Identifying errors made by students in English language BY Dr. Mohammed Elqadi

CHAPTER ONE Introduction 1.0 Background to the study: English is an international language, and nearly spoken all over the world. It is considered one of the most important means of communication. By learning English, a wide door is opened for learners to know a lot about the world around them and it is a good chance for exchanging experiences in different aspects of life, social, educational, cultural and political. Nowadays, acquiring English language is a challenge for people in different continents of the world. Duly, educational curricula in different parts of the world have adopted many systems for schools in different stages to improve students' abilities. Consequently, most English teachers like to master English in their schools. They feel that a good teacher is an artist and not an ordinary one who has to do what he is told to do all the time without ever using his own intelligence. 1.1 Statement of the Problem It is noticed that, students at Alzaeim Alazhari University, Faculty of Education, learners of English language, have a great tendency to be good listeners, readers, speakers and writers in English. These students need careful attention towards these skills. However, the general command of students' language is reported to be poor. Namely in reading, writing, speaking, listening. 1.2 Objectives of the Study The study aims at: a) Identifying errors made by students in English language. b) Analyzing and classifying these errors by specifying their different types and categories in an attempt to attribute any category to its case. C) Providing appropriate methods that help students avoid committing these errors . 1.3 The Research Question 1: Do students of 4th year at Alzaeim Alazhari University, Faculty of Education after three years of intensive courses in English language really commit errors? 2: Can these errors be analyzed and classified in any possible way? 3: Are there any suggesting procedures that will help avoid committing these errors? 1.4 Hypotheses of the Study 1) It is noticed that Sudanese students learners of English language commit countless types of errors after years of intensive courses . Students of 4th year at Alzaeim Alazhari University are not an exception. 2) The countless errors in English Language committed by the students of 4th year are to be classified classified and diagnosed . 3) Suggesting procedures may be added to offer remedial exercises to help students to lessen or avoid the persistent errors. 1.5 Delimitation of the Study The study will be applied to 4th year students of English language at Alzaeim Alazhari University in the academic year 2006 1.6 Significance of the Study The study will help improve the practice of ELT as: 1- The findings will help teachers plan their lessons properly to achieve the goals that lead to creativity. 2- The study will help reduce the number of errors committed by students. 3- Inspectors of English language will find some help to simplify their methods in inspecting English language. 4- It is hoped that Syllabus Designers will benefit much of the students' errors and that would reflex on designing creative methods which will help reduce students' errors. 1.7 Procedures The procedures which are followed in order to achieve the aims and objectives of the study are:- 1. A theoretical framework which includes:- a) a review of literature related to Error Analysis concerning the four skills of English language. b) A descriptive analysis of students' different errors, orthographic, structural, semantic, phonetic and morphological ones. c) Collection of different kinds of errors with an explanation of the nature that causes every error. d) A language analysis that enables learners to acquire sufficient information about the English language they use in daily life hoping to reduce committing errors. 2. A practical part which includes:- a) The determination of elicitation techniques, where a free composition and a comprehension test are chosen. b) Getting use of the general tests because they reflect the major errors for all systems of English language where errors are expected. c) The administration of a pilot study to examine the appropriateness of the elicitation techniques from the point of view of validity and reliability so as to discover the workability of the works of students in order to make necessary changes in the final version of their works. d) A questionnaire for teachers of English language to benefit from their different points of view in order to reflect that on the learners performance in English language. 1.8 Definition of Terms For the purpose of this study, the following terms are defined as follows: Error Analysis: By error analysis is meant the study and analysis of language learners to find how to obtain information on the problematic areas of language in the preparation of teaching materials. Richards (1985: 96) Fossilization: Brown (1987:186) refers to it as the internalization of incomplete forms (that means when a learner persistently commits the same error. Interlanguage: This term refers to the systematic result of a second language learner's attempt to produce a target language norm. Selinker (1972: 35) Intralingual ( Overgeneralization)This term refers to the errors resulting from factors other than the mother tongue interference. Brown(1987: 178) Interlingual: By interlingual is meant the error resulting from mother tongue interference, and all these errors are attributed to negative transfer, Brown (1987: 177) Positive Transfer: It is the kind of transfer, which makes learning easier and may occur when both the native language and the target language have the same structure. Brown (1987: 17) Orthography (Spelling): It is the presentation of the sounds of a language by means of written or printed symbols. Encyclopedia Britannica (1979: 599) Transfer: It is the carry over of the learned behavior from one situation to another . Brown (1987:169) CHAPTER TWO Literature Review A Theoretical Framework 2.o Introduction All people have acquired a set of eating habits. Whenever they want to change these habits, they find that the features of the old habit will remain with them, even if they make more practice in the use of the new habits. The same is true with learning of a new language. People have also acquired a set of linguistic habits and rules concerning the skills of their native language (NL). Now wanting to learn the linguistic habits and rules of a foreign language (FL) they find that the features of the (NL) remain with them coloring the features of the new language and staining the speaking, writing and reading skills of the (FL). It is a great pleasure for teachers of English as a FL to have a student who listens. speaks, reads and writes correct English. This has been the dream of all teachers of English language. But, why do students at the university level still find difficulties in learning English while their teachers do their best to help them achieve good results? The answer to this question lies in the fact that a learner of English or any other foreign language does not start learning this new language from zero or a neutral point. Instead, he interprets the new phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic patterns through those of his native language. Duly, the interference effects of the first language (L1) on the second language (L2) learning is very strong. A second language learning is primarily a process of acquiring terms that are different from the first language. Such a narrow view of interference ignored the interlingual effects of learning, among other factors. In recent years, researchers and teachers have come more to understand that second language as a creative process of constructing testing hypotheses about the target language (TL). Moreover, both teachers and learners of a L2 have to deal with the question of errors. There are many sources and kinds of errors on which this research will manage to cast some light upon as an attempt to overcome the problems of the L2 learning. 2.1 Contrastive Analysis Before the SLA field as it is known today was established, from the 1940s to the 1960s, contrastive analyses were managed, in which two languages were systematically compared. Researchers at that time were motivated by the view of being able to identify points of similarity and difference between NL and TL. There was a strong belief that a more effective pedagogy would result when these were taken into consideration. Charles Fries, one of the leading applied linguists of the day, said: "The most efficient materials are those that are based upon a scientific description of the language to be learned, carefully compared with a parallel description of the native language of the learner."(Fries 1945:9). Robert Lado, Fries' colleague at the University of Michigan, also expressed the importance of contrastive analysis in language teaching material design. Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture - both productively when attempting to speak the language and to act in the culture and receptively when attempting to grasp and understand the language and the culture as practised by natives. This claim is still quite interesting to anyone who has attempted to learn or teach a foreign language. So many examples of the interfering effects of people's NL are encounter. Lado (1957:2) went on to say a more controversial position, however, when he claimed that "those elements that are similar to his native language will be simple for him, and those elements that are different will be difficult" (This conviction that linguistic differences could be used to predict learning difficulty produced the notion of the contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH): "Where two languages were similar, positive transfer would occur; where they were different, negative transfer, or interference, would result." (Larsen-Freeman & Long 1991: 53) w.w.w. leo.meical.ac.jphtm It is with the advent of Contrastive Analysis (CA) and its demand to predict and explain errors as they could neither be predicted nor be explained contrastively. So, Sirdhar (1989: 222 ) in this respect says: " That serious interest began to be taken in error analysis, in spite of the apparatus of contrastive analysis. And its claim to predict.., linguistics realized that there were many kinds of errors that could neither be predicted nor explained contrastively." In this area, James (1998: 5) removes the mother tongue errors when he discriminates between EA and CA saying that errors should be fully described in terms of TL. " This paradigm involves first independently or ' objectively ' describing the learners' L1 . and the TL itself. Followed by a comparison of the two, so as to locate mismatches. The novelty of EA, distinguishing it from CA, was that the mother tongue was not supposed to enter the picture. The claim was made that errors could be fully described in terms of the TL. Without the need to refer to the L1 of the learners." 2. 2 Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) A question that is very well-explored in the literature of research in second language acquisition is whether the first language affects the acquisition of a second language. From the 1950s to the 1990s, the typical answer provided for this question was that "The individual tends to transfer the forms and meanings and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture" (Lado, 1957:7). As a result, the assumption underlying teaching methods then is that it could contrast the system of one language with the system of a second language in order to predict the difficulties the speaker of the second language will have in learning a first language. 2 . 