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SecondLanguageAcquisitionForEnglishMajor-----------ErrorAnalysisAbstractIntheprocessoflearningSecondlanguage,weoftenmakesomeerrors,whichareneverunavoidable.Thepaperistalkabouterroranalysisandtheproblemswithit.Andthoughlearningerroranalysis,Ialsogetsomeimplicationsforforeignlanguage.KeyWords:erroranalysis;problems;implicationsIntroductionHumanlearningisfundamentallyaprocessinvolvingmakingerrors,whichformsanimportantaspectoflearninganyotherskilloracquiringanyknowledge.Languagelearningislikeanyotherhumanlearning.Erroranalysisisthestudyandanalysisoftheerrorsmadebysecondandforeignlearners.ItisamethodologyofdescribingL2learners’languagesystems.Erroranalysisaimstofindouthowwellthelearnerknowsandlearnsalanguage,anditobtainsinformationsoncommondifficultiesinlanguagelearning.Erroranalysisplaysaveryimportantroleinstudyingsecondlanguage.1.ErrorAnalysisCorder(1981)claimsthatlearners’errorprovidedtotheresearcherevidenceofhowthetargetlanguagelearnedoracquiredandwhatstrategiesorproceduresthelearnerisemployinginhisdiscoveryoflanguage.Therearetwokindsofmainerrortypes.OneiscalledInterlingualerror,theotheriscalledintralingualerror.Bothofthemarepopularityofinterlanguageresearch.1.1InterlingualerrorInterlingualerrorisresultfromlanguagetransfer.Thelearneruseshispreviousmotherlanguageasameansoforganizingthesecondlanguage.Letusseetwoexamples:1):Iusedtogoouttobuysomethingsonweekends.2):Theparkhavemanypeople.AChineselearnermaymakeasentencelike“Iusedtogoouttobuysomethingsonweekends”insteadofthecorrectsentence“Iusedtogoshoppingonweekends.”InChina,peoplewillusethephrase“buythings”showtheirmeaningof“goshopping”.Samely,whenthelearnersay“Theparkhavemanypeople”,hedoesnotconsiderthesentencepatternof“therebe...”HejusttranslatethesentencefromChinesetoEnglish.Thereasonofmakingthiserroristhatthelearnerisinterferedbyhismotherlanguage.1.2IntralingualErrorIntralingualerrorisresultfromfaultyorpartiallanguagelearningofTargeLanguage.Somecertainerrorscanbeclassifiedasbelow:1):Overgeneralization.Thisreferstotheovergeneralizationoftarget-languagerules.Forinstance,learnersproduced“teached”whentheyignoretheirregularverbformsbutovergeneralizetheruleswithregardtomakingthepasttense.1):Transferoftraining.Thisreferstothesituationinwhichanerroneousruleentersthelearner’ssystemasaresultofinstruction.Anexampleforthisistheindiscriminatelyusecontractionssuchas“can’t”,“isn’t”and“it’s”bymanycollegeEnglishmajors.2):StrategiesofL2learning.Learnersoftendevelopsomepeculiarwaysoflearning.Forinstance,somestudentsstudyEnglishwordsthoughlearningindividualvocabularyitemsbutignorethecontextofvocabularyitems.3):StrategiesofL2communication.Learnersalsohavevariouswaysofhandingthereal-timepressureofcommunication.Someofthemmayrepeatedlyusecertainphraseseveninplaceswheretheiruseisinappropriate.Forexample:A:Doyouneedahand?Itlooksprettyheavy.B:Itdoesmatter.Inthiscontext,Bshouldonlysay“Thankyou.That’salright.”Fromlearningerroranalysis,thelearnercanstudywherehiserroris,howhemadethiserror,andwhyhemadethaterror.Insomeway,itisawaytoimprovethelearnerhimself.Itisthekeytounderstandtheprocessofsecondlanguagelearning.2.ProblemsWithErrorAnalysisBystudyingerroranalysis,weshouldnotbedifficulttofindsomeproblemswitherroranalysis.1):Anarrowfocus.Theoretically,itisclearthaterroranalysisprovidesonlyapartialpictureofwhathappenswhenonelearnsanL2.Itfailstotakeaccountofthelearner’sreceptiveskills,i.e.,skillsofunderstandingspokenandwritinglanguage.Erroranalysisfocusonwherethelearnerrsbutignoreswhereheorsheperformscorrectly.2):Ignoranceofvariability.Erroranalysisneglectsvariability.(i.e.,howlearnersvaryintheirperformanceinvarioussituations.)Weknowthatlearnersmaylearncertainthingsveryearlyonandmaybeabletousethemcorrectlyonsomeoccasions,butittakesalongtimeforthemtotrulymastertheseitems.3):QuestionablemethodologyAsfortheempiricalresearchonthe“L2=L1”hypothesis,thefindingaremixedandinconsistent.ThetheoryhasneverbeenprovedinthisstrongformbecausepeoplefoundbothsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenadultL2acquisitionandchildL1development.Thefailuretoprovethehypothesishastodowiththefactthat,inadditiontothedifficultyindescribingtheacquisitionsequence,researchrunsintoadifficultywithmethodology.3.ImplicationFormlearningerroranalysis,weknowthaterroranalysisfocusesonL2learners,makingtheirerrorsthestartingpointofanalysis,andattemptingtotracetheseerrorstovarioussources,interlingualandintralingual.Thus,erroranalysishasawiderperspectiveandprovidersmoreinformationnotonlyforteachersandlearnersbutalsoforsyllabusdesignersandresearchers.Corder(1981)claimsthatlearner’serroraresignificantinthreedifferentways:First,theytelltheteacherhowfartowardsthegoalthelearnerhasprogressed,andconsequently,whatremainsforthemtolearn.Secondly,theyprovidedtotheresearcherevidenceofhowthetargetlanguageislearnedoracquired,whatstrategiesorproceduresthelearnerisemployinginhisdiscoveryoflanguage.Thirdly,theyareindispensabletothelearnerhimself,becausewecanregardthemakingoferrorsasadevicethelearnerusesinordertolearn.Itisawaythelearnerhasoftestinghishypothesesaboutth