP English as the standard one. In this thesis, RP English will be
used as the criteria for students’pronunciation analyzing. The International Phonetic
Alphabet will also be used to transcribe the speech sample throughout the thesis.
1.3. Phonetics
1.3.1. The definition of phonetics
According to Houghton Mifflin (2000): Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that
deal with the sounds of speech and their production, combination, description, and
representation by written symbols.
1.3.2. The English sounds
There are 44 sounds in English. They are divided into two groups: 20 vowel
sounds including vowels, diphthongs and tripthongs and 24 consonant sounds.
This study aims to investigate ending sounds only. Sound systems in English are also
presented below to support later analysis.
1.3.2.1. Vowel sounds
Vowels are “sounds in the production of which there is no obstruction to the flow
of air as it passes the larynx to the lips” (Roach, 2000:10)

12


Front
Close

Central

Back

i:

u: High
i

u
ᴈ:

Half-close
ə

e

ɔ:

ʌ

Half-open
ӕ

Middle

ɔ
a:

Low

Open
Spread

Unrounded

Rounded

Figure 1: Vowel chart
a. Monothongs
Monothongs are pure vowel sounds, when we produce them, the organ of speech
remain unchanged
Monothongs include: e, ӕ, u, u:, ɔ, ɔ:, i, i:, ʌ, a:, ə, ᴈ:
Monothongs are classified according to four criterias the shape of lips, the position
of the tongue, the length of sounds and the highest part of the tongue.
- The shape of lips:
+ Spread: i:, i, e,ӕ
+ Unrounded: ə, ᴈ:, ʌ
+ Rounded: u, u:, a:, ɔ, ɔ:
- Position of the tongue in the mouth:
+ High: i:, i, u, u:
+ Middle: e, ᴈ:, ə, ɔ:
+ Low: ӕ, a:, ʌ, ɔ
- The highest part of the tongue:
+ Front: i:, i, e, ӕ
13


+ Central: ə, ᴈ:, ʌ
+ Back: u, u:, a:, ɔ, ɔ:
- The leghth of the sounds:
+ Long sounds: i:, a:, ɔ:, u:, ᴈ:
+ Short sounds: i, ʌ, ɔ, u, ӕ, ə,
b. Diphthongs

According to Kelly (2003) diphthong is “a combination of vowel sounds”. Also
Kelly (2003) classifies diphthongs into two groups: closing and centering diphthongs.
They are presented as follow:
Closing diphthongs:
- Glide to /i/: ɔi, ai, ei
- Glide to /u/: au, əu
Centering diphthongs
- Glide to /ə/: iə, uə, eə,
1.3.2.2. Consonant sounds
According to Roach (2000) consonants are “speech sounds when we produce
them the organs of speech always form a barrier, the airstream is stopped before going
out of the mouth and the vocal cords may vibrate or not”. Consonant sounds differ
from consonant letters. In Wikipedia Dictionary, it is said that “the number of
consonants in the world’s languages is much greater than the number of consonant
letters in any one alphabet”. Those consonant letters like c, q and x are missing as they
are found in other sounds. (The C letter is found in the k sounds and in the s sound in
the words like cereal, city and cent. The q letter is found in “kw” words like
backwards).
The classification of consonants is based on many criterias. Based on the manner
of articulation, consonants are classified into 6 groups:
- Plosive
- Fricative
- Affricative
14


- Nasal
- Lateral
- Approximant
+ Plosive: /p/,/b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /d/

When we produce these sounds, the airstream is completely stopped and then
suddently released with a light explosion
+ Fricative: /s/, /z/, /f/, /v/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /δ/, /h/
These sounds are produced when the airstream is partially stopped and gradually
released with audible friction
+ Affricative: /ʧ/, /ʤ/
These sounds are made with the airstream completely stopped and gradually released
+ Nasal: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/
These sounds are produced when the airstream escapes through the nose
+ Lateral : /l/
This sound is produced with the airstream escaping along the sides of the tongue
+ Approminant: /w/, /j/, /r/
These sounds are produced with the little friction
Based on the place of articulation, consonants are classified into 9 groups:
- Bilabials: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/
The bilabial consonants are sounds produced with two lips combining together.
- Labio-dental: /v, /f/
These sounds are made with the lower lips touch the upper teeth.
- Dental: /θ/, /δ/
Dentals are produced with the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth.
- Alveolars: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /n/
These sounds are produced with the tips of the tongue touches the alveolar.
- Post-alveolar: /r/
This sound is made with the tip of the tongue touches the part behind the alveolar.
- Palato-alveolar: /ʒ/, /ʃ/, /ʤ/, /ʧ/
15


When producing these sounds, the tip of the tongue raises between the alveolar and
hard palate.