2 .1 The Strong Version of Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis In the literature, CAH is classified into two versions. The first version, called the strong version, claims that (a) interference from the learner’s NL is the main problem to L2 learning, (b) the greater the difference between the NL and the TL, the greater the difficulty is. (c) these difficulties can be predicted with the help of a systematic and scientific analysis, and (d) the result of contrastive analysis can be used as a consistent source in the preparation of teaching materials, course planning and the improvement of classroom techniques. The second version, called the weak version, suggests that linguists are able to use the best linguistic knowledge available to them in order to account for the observed difficulties in second language learning. The strength of the strong version of CAH is that it has validity as a device for predicting some of the errors a second language learner will make. Thus it provides a promising basis for investigating general properties of the mind and seems to be a uniquely appropriate methodology for further study of the fundamental processes of transfer and interference in learning tasks. This version of CAH has a number of failures which have been well documented since the early 1970s. The major criticism is the argument that CAH is strongly associated with behaviorism. Studies have shown that many errors predicted to cause learning difficulties for students do not create any problems. The reason for this failure, is because the continuum of same-similar difference is not necessarily parallel with the continuum of no problem-easy-difficult; rather, they form an atmosphere. In other words, the assumption that whatever is similar is easy, or whatever is different is difficult, proved to be erroneous. Necessarily, the easiest to learn and that the probability of errors could not be assessed only from the degree of difference of the two linguistic structures, and consequently other factors of difficulty must be hypothesized. The failure of CAH theory lies in the fact that structural similarities and dissimilarities between two linguistic systems and the processing of linguistic means in actual production and comprehension are two quite different things. Contrastive linguistics is concerned with the former, while acquisition has to do with the latter. Thus, a learner with a given first language background may find it easy to learn a specific second language structure, but hard to produce that structure because his ability of producing that structure does not necessarily depend on his ability of comprehending it. Consequently, this structure has no identical effect on the learner’s acquisition capacity. Sharing the same point of view as Odlin, Long and Sato (1984) also pointed out that one could not depend upon the analysis of a linguistic product to yield meaningful insight into a psycholinguistic process. Another consideration of the possibilities and limitations of CAH has been put forward. The limitations of CAH, has been proposed that CAH is able ‘to give a linguistic analysis of the problematic language material, revealing the cause of the difficulty, and making possible attempted solutions of these problems, what has to be learned, and the way in which what has to be learned is presented to the learner. The CAH has undervalued the contribution of the learner, failed to recognize fully the nature of what has to be learned, and did not take into account the way the L2 is presented to the learner. The validity of contrastive analysis is even more seriously challenged when a number of errors do not appear to be due to NL influence. To illustrate this, a survey of eight experimental studies (Ellis, 1985:29) shows that the percentage of errors deemed to be due to L1 interference could vary from 3% (Dulay & Burt, 1973) to 50% (Tran Chi Chau, 1974; Lott, 1983), with 3 studies reporting a figure between 30 and 33% (Grauberg, 1971; Flick, 1980; George, 1972). Ellis points out that some errors attributed to language transfer could be developmental errors. Taylor’s (1975) study also confirms the weakness of an interlingual transfer-based theory of errors in his study on the use of overgeneralization and transfer learning strategies by elementary and intermediate students of English as a Second Language (ESL). Taylor’s study indicates that elementary students’ reliance on the transfer strategy was significantly higher than that of intermediate students. On the other hand, intermediate students’ reliance on over-generalization was significantly higher than that of elementary students. In order to gain more academic legitimacy, the strong version of CAH needs more research from linguists, who could provide firmly-established theoretical locations: Firstly, it requires linguists to establish a set of linguistic universals formulated within a comprehensive linguistic theory, which deals with syntax, semantics and phonology. Secondly, linguists have to follow a theory of contrastive linguistics in which they can describe two languages to be compared. These two procedures, however, are not possible, as, according to Wardhaugh (1974), they are ‘pseudo procedures’—procedures which linguists claim they could only follow if there were enough time. A complete rejection of CAH for pedagogical purposes is to be found in Ritchie (1967), who points out that a course that concentrates on the main trouble spots, without due attention to the structure of the foreign language as a whole, will leave the learner with ‘a mess of unfruitful, partial generalizations’ and a consequent ‘lack of confidence in his intuitive grasp of the foreign language. The conclusion of all this criticism against CAH is that, should be careful not to underestimate its importance as a research tool but should be noted that as a basis for a total foreign language programme, CA is decidedly inappropriate’. The idea being put forward here is largely in agreement with Nickel (1971) who has noted that, as a basis for a total language teaching programme, CAH by itself is quite inadequate. To propose CAH as the basis of organizing a total instructional programme (or even as the central component of such a programme) is to misunderstand the very nature of the language teacher’s task. In the following two decades the potential role of CAH in language teaching and learning was further undermined by numerous studies, which concluded that negative transfer was the cause of a relatively small proportion of errors in language learning. Learners’ first languages are no longer believed to interfere with their attempts to acquire a second language grammar, and language teachers no longer need to create special grammar lessons for students from each language background. 2 . 2 . 2 The Weak Version of Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis As an attempt to make up for all of the flaws of the strong version often criticized to be too intuitive, Wardhaugh (1970) advocated a weak version for CAH in which the emphasis of the hypothesis was shifted from the predictive power of the relative difficulty to the explanatory power of the observable errors. In other words, it is indeed necessary to have a comparison between two language systems to predict some learning difficulties, but these predictions can only become useful after they are empirically checked with actual data of learners’ errors. This version has later been developed into Error Analysis (EA). While CA follows a deductive approach, EA adopts an inductive one; that is, it aims to draw inferences about difficult areas from studying actual errors. The starting point of this approach is provided by real evidence from such phenomena as faulty translation, learning difficulties and lasting foreign accent. It is the real data from the learners’ performance that makes EA more descriptive than CA and therefore, more acceptable. Besides, EA is also more plausible, as it makes fewer demands of contrastive theory than the strong version. However, like any other approach, EA has advantages, as well as weaknesses. w.w.w.leo. meilcal.ac.jphtm 2 . 3 . 0 The Error Analysis Approach Source, Causes and Significances Errors that students make in the process of learning a TL, have always been a course of much concern to teachers and syllabus designers alike. This chapter will describe the learner’s interlanguage system approach of linguistic forms acquired by L2 learners. An investigation of learners performance in different aspects of the English language, It seems necessary to throw some light on the trial, errors and hypotheses on which the present dissertation is based on. The second language learner's errors are potentially important for the understanding of the process of L2 acquisition. The planning of courses in L2 learning is a current focus in the literature on modern language teaching. What is not clear is :- a) How to arrive to a principled means which will determine fully their sources and causes. b) How to interpret their significance in a meaningful conceptual framework. c) Whether it is possible to use errors evidence in a linguistically oriented effectively . Ever since Corder (1967) highlighted the importance of considering errors in the language learning process, there has been a move in emphasis towards an understanding of the problems learners face in their study of a language. Errors are indispensable to learners since the making of errors can be regarded as "a device the learner uses in order to learn" (Selinker 1992:150). Research has provided empirical evidence pointing to emphasis on learners' errors as an effective means of improving Corder (1967): Introduction of the Concept 'Error Analysis' It was S.P. Corder who first advocated in ELT/applied linguistics community the importance of errors in language learning process. In Corder (1967), he mentions the paradigm shift in linguistics from a behaviouristic view of language to a more rationalistic view and claims that in language teaching one noticeable effect is to shift the stress away from teaching towards a study of learning. He emphasises great potentials for applying new hypotheses about how languages are learned in L1 to the learning of a L2. He says "Within this new context the study of errors takes on a new importance and will I believe contribute to a verification or rejection of the new hypothesis." (in Richards 1993:21) Corder goes on to say that in L1 acquisition linguists interpret child's 'incorrect' utterances as being evidence that he is in the process of acquiring language and that for those who attempt to describe his knowledge of the language at any point in its development, it is the 'errors' which provide the important evidence. In second language acquisition, Corder proposed as a working hypothesis that some of the strategies adopted by the learner of a L2 are significantly the same as those by which a L1 is acquired. (It does not mean, however, the course or sequence of learning is the same in L1 and L2.) By classifying the errors that learners made, researchers could learn a great deal about the SLA process by inferring the strategies that second language learners were adopting. It is in this Corder's decisive paper that he adds to our thinking by discussing the function of errors for the learners themselves. For learners themselves, errors are 'indispensable,' since the making of errors can be regarded as a device the learner uses in order to learn. (Selinker 1992: 150) pointed out the two highly significant contributions that Corder made: "that the errors of a learner, whether adult or child, are (a) not random, but are in fact systematic, and are (b) not 'negative' or 'interfering' in any way with learning a TL but are, on the contrary, a necessary positive factor, indicative of testing hypotheses." Such contribution in Corder (1967) began to provide a framework for the study of adult learner language. Along with the influence of studies in L1 acquisition and concepts provided by Contrastive Analysis (especially language transfer) and by the interlanguage hypothesis (e.g. fossilization, language transfer, communication and learning strategies). Before 1960s, when the behaviorist point of view of language learning was prevailing, learner errors were considered something undesirable and to be avoided. It is because in behaviorists perspectives, people learn by responding to external stimuli and receiving proper reinforcement. A proper habit is being formed by reinforcement, hence learning takes place. Therefore, errors were considered to be a wrong response to the stimulus, which should be corrected immediately after they were made. Unless corrected properly, the error became a habit and a wrong behavioral pattern would stick in a learner's mind. This point of view of learning influenced greatly the language classroom, where teachers concentrated on the mimicry and memorisation of target forms and tried to encourage the correct patterns of the form into learners' minds. If learners made any mistake while repeating words, phrases or sentences, the teacher corrected their mistakes immediately. Errors are regarded as something