The-Limitations-of-Error-Analysis二语习得论文

TheLimitationsofErrorAnalysis英语师范1201班吕叶晨Asabranchofappliedlinguistics,ErrorAnalysis（EA）playsanimportantroleinsecondlanguageteachingandlearning.AsRodElliscites,“itwasnotuntilthe1970sthatEAbecamearecognizedpartofappliedlinguistics,adevelopmentthatowedmuchtotheworkofCorder”.BeforeCorder,linguistsobservedlearner’serrors,dividedthemintocategories,triedtoseewhichoneswerecommonandwhichwerenot,butnotmuchattentionwasdrawntotheirrolesinsecondlanguageacquisition.ItistoS.P.CorderthatErrorAnalysisasascientificmethodinlinguisticsaresignificantinthreeways:(1).totheteacher:theyshowastudent’sprogress(2).totheresearcher:theyshowhowalanguageisacquired,whatstrategiesthelearneruses.(3).tothelearner:hecanlearnfromtheseerrors.Butinevitably,therearesomelimitationsinErrorAnalysis.Firstofall,researchersgenerallybelievethatErrorAnalysiscannotdescribelearners’languagecomprehensively.Itseemsthatpeoplepaymoreattentiontolearners’errorsandtheyignorethecorrectapplicationoflanguage.Ofcourse,theresearchonerrorscanhelplearnersavoidthese,butifweattachgreatimportancetocorrectuseoflanguage,thatistosay,letlearnersknowtheyareright.Itcanalsohelpthemmakebigprogress.Mostofusmayhaveencounteredthatwhenwemakeamistakeinstudying,teachersometimesdon’tpointitoutdirectly,sowhenwerealizethemistakeandcorrectit,teacherwillhighlyofferpraiseandencouragement.Inthiswaywewillnevermakesamemistake.Don’tignorethelearningabilitythatlearnersdohave.Sometimeswhatlearnershavealreadygotcanhelpthemovercomemanydifficultiesinlearningprogress.SecondlyIwanttopointoutisAvoidanceStrategy.ManystudentsuseAvoidanceStrategytoavoidthedifficultiesthattheyfaceinstudying.Sometimesproblemsinlearner’slearningprogressdonotexpressinadirectway,theywillusesomeothermethodsorevenignoreit.Soitishardforresearcherstofindtheirerrors.Inthisway,theErrorAnalysisisnothing.Eveniftheymakeit,theconclusionisincompleteorevenwrong.Becausetheisolatedanalysiscannotsupportpointofview.Schachterbelievethatitis“theerroronErrorAnalysis”.Forinstance,whenastudentwriteacomposition,andisnotsurehowtoexpressarathercomplexsentence.Soatthistime,Ithinkmaybemostofthemwillgiveitupandchooseasimpleone.Afterreadingthecompositionandfindnoproblem,canwemakeajudgementthatthestudenthasalreadyachievedquitegoodknowledgeofcomposition.It’sincompleteandevenone-sided.Inthiscase,ErrorAnalysisdoesn’twork,itmakeslittlesense.DuetotheoveruseofAvoidanceStrategy,studentscannotmakefurtherprogressortendtomake“fixed”errorsinthelearning.Inthefaceofthisproblem,ErrorAnalysisisquitehelpless.ThethirdlimitationofErrorAnalysisisComparativeFallcy.Thistheory,accordingtoBleyVroman(1983)meansthemistakeofstudyingthesystematiccharacterofonelanguagebycomparingittoanother.InthewordsofBleyVroman,“thelearner’ssystemisworthyofstudyinitsownright”,“onthebasisofitsowninternallogic”,“notjustasadegenerateformofthetargetsystem”.Sowhenwelearnanotherlanguage,wemaybulitourownlinguisticsystem.Inthissystem,welearnanotherlanguagebyourownmethods.Therearethreelanguagesinthisprogress,theyaremothertongue,interlanguageandtargetlanguage.Sowhenwecannotgetaratherhighleveloflanguagelearning,ourinterlanguageisincompleteorevenwrong.Atthistime,wedescribeandanalyseerrorsfromthepointoftargetlanguageismeaningless.Becausewehavenotregardedlanguagelearningasagrowingprogress.Soindifferentperiod,weshouldhavedifferentstandardofjudgement.Ifwealwayscriticizeinterlanguageatthestandardoftargetlanguage,theresultmaybackfire.Infact,mostofresearchersmaketheirErrorAnalysisinthisway.Thespecificregulationandlanguagelearningsystemisalsoworth-researching.Infact,thepresentstudyofErrorAnalysisfailstoprovideacompletepictureoflearners’language.Weneedtoknowwhatlearnersdocorrectlyaswellaswhattheydowrongly.Thisproblemhasbeenoverstated.ThemajorityofEAshavebeencross-sectional,thusmakingitdifficulttodetermineaccuratelythedifferentstagesoftheirdevelopment.Thesamplesinthisstudywerecollectedatagiventime.Thatmeansthedatajustreflectthestudents’languagecompetenceatapointoftimeratherthanalongperiodoftime.Sotheresearchcannotprovidethewholeexactpictureoftheselearners’developmentofSLAwithoutpartnershipoflogitudinalone.Asaresult,thecurrentstudyhasnotprovedveryeffectiveinhelpingtheresearcherunderstandhowlearnersdevelopknowledgeofsecondlanguage.Consideringallthementionedlimitations,theresearcherwouldliketooffersomesuggestionsforfurtherstudyinthisfield：samplesareexpectedtobecollectedoveraperiodoftime;variousgenresofwritingtaskshouldbeassigned;samplescanbecollectedforaperiodoflongertimesoastoexposethecompetenceoflearnersfully.AlthoughtherearesomelimitationsintheresearchofErrorAnalysis,itstillmakesenseinsecondlanguageteachingandlearning.AtleastEAprovidesabasicmethodforthosewhoresearchSLA.SoIthinkitismeaningfulforustoimproveEA.TheresearchonlimitationsofErrorAnalysiscanprovideserviceforbothEAandSLA.