- Palatal: /j/
The front of the upper surface of the tongue nearly touches the hard palate.
- Velar : /k/, /g/, /ŋ/
These sounds are produced with the bank of the tongue touches the soft palate at the
bank of the mouth.
- Glottal: /h/
This sound is produced with rapid closing of the glottis.
Based on the state of vocal cords, consonants are divided into 2 groups: voiced
and voiceless.
If the vocal cord vibrates, the sounds produced are voiced.
If the vocal cord does not vibrate, the sounds produced are voiceless: /p/, /t/, /k/,
/s/, /f/, /h/, /ʃ/, /θ/, /ʧ/.
The rest are voiceless.
Here is the table of consonant sounds:
Bilabial

Labio

Dental

Alveolar

Palato

Palatal Velar

Glottal

–

dental

alveol
ar
Plosive

p b

Fricative

t d
f

v

θ δ

s

ʒ

ʃ

h

ʤ ʧ

Affricative
Nasal

z

k g

m

n

ŋ

16


Lateoral

l

Approximant w

r

j

Figure 2: Consonant chart
1.4. English stress
1.4.1. The nature of stress
The nature of stress is simple enough – pratically everyone would agree that the
first syllable of words like “father”, “open”, “ camera” is stressed, that the middle
syllable is stressed in “potato”, “apartment”, “relation” and that the final syllable is
stressed in “about”, “receive”, “perhaps”, and most people feel they have some sorts

of idea of what the difference is between stressed and unstressed syllables, though they
might explain it in many different ways.
According to Roach (2000), we can study stress from the point of view of
production and of perception; the two are obviously closely related, but are not
identical.
Many experiments have been carried out on the perception of stress, and it is clear
that many different sound characteristics are important in making a syllable
recognisably stressed. Stressed syllables are recognized as stressed because they are
more prominent than unstressed syllables. What makes a syllable prominent?
According to Roach (2000), at least four different factors are important. They are:
loudness, length, pitch and quality.
1.4.2. Levels of stress
Roach (2000) has identified two levels of stress: tonic strong (or primary) and
non-tonic strong (or secondary), as well as a third level which can be called unstressed
and regarded as being the absence of any recognisable amount of prominence. There
are three levels that we will use in describing English stress. However, it is worth

17


noting that unstressed syllables containing /ə/, /i/, /u/ or a syllabic consonant will
sound less prominent than an unstressed syllable containing some other vowel.
1.4.3. Placement of stress within the words
In order to decide on stress placement, it is necessary to make use of some or all
of the following information:
- Whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether it is complex as a result
either of containing one or more affixes or being a compound word.
- The grammatical category to which the word belongs
- The number of syllables in the word
- The phonological structure of those syllables

1.5. Aspects of connected speech
1.5.1. Rhythm
The notion of rhythm involves some noticeable events happening at regular
intervals of time; one can detect the rhythm of a heart-beat, of a flashing light or of a
piece of music. The theory that English has stress-timed rhythm implies that stressed
syllables will tend to occur at relatively regular intervals whether they are separated by
unstressed syllables or not.
For example : 1
‘Walk

2
‘down the

3
‘path to the

4

5 (1)

‘end of the ca ‘nal

In this sentence, the stressed syllables are given numbers: syllable 1 and 2 are not
separated by any unstressed syllables, 2 and 3 are separated by one unstressed syllable,
3 and 4 by two and 4 and 5 by three.
The stress-timed rhythm theory states that the times from each stressed syllables
to the next will tend to be the same, irrespective of the number of intervening
unstressed syllables.
1.5.2. Assimilation
Assimilation is a phonetic process in which the speech sound influences a

neighboring sound making it become similar or identical.
18


Assimilation is likely to be found in rapid and casual speaking.
For example :
Good boy /Gud <

bɔi/ (2)

b
1.5.3. Ellision
Under certain circumstances, especially in rapid speech, some sounds disappear.
This phenomenon is called ellision.
- Loss of weak vowels after /p/, /t/, /k/
For example :

potato /phteitəu/

(3)