a learner should avoid, and making an error was considered to be fatal to proper language learning processes. This belief of learning was eventually discarded by the well-known radically different perspective proposed by N. Chomsky (1957). He wrote in his paper against B.F. Skinner, that human learning, especially language acquisition, cannot be explained by simply starting off with a state of mind. He claimed that human beings must have a certain kind of innate capacity which can guide him through a vast number of sentence generation possibilities and have a child acquire a grammar of that language until the age of five or six with almost no exception. He called this capacity "Universal Grammar" and claimed that it is this very human faculty that linguistics aims to pursue. This transformation towards a reasonable view of language ability lead many language teachers to disgrace the behavioristic language learning style and emphasize cognitive-code learning approach. Hence, learners were encouraged to work on more conscious grammar exercises based on certain rules and deductive learning began to be focused again. This application of new linguistic insights, however, did not bear much fruit since Chomsky himself commented that a linguistic theory of the kind he pursued had little to offer for actual language learning or teaching. In the school of applied linguistics, however, this shift towards the innate human capacity raised a growing interest in the learner's powers of hypothesis formation as he moves towards the bilingual competence sufficient for his communicative needs. One major result of this shift of attention was an increasing concern in the monitoring and analysis of learner language. The concepts of 'interlanguage' and 'approximative system' presented challenging areas of descriptive enquiry. In 1970s and early 80s, a large number of papers on error analysis were published all over the world. However, it lost its attention and enthusiasm gradually as more and more criticism was made against the approach and method of error analysis. it is essential to review the previous work of error analysis and identify what it aimed to achieve and how it failed. Otherwise, it could be just a repetition of what was already done a decade ago and not very much meaningful. Error analysis using learner corpora must be significantly different from traditional error analysis, in quality and quantity. Larsen-Freeman and Long (1991) claims that the study of SLA can be said to have passed through a series of points defined by the means of inquiry researchers have utilized in their work: contrastive analysis, error analysis, performance analysis and discourse analysis.. w.w.w. leo.meilcal.ac.johtm To be sure about the type of errors produced by students, it is necessary to know about the students' interlanguage. Thus, errors can be classified simply as productive( spoken or written), or receptive (faulty understanding ). In other words. The following topics can be used : a) A lexical error- vocabulary - b) A phonological error- pronunciation - c) A syntactic error- grammar - d) An interpretive error – misunderstanding of the speaker's intention or meaning. e) A pragmatic error – failure to apply the rules of conversation 2 . 3 . 1 The Classification of Errors Besides the problems of definition, the classification of errors also draws a lot of attention from researchers. Burt and Kiparsky (1974:73) distinguish between global errors and local errors. "A global error is one which involves ‘the overall structure of a sentence’ and a local error is one which affects ‘a particular constituent". On the global level, errors are classified by Corder (1973:277) into four main categories: "Omission of some required element, addition of some unnecessary or incorrect element, selection of an incorrect element, and disordering of elements." Levels of language can be considered within each category: phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax and discourse. w.w.w.leo.meikal.ac.jphtm Using the source as the standard for categorising, errors can be categorised into interlingual errors and intralingual errors (Richards, 1971). Errors found to be traceable to first language interference are termed interlingual. A large number of similar errors, however, are found to be committed by second language learners regardless of their first language. These are termed intralingual errors. They are often analysed to see what sorts of strategies are being used by the learners. Intralingual errors include: overgeneralisation, simplification, communication-based and induced errors. Taylor (1975) has a different way of defining overgeneralisation errors; he considers overgeneralisation errors as ‘any error which can be attributed to the application of a rule of English in an inappropriate situation’. Transfer errors, in Taylor’s taxonomy, are classified as any error in target language which can be attributed to the structure of the native language. According to him, translation errors are ones which change the desired response in a significant way. Errors of this kind involve simple substitutions of one syntactically correct structure for another equally syntactically correct, but semantically incorrect, alternative. According to Taylor (1975), most translation errors can be attributed to simple forgetting or lapses of attention. When an error cannot be accounted for in terms of overgeneralisation, transfer, or translation strategies, it is classified as an error of uncertain origin (Taylor, 1975). The three other kinds of errors, which are adapted from Selinker (1972), are simplification, communication-based errors, and teaching-induced errors: Simplification errors occur when the learners tend to reduce the target language to a simpler system. When the learner incorrectly labels the object, but successfully communicates a desired concept, this kind of error is named communication-based error. The last type of error, teaching-induced error, happens as a result of inappropriate training, the overemphasizing of drilling technique on a certain linguistic item . Els. (1963: 66) agrees that error analysis is controlled by definition to what the learner cannot do. He believes that errors are based on accidental items when he adds: "Another problem with error analysis is typically based on casual samples, in which data are gathered at a single point in time from many subjects from different degrees of proficiency. " In this area, many opinions are extracted to describe EA. Thus, EA is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make. It consists of a comparison between the errors made in the TL and that TL itself. Pit Corder is the “Father” of Error Analysis. It was with his article “The significance of Learner Errors” (1967) that EA took a new turn. Errors used to be “flaws” that needs to be eradicated. Corder presented a completely different point of view. He challenged that those errors are “important in and of themselves.” For learners themselves, errors are 'indispensable,' since the making of errors can be regarded as a tool the learner uses in order to learn. In 1994, Gass & Selinker defined errors as “red flags” that provide evidence of the learner’s knowledge of the second language. Researchers are interested in errors because they are believed to contain valuable information on the strategies that people use to acquire a language. Moreover, according to Richards (1993.15), “At the level of pragmatic classroom experience, error analysis will continue to provide one means by which the teacher assesses learning and teaching and determines priorities for future effort.” According to Corder (1981), error analysis Like Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis can be seen as saving two functions: theoretical and practical, has two objects: one theoretical and another applied. The theoretical object serves to explain what and how a learner learns when he studies a second language. And the applied object serves to enable the learner to learn more efficiently by exploiting his knowledge of his dialect for pedagogical purposes. Corder(1981: 45) reports that: " The theoretical function constitutes parts of the methodology of investigating the language learning process. It provides a tool for the description of the learner's knowledge of the TL, at a particular moment during learning time. The practical function of EA is in studying the remedial action, which must be taken into consideration when correcting. " The investigation of errors can be at the same time diagnostic and prognostic. It is diagnostic because it can tell about the learner's state of the language at a given point during the learning process, and prognostic because it can tell course organizers to steer language learning materials on the basis of the learners' current problems. Htt://nadaps.tripod.com/onlinematerials.htm#3 The study of error is part of the investigation of the process of language learning. In this respect it resembles methodologically the study of the acquisition of the mother tongue. It provides learners with a picture of the linguistic development of a learner and may give them indications as to the learning process. It ignores many errors that the learner seems to make notwithstanding his language background. Different L1 independent variables related to L2 learners operate differently in each L2 learning situation. So, learning strategies, different training procedures, individual differences of teachers, learners, textbooks – all seem to operate to make each learning situation different from the other. The study seeks to suggest that there is a system in learner's errors in spite of their apparent arbitrariness in performance data, but this method cannot be captured through a simple binary opposition between systematic and non-systematic errors. Furthermore, errors do not seem to submit to themselves to any precise systematic analysis. The division errors traceable to L1 interference and those that are independent of L1 interference is not invariable clear-cut. The identification and establishment of various L1 independent interference factors is far from easy; the learners psychological processes of L2 learning in term of learning strategies can at best be marginally inferred from his performance data. In this sense Brown ( 1987: 20 ) points that the child's language at any stage is systematic in that the child is continuously making hypotheses on the basis of the input he receives, and then he tests these hypotheses in speech and writing. He says: " As the child's language develops, these hypotheses get continually revised, reshaped or sometimes abandoned. " By identifying areas of difficulties of the learner, EA could help in determining the sequence of presentation of TL items in course- book and classroom. It could also help deciding the relative degree of emphasis, explanation and practice are required in putting across various items in the TL, and devising remedial lessons and exercises, and finally selecting items for testing the learner's proficiency. A study of errors provides information about the kinds of strategies to simplify the task of learning a L2. Therefore, ignorance of rules occurs when rules are extended to contexts where learners do not apply in TL. Incomplete application of rules involves a failure to learn the more complex types of structure. False concepts hypothesized refer to errors derived from faulty understanding of TL distinction. This has given insight to the investigation of learners' linguistic performance in details, in order to infer from it the nature of the process by which the language is acquired. There is a danger to too much attention to learners' errors. While errors are indeed an informative of a system at work, the classroom foreign language teacher can become so worried with noticing errors that the correct utterances in the second language go unnoticed. In this respect, Brown (ibid: 171 ) views when he says: " While the diminishing of errors is an important criterion for increasing language proficiency, the ultimate goal of second language learning is the attainment of communicative fluency in a language. Another shortcoming in error analysis is an overstressing of production data. Language is speaking and listening, writing and reading. The comprehension of language is as important as production." The methodology of EA consists of data collection identification of error, classification of errors into error type , statement of frequency of error types, identification of the areas of difficulty in the TL and remedial drills, lessons, etc. There are at least three aspects of the elicitation procedure that have an important influence on data collection – the language in which the data are collected, the degree of structure given to the task, and whether the elicitation is oral or in writing. O'Malley et al ( 1990 : 92- 94) list that as follows:- a) Language of data collection : The customary approach in studies of second language acquisition has been to permit respondents to use their native language in describing their language learning strategies…We encouraged students with beginning level skills in English to use their native language in describing their strategies . b) Degree of structure : A high degree of structure in the data collection means that the instrument will have a strong influence on the content of the informant's report, whereas a low degree of structure indicates that the instrument has little influence on the specific content. Procedures with the highest degree of structure are questionnaire and rating scales, which may determine not only the type of strategy but also the type of task and the setting where the strategy is used . With data collection procedures that have little structure, one of the major sources of difficulty is in classifying strategies accurately from open- ended responses. c) Oral or writing responses : Responses that are requested in writing may consist of diaries or more structured approaches such as questionnaires. Various investigators (e.g., Rubin1981 ) have attempted to use diaries, for they may contain reasonably completed records of informant impressions about daily second language interchange. Eventually, EA like CA, was seen as only one, of many tools for the analysis of language performance. The criticism for it shows a shift of interest in performance analysis which became more pronounced in the late 1970's and 1980's as ( IL) analysis as has been shown before. 2 . 3 . 2 Attitudes to Errors For all practical purposes. It was Corder (1967) who gave error analysis the respectability of a valuable topic of research in applied linguistics. He proposed that errors were evidence of the learners' strategies of acquiring the language rather than signs of inhibition, or interference of persistent old habits. Corder's view opened the way to linguists to search errors in a new perspective. For example, Strevens (1969: 41 ) agreed with Corder " in that errors are unwanted forms but as evidence of the learner's active contribution in second language learning…Errors should not be viewed as problems to be overcome, but as a normal features indicating the strategies that learners use. " This means that the making of errors is a way the learner has to test his hypotheses about the nature of the language he is learning. Corder (1974: 20 ) provides an account summary of how errors are viewed nowadays as he says : " We live in an imperfect world and consequently errors will always occur in spite of our best efforts. " George (1972: 14 ) adds : " We may judge error making as a necessary part of learning. " Whereas Dulay et al ( 1982: 131 ) are of the view that: "When language learners make errors, they are gradually building system into the target language they are learning." While Brown (1983: 168 ) seems to think that errors are manifestation of a creative process adopted by the learner of a language to understand, analyze and then to master the system of the TL, as he declares: "Those who make errors are creative beings proceeding through logical and systematic stages of acquisition, creativity acting upon their linguistic environment. " 2.3.3 Attitudes to Error Correction One of the purpose of adopting Error Analysis is to identify the principles which should guide effective error correction (EC). People's ideas about what is involved in correction are not always clear. Whereas James(1998: 236-40) disputes about correction as he applies the term in three senses:- 1) Informing the learners that there is an error, and leaving them to discover it and repair it themselves. I would call this sort of intervention feedback, commonly defined as giving knowledge or 'results' in the broadcast sense, telling people whether their utterances or understanding is right or wrong. 2) Providing treatment or information that leads to the revision and correction of the specific instance of errors without aiming to prevent the same error recurring later…This I would call correction proper. 3) Providing learners with information that allows them to revise or reject the wrong rule they were operating with when they produced the error token. The result will be to induce learners to revise their mental representation of the rule, so that this error type does not recur…I would call this remediation. Whereas errors are necessarily part of language-learning processes, this must affect decision about the treatment of errors. Aitchison (1983: 101) tips that: " Repeated corrections are not merely pointless, they may even hinder a child's progress. The mother of a seventeen-month old Paul had high expectations, and repeatedly corrected his attempts at speech. He lacked confidence, and his progress was slow. But the mother of fourteen- month-old Jane was an accepting person who responded uncritically to everything said. Jane made exceptionally fast progress, and knew eighty words by the age of fifteen-month. " The problem here is whether or not to correct an error as it appears to be at first sight. There are two broader questions that it is bound up with. The first is whether presentation of error is better than cure, the second question is whether explicit formal instruction – in a word, 'teaching' is effective. Another problem also may occur, that correction may hinder a child's progress. If it really hinders the development of systematic IL, it may equally hinders the development of the adult L2 learner's IL, because of the child's fear of making errors. It is possible that the effect on adults would be greater. On this area, Hatch (1987:105) labels his point of view by saying: "There is a sequence in the development of interlanguage, for both child and adult learners. The system will tend to vary from individual to another, but all interlanguages move towards rather than away from the norms of the target language. " However, the adult may have more sophisticated concept of error than the child which may enable him to revise his interlanguage more rapidly. Krashen (1982: 70) has his view also when stating that : "Errors correction has the immediate effect of putting the student on the defensive. " While Hindrickson (1987: 90) poses five questions in relation with error correction : a) Should errors be corrected? b) If so, when should errors be corrected? c) Which learner's errors should be corrected? d) How should learner's errors be corrected? e) Who should correct the learner's errors? Other questions may be added: Who decides when a learner has made an error ? How does that person decide? In 'Correction' these questions are present as a guide to deciding whether to let an error go or not. Which do you consider to be the most important? 1. Does the mistake affect communication? 2. Are learners concentrating on accuracy at the moment? 3. Is it really wrong? Or is it their imagination? 4. Why did the student make the mistake? 5. Is it the first time the student has spoken for a long time? 6. Could the student react badly to the teacher's correction? 7. Have they met this language point in the current lesson? 8. Is it something the students have already met? 9. Is this a mistake that several students are making? 10. Would the mistake annoy someone? 11. What time is it? 12. What day is it? 13. What's the weather like? But Mc Donough(1981: 95) when faced with a linguistic error by a student in oral works has a different answer towards these questions as he says: "A teacher must rapidly decide whether to ignore it, postpone correction until later or deal with it immediately. If the third course is chosen, the teacher must further choose how to identify the error clearly { not on easy task } and how to treat it. To accomplish this, he can give the correct version, ask the transgressor to think again…" Current researches have looked at different methods of error correction putting a number of considerations such as the importance of that , its frequency in the class, whether the student in fact knows the correct description. All these considerations have to be taken fast in order not to interrupt the flow of the lesson. On the other hand, Allwright (1975: 137)thinks that teachers may cause errors in learners without meaning to do so, if they correct learners as he says: "A teacher is indicating that an error has been made. Researchers show that teachers tend to vary the amount of time allowed to different learners to answer correctly" So, he (ibid) suggests that "The teacher expects the learner to answer correctly…He waits for a shorter time before supplying the correct answer…" To be a good language learner, any language learner is advised to adopt the following advice: a) To be able to respond to group dynamics of the learning situation so as not to develop negative anxiety and inhibitions. b) To seek out all opportunities to use the TL. c) To make maximum use of the opportunities offered to practice listening, responding, reading and writing the L2 addressed to him and to others. It could be declared that no successful understanding or affective activity can be carried out without some degree of self-esteem, self-confidence, knowledge of an individual towards himself. IN this sense, Brown (1987::101-2) states that: "Self-esteem is a personal judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the attitudes that the individual holds towards himself. It is a subjective experience which the individual conveys to others by verbal reports and other overt expensive behavior." Attitudes to error correction vary not only among teachers but also among students. A teacher may be influenced by the following facts: a)The fact that English is their second language and great emphasis was placed on correctness at their teacher training college. b)The fact that, as a native speakers, students have never had to worry about their English. As a particular methodology / approach, in the 1960s a teacher using Audiolingualism would have adopted a behaviorists approach to error. More recently a teacher following the Natural Approach (influenced by second language acquisition theory) would have adopted a wholly different approach. Other methodologies / approaches, such as Suggestopaedia and Total Physical Response, highlights the psychological effects of error correction on students. As for students, teachers do not only have to consider their age but also their approach to learning. Some students are risk-takers, while others will only say something if they are sure it is correct. While being a risk-taker is generally positive as it leads to greater fluency, some students only seem to be concerned with fluency at the expense of accuracy. The same can be true when it comes to writing. Some students take an eternity to produce a piece of writing as they are constantly rubbing out what they have written while at the opposite extreme the writing is done as fast as possible without any planning or editing. (from the net) 2.3.4 Causes of Errors As has been pointed earlier, the interference of the MT was for (Lado ) and for other contrastive analysts the main or perhaps the only source of errors in the use of a second or a foreign language speaker. Contrastive analysts agree that individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms and meanings, of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture. Both productively when attempting to speak the language and to act in the culture, and receptively when attempting to grasp and understand the language and the culture practiced by natives. So, errors are described as: " The result of a random guess (pre-systematic). It was produced while testing out hypotheses (systematic).It is a slip of the tongue, a lapse, a mistake (caused by carelessness, fatigue etc post-systematic)." http://www.kyoto.su.ac.jp/~trobb/sussrobb.htmlErvin During the last few years there has been an exchange of attempts in EA , however, and these days almost all the research works in this area seems to think that although the pull of the MT can operate as a source of interference, this is by no means the only or even the main cause of errors. Cowan (1983:109 ) supposes that Learners' errors can be referred to as : "Interference from native language, the application of general language strategies similar to those manifested in first language acquisition, such as overgeneralization of linguistic rules. " Dulay et al (1982: 109 ) are of the view that: "There are situations in which the mother tongue can prove to be a great asset in the acquisition of a second or a foreign language. " The view held in the present study is that the study of errors is not necessarily a study of the fault-finding for all possible factors which determine their occurrence and their level. 