- When /l/, /n/, /r/ preceded by a weak vowel becomes syllabic consonants.
For example :

simple /simpl/

(4)

- Avoidance of complex consonant clusters.
For example : George the sixth’s throne

/ʤɔʤ

(5)

δə sikses θrəun/

- Loss of final /v/ in “of” before consonants.
For example : lots of them

/lɔts əv δəm/ (6)

1.5.4. Linking
In our hypothetical “mechanical speech” all words would be separate units
placed next to each other in sequence; in real connected speech, however, we
sometimes link words together.
For example : I like him

(7)

1.6. English ending sounds
To ESL (English as a Second Language) learners, the term “ending sound” is
familiar as it refers to those ultimate sounds in a word. More precisely it refers to the
consonant sounds as the word can end with one or more consonant sounds (consonant
clusters). Thus “ending sounds” in English pronunciation can be defined as those
consonant sounds which appear at the very end of words. They are also called Codas.
The coda is the final consonant or consonant cluster.
19


There can be up to 4 consonants in a coda:

- If there are no consonant at the end of the word, it has a zero coda.
- A single consonant is called the final consonant. Any consonant except /h/, /r/, /w/
and /j/ may be a final coda.
Eg: Final consonant sounds in English are listed as below:
/p/

-rip, keep, sleep

/b/

-rib, nib

/z/

-these, has, was

/t/

-right, start, cat

/ʃ/

-crash, splash, smash

/d/

-ride

/ʒ/

-beige

/k/

-pick, kick

/ʧ/

/g/

-big,pig

/ʤ/

-bridge, encourage

/f/

-leaf, chief

/m/

-lamb, room, gloom

/v/

-leave, naive

/n/

-than, man, happen

/θ/

-earth, wreath

/ŋ/

-sing, spring, ceiling

/δ/

/s/

-wreath, breathe

-this, miss

/l/

-church, teach

-pool, file, smile

When there are two or more consonants standing at the end of the word, the terms
“pre-final” and “post-final” consonants are used.
Pre-final includes: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /s/
Post-final includes: /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, /θ/
- Two consonant clusters
+ Pre-final /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /s/ followed by a final consonant

+ Consonant plus post-final /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, /θ/
Eg: help, bank, edge, belt, blind, books, six etc.
- Three consonant clusters
+ Pre-final plus final plus post-final (e.g. helped, banks, bonds, twelfth)
+ Final plus post-final plus post final /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/, /θ/ (e.g. fifths, next, lapsed)

Pre-final

Final

Post-final
20


Helped

he

l

p

t

Banks

bӕ

ŋ

k

s

Bonds

bɔ

n

d

z

Twelfth

twe

l

f

θ

Pre-final

Final

Post-final1

Post-final2

Fifths

fi

-

f

θ

s

Next

ne

-

k

s

t

Lapsed lӕ

-

p

s

t

- Four consonant clusters
+ Most are pre-final plus final plus post final plus post-final
e.g twelfths, prompts
+ Occasionally there is one final and three post final consonants
e.g sixths, texts.

Pre-final
Twelfths twe
Prompts

pro

Final

Post-final1

Post-final2

l

f

θ

s

m

p

t

s

Pre-final

Final

Post-final1

Post-final2

Post-final3

Sixths si

-

k

s

θ

s

Texts te

-

k

s

t

s
21


1.7. Vietnamese ending sounds
In Vietnamese, the number of codas available is just limited to a certain portion.
According to Nguyen (2007), there are only six consonants and two semi-vowels
which can stand in word-final position. The following detail about Vietnamese ending
consonants is adopted from Doan (1999) cited in Nguyen (2007)
- /m/: in words like
Em ( I, younger sister/brother)
Lượm (pick up)
Nghiêm (strict)
- /n/: in words like
Ăn (eat)
Phiên (turn)
- /N/: there are 3 allophone of this phoneme:
[Nm]: proceded by round vowels /u,o/

Xong [soNm] (finish)
Súng [SuNm] (gun)
Không [XoNm] (no,not)
- /n/: other cases
Tặng (give gift)
Thiêng (supernatural)
-/p/: with no air released after pronunciation, in words like:
Úp (up-side-down)
Pháp (France)
-/t/: pronounced shortly and sharply without aspiration such as:
Giết (kill)
Ghét (hate)