2.3.5 Strengths and weaknesses of Error Analysis According to Buteau (1970:144), EA is important in that ‘error-based analyses are not only fruitful but also necessary to work out and test hypotheses concerning factors that set degrees of difficulty in second language learning at the intermediate level’. Brown (1980) also believes that error analysis can easily succeed contrastive analysis, as only some of the errors a learner makes are attributable to the mother tongue, that learners do not actually make all the errors that contrastive analysis predicts they should, and learners from disparate language backgrounds tend to make similar errors in learning the same target language. However, Brown draws learners attention to one danger of error analysis: it may overstress the importance of production data. Many researchers pay attention to production data, but comprehension data is equally important in developing an understanding of the process of second language acquisition. Halliday (1964) states that it is useful to construct a purely descriptive framework for the analysis and details of errors, which takes into account the level of language and the various categories involved. After the errors have been collected, the error diagnosis can be done in two ways: descriptively or comparatively. The descriptive method is chosen because it gives up a simpler correction and can be used in language classes with students from different backgrounds. If the teacher believes that the only cause of the error is due to interference, the error can also be explained ‘comparatively’, as if it comes from the interference of the native language. But this second way of error diagnosis is rather limited as it can only be used in classes with students with the same native language background. However, in the 1980s, EA gradually lost its popularity as more and more criticism was made against its approach and method. According to Chau (1975:122), the most serious of these is a lack of objectivity in its procedures of analysis, of defining and categorizing errors. Another limitation of EA is its lack of explanatory function, as most error analyses just classify lists of categories of errors according to their frequency of occurrence, rather than giving an explanation. In terms of categorisation, Strevens (1969:6) claims that ‘some errors are obvious, but many are either multiple errors (in the sense that they are partly grammatical and partly lexical) or are difficult to categorise in any linguistic way’. Another major criticism, made by Schachter (1974), is that most of the error analysis just focuses on errors and does not deal with avoidance. A learner who, for one reason or another, avoids a particular sound, word, structure or discourse category may be assumed incorrectly to have no difficulty therewith. For example, Schachter found that it was misleading to draw conclusions about relative-clause errors among certain learners of English. Furthermore, EA did not deal with what students were doing that caused them to succeed; that is, it did not deal with what led to learning. Recognising these weaknesses of EA, Duskova (1969) attempts to find the answer to the question whether contrastive analysis of the source and the target language can be replaced by error analysis. He summarises all sources of errors in foreign language learning. His conclusion is that the value of contrastive analysis cannot be underestimated, both as a means of preventing and remedying errors. He adds that the teaching materials based on contrastive analysis will be much improved if they can include the most common errors predicted by contrastive analysis alone. Duskova also found that categories that exist in both languages but display differences in their functions and distribution, although giving rise to many errors, do not seem to be the most strong source of errors. Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1982) sum up the three major conceptual weaknesses of EA as follows: (a) the confusion of description of errors with error explanation (the process and product aspects of error analysis), (b) the lack of precision and specificity in the definition of error categories, and (c) simplistic categorisation of the causes of learners’ errors. 2.3.6 The flexibility of Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis In the seventies, studies of language transfer, formed at that time by the behaviourist paradigm, went into temporary hide due to the rise of cognitive psychology and Chomskian linguistics (e.g., Dulay & Burt, 1974, 1975). However, since the existence of cross-linguistic influences is indisputable, the reconceptualisation of language transfer as a process within a cognitivist paradigm soon followed, and during the last few years of the eighties cross-linguistic phenomena received increasing attention. Further evidence of the rehabilitation of CA came in the form of two volumes published in the latter part of the eighties by Kellerman and Sharwood-Smith (1986) and Odlin (1989). A striking aspect of these two volumes is their focus on research on the role of negative transfer, or cross-linguistic influence, as it is now called, in the language acquisition process and the almost complete neglect of the pedagogical implications of the various findings. This reappearance of the interest into the field of CA in the late 1990s confirms Nehls’ statement (1975:61) that ‘even if all the just mentioned reasons for the explanation of errors are taken into account, contrastive analysis remains an important factor in error analysis’ for “learners” mother tongue will always be present as a factor or interference or support in the teaching process. CA was rejected in the seventies, because of its close association with the structural method, not from a demonstration of its inappropriateness on the basis of empirical evidence. Sheen’s studies also demonstrated that a deductive approach exploiting CA input is more effective in minimizing error rates than an inductive approach that does not take it into account. Another reassessment of the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis during the late nineties is that of Hayati (1997). In his review, Hayati attributes the temporary disappearance of CAH during the 70s and 80s to three problems: (a) the vagueness of its definition, (b) the vagueness of the two versions and (c) the basic assumptions underlying the hypothesis. Hayati has therefore tried to reformulate the CAH with reference to the observations made by many linguists, and the fact that not all errors are a result of interlingual interference. His argument is that even though it has been proved through many contrastive studies that not all errors are as a result of interlingual interference, this does not imply that ‘interference’ has no effect on the process of language learning Hayati carried out a contrastive analysis of English, including error analysis and claimed that ‘it is possible to predict in general that there will be difficulties in learning a second language in certain conditions. But, it is not so easy to predict the type and source of error without experimental verification’ (1997:51). To sum up, Carl James (1994:196) remarked on the present status of CA and EA as follows: There is still a great deal to be said and a great deal of work to be done in CA and EA. They are vital components of the applied linguistic and language teaching enterprise. w.w.w.leo.meikal.ac.jphtm 2.3.7 The Classification of Errors Besides the problems of definition, the classification of errors also draws a lot of attention from researchers. Burt and Kiparsky (1974:73) distinguish between global errors and local errors. A global error is one which involves ‘the overall structure of a sentence’ and a local error is one which affects ‘a particular constituent’. On the global level, errors are classified by Corder (1973:277) into four main categories: omission of some required element, addition of some unnecessary or incorrect element, selection of an incorrect element, and disordering of elements. Levels of language can be considered within each category: phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax and discourse. Using the source as the standard for categorising, errors can be categorised into interlingual errors and intralingual errors (Richards, 1971). Errors found to be traceable to first language interference are termed interlingual. A large number of similar errors, however, are found to be committed by second language learners regardless of their first language. These are termed intralingual errors. They are often analysed to see what sorts of strategies are being used by the learners. Intralingual errors include: overgeneralisation, simplification, communication-based and induced errors. Taylor (1975) has a different way of defining overgeneralisation errors; he considers overgeneralisation errors as ‘any error which can be attributed to the application of a rule of English in an inappropriate situation’. Transfer errors, in Taylor’s taxonomy, are classified as any error in target language which can be attributed to the structure of the native language. According to him, translation errors are ones which change the desired response in a significant way. Errors of this kind involve simple substitutions of one syntactically correct structure for another equally syntactically correct, but semantically incorrect, alternative. The three other kinds of errors, which are adapted from Selinker (1972), are simplification, communication-based errors, and teaching-induced errors. Simplification errors occur when the learners tend to reduce the target language to a simpler system. When the learner incorrectly labels the object, but successfully communicates a desired concept, this kind of error is named communication-based error (also see Tarone, 1980). The last type of error, teaching-induced error, happens as a result of inappropriate training, the overemphasizing of drilling technique on a certain linguistic item (Stenson, 1974). w.w.w.leo.meikal.ac.jphtm 2.4 Errors Vs Mistakes Language learning is like any other human learning. It is known that children when learning their L1 make countless mistakes. Many of these mistakes are logical in the limited linguistic system within which they operate or write. But by careful feedback from others, they slowly learn to produce an acceptable and perfect performance. On the other hand, errors committed by a learner of a L2 have to be distinguished from mistakes of the L1 by EA approach. A classroom FL teacher can notice the errors resulting from utterance , operating, writing or reading. Before the 1960s, when the behavioristic point of view of language was the popular one, learner errors were considered as something undesirable, and making an error could be undesirable to proper language learning processes. According to this school of thought, errors are due to the insufficiency in teaching methods. With a ‘perfect’ teaching method, errors would never be committed. As a ‘perfect’ methodology is nothing but an illusion, this way of thinking is obviously immature. With the appearance of the concept of ‘Universal Grammar’, proposed by Chomsky (1957), and his rationalistic claim that human beings have an innate capacity which can guide them through a huge number of sentence generation possibilities, many language teachers gradually moved away from the behavioristic language learning style and emphasized the cognitive approach. The largest contribution of this new linguistic theory of Chomsky is the interest. It raised from researchers into learners’ errors, as a means of hypothesis formation. Accordingly, a more favourable attitude has developed for EA during the 1970s and 1980s. Corder (1967) was the first to advocate the importance of errors in the language learning process. He suggested that by classifying the errors that learners made, researchers could learn a great deal about the second language acquisition process by inferring the strategies that second language learners were using. For learners themselves, errors are ‘indispensable’, since making errors can be regarded as a device the learners use in order to learn. (Selinker 1992:150) pointed out two highly significant contributions that Corder made in the field of second language acquisition: ‘that the errors of a learner, whether adult or child, are (a) not random, but are in fact systematic, and are (b) not ‘negative’ or ‘interfering’ in any way with learning a target language, but are on the contrary a necessary positive factor, indicative of testing hypotheses. Duly, researchers are interested in errors because errors are believed to contain valuable information on the strategies people use to acquire a language (Richards, 1974; Taylor,1975; Dulay & Burt 1974). Different definitions of the concept of ‘error’ have been developed from different perspectives in the error analysis literature. According to Corder’s definition (1967), which is partially traced back to the Chomskian differentiation between ‘competence’ and ‘performance’, mistakes are adventitious, random errors in performance due to memory lapses or physical state; but errors, on the other hand, are systematic and reflect a defect in knowledge (i.e., linguistic competence). According to this definition, while a mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip, errors refer to idiosyncrasies in the interlanguage of the learner, which are direct manifestations of a system within which a learner is operating at the time. Put another way, an error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage of the learner. Another definition of errors is suggested by Dulay, Burt & Krashen (1982) who claimed that the term ‘error’ can be used to ‘refer to any deviation from a selected norm of language performance, no matter what the characteristics or causes of the deviation might be’. Another definition of ‘errors’, is put forward by Lennon (1991:182): ‘a linguistic form or combination of forms which, in the same context and under similar conditions of production, would, in all likelihood, not be produced by the speakers’ native speaker counterparts. "This distinguishes 'mistakes' from 'errors' where the former refers to unsystematic errors of learners as opposed to the systematic errors of learners from which we are able to reconstruct their knowledge of the language to date (Corder, 1978). The underlying assumption is that students' errors made in grammar are systematic and classifiable. Attention to error type and an understanding of the violation or misuse of specific grammar rules offers teachers a means of helping students deal with language and usage problems. Then only can students be sensitized to specific problems they may have, and to recognize and remedy these problems. " http// itesi. Org/ Brown (1987: 170 ) differentiates between errors and mistakes. He thinks that a mistake is a failure to develop a known system correctly while an error is a noticeable deviation : " A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip. In that it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly… referred to errors as ' goofs ' for which no blames is implied… An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner. " James (1998: 77- 79) meanwhile tries to offer a definition of error declaring that intentions play an important role in this definition. As if he wants to say that a mistake is either deliberately or undeliberately deviant and self- corrigible for learners. "An error arises only when there was no intention to commit one. One cannot spot so-called ' deliberate errors' because they do not exist. When any sort of deviance is intentionally incorporated into an instance of language, we do not say it is erroneous, but deviance In this sense, Corder (1973: 170: 259) discriminates between errors typically produced by people who have not yet fully built the language system and mistakes which are failures to utilize a known system correctly which could equally be committed by native and non-native speakers as he says: "The native speaker could produce erroneous utterances ,( e.g. slips of the tongue or pen, false starts, changes of mind, etc.) where he is normally capable of recognizing where he went wrong and correcting himself." Such errors as he puts, are not the result of deficiency in his central competence of some neurophysiologic failure or imperfections in the process of training and articulatory speech. James ( ibid:78 ) continues to discriminate between errors and mistakes as he says: " We have error; and where the utterances are at odds with their authors' own grammar, leading them to reject the utterances on reflection, since they were not as intended, we have a mistake. If the learners reject their own utterances on the grounds of their ungrammaticality (in terms of the learners' IL grammar), it is grammatically unacceptable." It is essential here to make a distinction between mistake and error; both Corder (1967, 1973) and James (1998) reveal a criterion that helps learners do so: it is the self-correctability criterion. A mistake can be self-corrected, but an error cannot. Errors are “systematic,” i.e. likely to occur repeatedly and not recognized by the learner. Hence, only the teacher or researcher would locate them, the learner wouldn’t (Gass & Selinker, 1994). And it is in this light it has been chosen to focus on students’ errors not mistakes. Therefore, it is necessary to discriminate between mistakes (lapses) and errors. Unfortunately, this distinction has only shallow appearances and involves of errors . For Edge(1989:11) errors and mistakes are deviances . He divides these deviances into three types: slips, errors and attempts. (i) Slips are caused by processing problems or carelessness. The learner could auto-correct them 'if pointed out' and 'if given the chance' An example is: He had been * their for several days. (ii) Errors are wrong forms that the pupil could not correct even if their wrongness were to be pointed out. However, ' we can recognize what the student wanted to produce' . (iii) Attempts are an example of which is: This. No really, for always my time. And then I happy. This is almost incomprehensible, and the learner obviously has no idea how to use the right form. The clearest and most practical classification of deviances is a four-one defined by James (1999: 83) (i) Slips, or alternatively lapses of the tongue or pen, or even fingers on a keyboard, can quickly be detected and self-corrected by their author independently. (ii) Mistakes, can only be corrected by their agent if their deviances pointed out to him or her. If a simple indication that there is some deviance is a sufficient prompt for self-correction, then there is a first-order mistake… (iii)Errors can not be self-corrected until further relevant (to that error) input (implicit or explicit) has been provided and converted into intake by the learner. In other words, errors require further relevant learning, to take place before they can be self-corrected. (iv)Solecisms are breaches of the rules of correctness as laid down by purists and usually taught in schools: 'split infinitives' and 'dangling participles' . Eventually, this leads to conclude that, there are no methodological measures existing at present to differentiate between errors and mistakes. Consequently, the distinction is not observed by most researchers in the field of EA. Early studies were certainly unaware of its existences. This is evident from two lasting studies, namely, that of French (1949) and Fitikides (1967), where the two terms 'error' and 'mistake' were used interchangeably despite their methodological and pedagogical usefulness. 2.5 The Interlanguage ( IL) By the late 1960s, L2 began to be examined in much the same way that the L1 learning had studied for some time. Learners by a gradually process of trial, error and hypotheses testing have succeeded in establishing closer and closer approximations to the system used by native speakers of the language. Meanwhile, the term interlanguage occurred. Ellis (1984: 47) acknowledges that the term interlanguage was first used by Selinker(1972). Nemser(1971) refers to approximate system. And Corder(1971) to idiosyncratic dialects and transitional competence. He formulates the terms used here as he says: " These terms reflects two related but different concepts. First, interlanguage refers to the structural system, which the learner constructs at any given stage in his development. Second, the term refers to the series of interlocking system." While Brown (1987:169) on the other hand states that: "The term' interlingual' Interlanguage refers to the separateness of a second language learner's system, a system that has structurally intermediate status between the native and target language." Brown refers to Nemser's point of view about the L2 learning as a general phenomenon of approximation to the TL in his term approximate system. However, Selinker's term (1972: 214 ) makes it clear that he regards learner's systems of the TL as autonomous ones falling between the system of L1 and L2 on the grounds that they show some formal characteristics of both. Accordingly, Selinker's term, has become the most popular and has come to characterize a major approach to L2 research and theory. Although Selinker (1972) created the term “interlanguage”, it was Corder (1967) who is considered responsible for raising issues which became central to studies of IL. Building on ideas already explored by scholars such as Nemser (ibid.), Corder suggested that there was structure in learner language, and that certain inferences could be made about the learning process by describing successive states of the learner language, noting the changes and comparing this with the input. Moreover, Corder argued that the appearance of error in a learner’s production was evidence that the learner was organising the knowledge available to them at a particular point in time. Errors that he had stated, were the most important source of information, accounting for the fact that learners have a ‘built in syllabus’ and that a process of hypothesis formulation and reformulation was continuously occurring. The value of error-making in language learning was accordingly reassessed, with a move away from seeing error as a purely negative phenomenon. Error analysis became a valuable tool in the classroom for teachers and researchers. Various taxonomies were devised to account for certain types of error (e.g. Dulay and Burt 1974). It was suggested that spoken and written texts produced different kinds of errors, that there were differences between grammatical and lexical errors, that it was possible to construct a gradation of serious and less serious errors. In short, language learning began to be seen as a process which involved the construction of an IL, a ‘transitional competence’ reflecting the dynamic nature of the learner’s developing system. As a result of the variety of errors and the difficulty associated with interpreting them, Corder proposed a ‘general law’ for EA and IL. He suggested that every learner sentence should be regarded as idiosyncratic until shown to be otherwise (Corder, 1981). This is an important concept to bear in mind since it emphasises the fact that IL is a personal construct and process, and that while it may be true to say that certain tendencies are typical of certain learners from the same linguistic background, it cannot be true to say that all learners from that background will have such tendencies. It is the learner’s own autonomous and functional knowledge and his own certainty or uncertainty which determines his interlanguage behaviour. 