22


-/k/: produced where the letter “c”, “ch” is shown at the final position of a syllable and
it is agreed by many linguists that this phoneme has 3 allphones which appeared in a
complementary distribution.
[kp] this ending sound is bilabialisted if the consonant is preceded by rounded
vowels /u, o/
Ngọc (pearl)
Cốc (cup)
-[c]: preceded by front vowels /i, e,/ performed by letters “ch”
Nghịch (naughty)
Lệch (askew)
-[k]: elsewhere
Nhác (lazy)
Bực (angry)
-/u^/: only appear in form of letters “u” ỏ “o” which follows vowels to make

diphthongs or triphthongs:
Đau (hurt)
Vào (enter)
-/i^/: appears in form of “i” or “y” and is preceded by vowels to make diphthongs and
triphthongs:
Tay (hand)
Dài (long)
Although the two later sounds are not final consonants, they have certain
influence on the production of errors with final codas. This will be discussed in the
later part of this study. From list above, it is easy to see that Vietnamese final
consonant sounds just consist of nasal sounds (/m/, /n/, /N/) and three plosive /p/, /t/,
/k/. However, they are voiceless and unaspirated. It is plain to see that they are
different from those in English phonetics, which are clearly aspirated.

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Also, it must be noticed that in Vietnamese, there only stand one final consonant
at a time; when in English there can be up to 4 consonants at the end of words to form
consonant clusters.
2. Errors in language learning process
2.1. The definition of errors
Error is an inevitable phenomenon in language learning process. To recognize an
error one should first of all know what is meant by term “error”.
Corder (1971) uses the term “erroneous” to mean those utterances which are
either superficially deviant or inappropriate in term of the target language grammar.
He regards errors as “the result of some failure or performance”. In 1987 Hendrickson
defined that an error is an utterance, form or structure that a particular language
teacher seems unacceptable because of its inappropriate use or its absence in real life
discourse. Another linguist is Carl James (1998) who gives the definition of error in

“error in language learning and use” as “being an instance of language that is
unintentionally deviant and is not self-corrigible by its author. In Richards et.al (1992)
defined error as follow:
“In the speech or writing of a second or foreign language learner, error is the use
of linguistic item (e.g. a word, a grammatical item, a speech act. etc.) in a way in
which a fluent or native speaker of language regards as showing faulty or incomplete
learning”.
2.2. Errors verus mistakes
Identifying errors goes beyond explaining what an error is. However, as linguists
pay attention to the distinction between an error and a mistake, it is necessary to go
over definition of the two different phenomena.
According to Richards et.al (1992), a learner makes a mistake when writing or
speaking because of lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness or some other aspects of
performance.
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Mistakes can be self-corrected when attention is called. Whereas, an error is the
use of linguistic item in a way that a fluent or native speaker of the use of the language
regards it as showing faulty or incomplete learning. In other words, it occurs because
the learner does not know what is correct, and thus it can not be self-corrected.
Carl James (1998) displays his view to distinguish errors and mistakes in “Errors
in language learning and use”. In his opinion, intention plays a decisive role in
defining

errors. A mistake may be then defined as a slip of the tongue or of

handwriting, and an error is committed because of the writer/speaker’s semantic and
structure intentions. If the learner is inclined and able to correct a fault in his or her
output, it is assumed that the form he or she selected was an intended fault or a

mistake. On the other hand, the learner can not correct, it is assumed that the form the
learners use the intended one, which is an error.
Corder (1967:161) revealed that mistakes are not significant to the process of
language learning because they do not reflect a shortage in our knowledge but are
traceable to performance failure. The learners normally immediately recognize their
mistakes and correct them with more or less complete assurance. Mistakes can happen
to both native speakers and learners. In contrast, errors are of significance to the
process of language learning. The learners can not self-correct as they do not reflect
knowledge, and only the learners of second language commit errors.
In one word, the distinction between the two terms: “error” and “mistake” is not
very clear. However, the definition of errors and mistakes can be drawn as follows:
Mistakes are the wrong forms that the learners can give correction when their
wrongness is to be pointed out. Errors are wrong form that the learners can not correct
although teacher points out their wrongness.
Errors result from incomplete knowledge, thus, it is likely to correct errors by
spending more time giving knowledge to students. On the other hand, inattention,
carelessness or several other aspects of performance are causes of mistakes. We can
correct their mistakes by reminding students of them:
Look at example 8 and 9:
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