2.5.1 Universal Grammar in Interlanguage ( UG) In considering universals, there are perhaps two approaches worth mentioning: 1. The Chomskyan approach 2. The Greenbergian approach The Chomskyan approach would employ the notion of UG which could define the classes of all possible human languages. Universal properties would be argued to be innate which means, for example, that children can construct grammars very quickly. A Greenbergian approach (1966), on the other hand, would “search for regularities in the ways that languages vary, and on the self-disciplines and principles that underlie this variation” (Hawkins, 1983: 6) Data showing surface feature language would need to be collected, and a wide range of languages would need to be considered. Consequently. Selinker (1972) claims that ILs are systematic in the sense of a ‘natural language’ and that ILs will not violate language universals. But what exactly is meant be a ‘language universal’? What is the source of a universal, and do all universals affect IL? Gass (1984) suggests five sources of a universal: 1. Physical basis (e.g. the physical shape of the vocal cords) 2. Human perception and processing devices 3. A LAD (Audiolingualism learning) 4. Historical change 5. Interaction These are the most common explanations given to the basis behind universals. Gass and Ard (1980) propose that universals stemming from language/historical change are least likely to influence IL, whereas physical, processing and cognitive universals are the most likely to have an effect on a person’s IL. Supporting a UG hypothesis in IL, Gass (1984) points to the hierarchy of structures in a language, for example the hierarchy of relative clause types which a language can relativise. Higher hierarchical positions are easier to relativise than lower ones. Further evidence is provided by Kumpf (1982) in a study of untutored learners whose tense and aspect systems do not correspond to the L1 or L2. It is argued that the learners create unique form, meaning and function relationships which correspond to universal principles of natural languages. While there seems to be a certain amount of evidence that ILs are consistent in that they do not violate self-controls of UG, the question still remains as to what in fact they are or more precisely, what they are constructed from. As noted here by Kumpf (ibid.) and elsewhere by Corder (1967), IL is not a mixture of the L1 and L2 although certain elements of one or the other or indeed both may be present. Much research suggests that transfer is an important element in the construction of an IL although this assertion raises several questions, namely: What is, or is not transferable between languages, and why should this be so? w.w.w.ntlworld.comvivian.csiaslaba On the other hand, Mc Laughlin (1973: 60 ) states that:" The L1 is thought to be distinct from both the learner's MT and the TL." And that is because the L1 develops over time as learners make use of their internal strategies to make sense of the input and to control their own output. Therefore, the occurrence of errors during the L2 learning process may not only be due to the pressure of the patterns of the MT, but also to the imperfect learning of the new L2 patterns. Duly, Corder (1971: 20) defines that from the research on errors, two schools of thought concerning learning learners' errors have developed: a)The school which maintains that if teachers were to achieve a perfect teaching method the errors would never be made in the first place, and therefore, the occurrence of errors is merely a sign of the present inadequacy of teaching techniques. b) The second school, which maintains that all people live in an imperfect world, and consequently errors will always occur in spite of our best efforts. Our ingenuity should be concentrated on techniques that deal with errors after they have occurred. According to the first school, the occurrence of errors is due to bad teaching habits. According to the second school , the making of errors is unavoidable, and in fact people cannot learn without making errors. Learners in acquiring a TL are so variable. There are four stages of random errors, interlanguage findings, ability of correcting errors and the stabilization stage in the development of interlanguage system in which the learner has mastered the system to the point that meanings and fluency are not problematic. These stages are described by Brown (1987: 175 ) as follows: The first stage of random errors, a stage which Corder called 'presystematic' in which the learner is only vaguely aware that there is some systematic order to a particular class of items. In this stage, the learner is making rather wild guesses at what to write (a stage of inaccurate guessing. The second, or emergent stage of interlanguage findings. The learner has begun to distinguish a system and to internalize certain rules by which the learner seems to have grasped a rule or a principle. Generally, the learner is still unable to correct errors when they are pointed out by some one else. A third stage is a truly stage in which the learner is now able to manifest more consistently in producing the L2. The rules in his mind are well formed and the learner is now able to correct his errors when they are pointed out by some one else. Here, a final stage, the stabilization stage in the development of interlanguage system , what Corder ( 1972 ) called a' post systematic stage'. Here the learner has few errors and has mastered the system to the point that meanings and fluency are not problematic. The stage is characterized by the learners' ability to self-correct. The attention can be paid to those few errors that occur and are corrected without feedback. Ellis ( ibid: 52 ) states that error analysis provides two kinds of information about Interlanguage "The first which is relevant to the question what light can the study of errors throw on the sequence of development. The second type of information which is relevant to the question what light can errors shed on the strategies that the learner uses to assimilate the rules of the second language. " To comment on that, Ellis tries to show how error analysis can contribute on the sequence of development of students acquisition to the TL. So many attempts are done to reach positively to a point through IL in order to simplify the rules of the L2 for a quick and healthy assimilation to these rules. Although Selinker (1972) created the term “interlanguage”, it was Corder (1967) who is considered responsible for raising issues which became central to studies of IL. Corder suggested that there was structure in learner language, and that certain deductions could be made about the learning process by describing successive states of the learner language, noting the changes and associating this with the input. Moreover, Corder argued that the appearance of error in a learner’s production was evidence that the learner was organising the knowledge available to them at a particular point in time. Errors, he stated, were the most important source of information, accounting for the fact that learners have a ‘built in syllabus’ and that a process of hypothesis formulation and reformulation was continuously occurring. The value of error-making in language learning was consequently reassessed, with a move away from seeing error as a purely negative phenomenon. Error analysis became a valuable tool in the classroom for teachers and researchers. Various taxonomies were devised to account for certain types of error. It was suggested that spoken and written texts produced different kinds of errors, that there were differences between grammatical and lexical errors, that it was possible to construct a gradation of serious and less serious errors. In short, language learning began to be seen as a process which involved the construction of an IL, a ‘transitional competence’ reflecting the dynamic nature of the learner’s developing system. As a result of the variety of errors and the difficulty associated with interpreting them, Corder proposed a ‘general law’ for EA and IL. He suggested that every learner sentence should be regarded as idiosyncratic until shown to be otherwise. This is an important concept to bear in mind since it emphasises the fact that IL is a personal construct and process, and that while it may be true to say that certain tendencies are typical of certain learners from the same linguistic background. It cannot be true to say that all learners from that background will have such tendencies. It is the learner’s own autonomous and functional knowledge and his own certainty or uncertainty which determines his interlanguage behaviour. Errors are no longer considered undesirable, but indispensable devices learners use to test their hypotheses. Indeed, the appearance of Copper’s ‘hypothesis testing’ theory (1970), Selinker’s ‘interlanguage’ (1972) and Nemser’s ‘approximate language’ (1971) and Corder’s concept of ‘idiosyncratic dialect’ (1967) suggest the existence of ‘a separate linguistic system based on the observable output which results from a learner’s attempted production of a target language norm’ They all note that ‘second language deviations are not random but systematic and reflect implicit hypotheses as to the nature of the language being learnt and internalized. To illustrate this, Azevedo (1980) carried out research on the interlanguage of advanced learners of Spanish. In his study, Azevedo discovered that although these students had internalized a large number of rules of Spanish, their command of these rules was not entirely accurate. Although they could apply these rules in isolation or in situations requiring a combination of only a few of these rules at a time. Another conclusion of Azevedo (1980) is that the interlanguage of these Spanish students, when compared with the target language, reveals gaps noticeable at the morphological, syntactical, semantic, and stylistic levels, which are filled by rules of their mother tongue. By recognizing some cases in which Spanish rules coexist and exchange in performance with English rules, Azevedo suggests that the study of interlanguage should take into account not only errors of different types, but also ‘non-errors’; that is, correct constructions, which might have contained the same errors. This method, according to Azevedo, would not only create a more accurate description of the interlanguage considered, but also provide instructors with useful knowledge about areas of the TL that have been mastered, and which need further work. w.w.w. leo.meikal.ac.jphtm Consequently, any beginning stage of learning a L2 is characterized by a good deal of interlingual transfer from NT or interference before the systems of the L2 is familiar. That is because the NL is the only linguistic system in previous experience of a learner. In this sphere, Brown (1987: 177) explains the negative interlingual transfer when he says: "We have all heard English learners say 'sheep' for 'ship' or 'the book of Jack' instead of 'Jack's book"…All these errors are attributed to negative interlingual transfer. While it is not always clear that an error is the result of transfer from the native language, many such errors are noticeable in learner speech. So, fluent knowledge of a learner's native language of course aids the teacher in detecting and analysing such errors; however, even awareness with the language can be of help to indicate this common source." In the diagram bellow interlanguage appears as something intermediate between MT and TL Mother target language Tongue The Interlanguage Diagram 1: interlanguage 2.5.2 The Interlanguage Process Selinker(1972:214) views" First language is a separate linguistic system resulting from learners production of the target language norm." Selinker in his view considers the product of five central cognitive processes and some additional small ones such as spelling, pronunciation and hypercorrection involved in second language learning. Hereafter are the five central cognitive processes that are used to elucidate various kinds of transfer: a) Language Transfer (interference ) The term transfer was first introduced by Weinreich (1953: 1) referring to: " These instances of deviation from the norms of either language which occur in the speech of bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than one language, i.e. as a result of language in contact. " In this sense, the term refers to interference as a mechanism from the intensification of expression rather than a lack of familiarity with the L2. This definition is not based on which language is learned first as pointed by Lado ( 1957: 74) " Throughout the analysis of the forms of linguistic interference conventional terms like mother tongue, first, second or native language were avoided. From the structural point of view the genetic question… is irrelevant. " However, the native- foreign language distinction is central to Lado's as he holds the view that learners draw back on their L1 when faced with the situation to produce utterance in the TL in advance. This supposes that L1 usually gets in the way of L2 resulting in language transfer. If this transfer reorganizes in target like-forms, it said to be positive, if it results in deviant forms, it is said to be negative transfer or interference. It is noticed that intralingual (overgeneralization) transfer is a major factor in L2 learning. Overgeneralization is the negative counterpart of intralingual transfer. Brown(1987:178) agrees with researchers as they all have found that the early stages of language learning are characterized by a dominance of interference (interlingual transfer), but he adds: "Once learners have begun to acquire parts of the new system, more and more intralingual transfer generalization within the target language is manifested. This of course follows logically from the tenets of learning theory…" Negative intralingual transfer, or overgeneralization, in such words as ' Does John can sing? ', 'He goed', 'I don't know what time is it'. Once again, the teacher or researcher cannot always be certain of the sources of an apparent intralingual error." Intralingual interference: Richards (1993:174-7) exposes four types and causes for intralingual errors. He explains that these types cover the instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his experiences of other structures of the TL. It may be the consequence of the learner's reduction to his linguistic burden. "Developmental errors illustrates the learner attempting to build up hypotheses about the English language from his limited experience ...in terms of: 1- overgeneralisation, 2- ignorance of rule ristrictions, 3- incomplete application of rules, 4- false concepts hypothesized." To illustrate that: overgeneralization associated with redundancy reduction. It covers instances where the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of his experience of other structures in the target language. It may be the result of the learner reducing his linguistic burden. ignorance of rule restrictions: i.e. applying rules to contexts to which they do not apply. incomplete application of rules semantic errors such as building false concepts/systems: i.e. faulty comprehension of distinctions in the TL. Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982) suggest that there are two possible ways of describing the term ‘interference’. One is from a psychological perspective, which suggests that there is influence from old habits when new ones are being learned. The second is from a sociolinguistic perspective which describes the language interactions which occur when two language communities are in contact. Three such examples are borrowing, code switching and fossilisation. Borrowing essentially means the incorporation of linguistic material from one language into another, for example, the borrowing of thousands of words from old French into Anglo-Saxon after the Norman conquest of 1066. Such words maintain their general sound pattern but alter the phonetic and phonological system of the new language. ‘Integrated borrowing’, according to Dulay and Burt (1974), occurs when the new word in question is fully incorporated into the learner’s IL. Selinker (1992) argues that this is in fact transfer. ‘Communicative borrowing’ on the other hand, reflects a communicative strategy which helps to get over the deficiencies of the L2. The learner falls back on structures or patterns from the L1 in order to get a message across. Selinker (1992) notes that if communication is successful, then transfer will (or may) happen. The danger is that successful communication does not depend entirely on formal correction. Persistent errors (e.g. wrongly incorporated errors, overt errors) could lead to fossilisation where a learner, uncorrected for the reasons mentioned above, but still able to successfully get their message understood, has no sociofunctional need to alter their IL and so it fossilises in that state. Code switching describes the use of two language systems for communication, usually supported by a sudden, brief shift from one to another. This phenomenon is not an indication of a lack of competence, but rather tends to obey strict structural rules. Certain structural combinations, for example, are not possible, e.g. switching before relative clause boundaries or before adverbial clauses is ‘illegal’. A more behaviourist interpretation of interference was mentioned earlier; two types were suggested: 1. Positive transfer 2. Negative transfer To what extent is transfer responsible for the form and function of a person’s interlanguage? In order to answer these questions, it will be necessary to examine what is meant by a number of commonly used terms such as transfer, interlanguage and interference. It will also be of use to review the history of interlanguage as a concept in order to understand where it came from and where it may be going. There has been debate as to whether ‘transfer’ is a valid concept for use in discussing language acquisition at all. Both of these types refer to the automatic and subconscious use of old behaviour in new learning situations. Specifically, semantic and syntactic transfer of this nature reflects the most commonly understood uses of the term. Corder (1983) suggested the need for a word other than ‘transfer’ which he claimed belonged to the school of behaviourist learning theory. He suggested the term ‘Mother Tongue Influence’. Sharwood Smith (1986) refined the idea still further by suggesting ‘Cross Linguistic Influence’, which would take into account the potential influence of L3 on L2 where another learned language, but not the L1 might have an effect on the learning of the L2. Also included within the meaning of CLI is the notion of possible L2 influence on L1. ‘Transfer’ is also used by educational psychologists to refer to the use of past knowledge and experience in a new situation, e.g. a literate SLL does not have to learn that written symbols represent the spoken form of the new language. For many people, the proof is seen in transfer errors which reflect the equivalent structures of the L1. Thus, for example, if a Japanese learner consistently omitted the indefinite articles of a sentence, then negative transfer could be claimed. Conversely, if a French learner regularly included the correct definite or indefinite articles in a sentence, then positive transfer could be cited. The ‘proof’ would be in the fact that in Japanese the article system does not exist, while French has a similar article system to English. Generally speaking, in terms of article use, Japanese and French learners of English do tend to follow the pattern suggested above. Is the case therefore closed? Certain evidence suggests that the situation is somewhat more complex. Felix (1980) describes an English boy learning German who used the word “warum” to mean both “why” and “because”. Felix points out that in, say, Spanish or Greek, this one equivalent word does carry these two meanings. So had the boy been Spanish, his error would almost certainly have been identified as interference. Errors, Felix suggests, will always correspond to structures in some language. Butterworth (1978) noticed that Ricardo, a 13 year old Spanish boy learning English, often used subjectless sentences. He therefore attributed this to interference since it is perfectly acceptable to omit the subject in Spanish. Felix, however, points out that it is also common in FLA to miss out the subject of a sentence. Dulay and Burt (1974), after studying 513 errors produced by Spanish children learning English, concluded that overall, less than 5% of the total errors were exclusively attributable to interference. Felix (1980) is clear that in certain circumstances interference does occur. Nevertheless he concludes: our data on L2 acquisition of syntactic structures in a natural environment suggest that interference does not constitute a major strategy in this area. (1980: 107). There is also the perhaps surprising phenomenon of a lack of positive transfer where learners make mistakes that they should not have made given the similarity of their L1 background to the L2 in question (Richards, 1971). Lo Coco (1975) in a study of learner error suggested that 5% to 18% of the errors observed should not have been made if positive transfer was in fact at work in the learner’s IL. Coulter (1968) noted how CA predictions were specifically falsified in an experiment on Russian learners of English. In Russian, there are five forms of the plural which contrast clearly with singular items in the language. Interference theory would suggest therefore that there would be no difficulty in acquiring the s-morpheme of English plurals. If anything there would be a positive transfer of complexity to simplicity since English has just the one plural form. Extended observation of the Russian subjects showed that this was not the case. In tests of production they failed to consistently produce the required plural forms. All of this suggests that while transfer seems to be a reasonable and logical explanation for some part of the nature and form of ILs, there are certain reservations that should be born in mind. Only certain structures or forms seem to be transferable from the L1 and the identification of these items is further complicated by the variables of context and the individual in question. A question worth asking would be: Are there specific linguistic areas where the L1 influences the L2? Markedness Kean (1986), in his paper ‘Core issues in transfer’, divides language into two areas: 1. Core 2. Periphery Core areas of the language obey highly restricted, invariant principles of UG. Periphery areas of the language reflect language particular phenomena – not defining properties of the grammars of natural languages. Kean argues that if an IL has a ‘well-formed’ grammar, then ‘core’ universals must be components of all such ILs. If such ‘core’ universals are not present, then the ILs in question cannot be described as ‘normal’ grammars. Therefore, for example, one should not find structure independent rules in a language. for example: 1. The subject is not required 2. There is free inversion of overt subjects in simple sentences 3. Violations of the that-trace filter are admitted (e.g. “Who do you think that will come?”) He points out that if only one of these is missing then all of them will be missing from a language. The suggestion is that the learner need only notice one of the three items listed above in order to know what kind of a language Italian is. Therefore a pro-drop parameter can be postulated, an either/or situation, where a person’s learning system acts as a ‘scanning device’ only picking up the marked values of a language. Mazurkewich (1984) adopts the core/periphery distinction outlined above where unmarked properties of language are identified with core grammar and marked properties with the periphery. Not being concerned with parameters as such, she argues that if a learner is acquiring a language with a marked structure, they will go through a stage of using the unmarked equivalent before the marked one is acquired. In other words, A strong UG hypothesis is maintained where in L2 acquisition, UG reverts back to its preset options, taking no account of the learner’s prior learning experience with the L1. The prediction is that all L2 learners will show the same developmental sequence of unmarked before marked, regardless of their L1. This suggests a superficial resemblance to the ‘natural order hypothesis’ proposed by Krashen (1981) which tries to explain certain morpheme acquisition sequences by claiming they are part of a natural order. The crucial difference here is that specific predictions are made in advance of the data, based on the identification of structures as marked or unmarked. w.w.w.leo.meikal.ac.jphtm b) Transfer of training: The transfer of training is a process which is quite different from language transfer and from over- generalization of the TL rules. Richards (1993:39) notices that the occurrence of errors which he attributes to the way drills and exercises are constructed and can be attributed to transfer of training. He states that: "According to a standard contrastive analysis then there should be no trouble. It seems to be the case that the resultant IL form, in the first instance, is due directly to the transfer of training; textbooks and teachers in this interlingual situation almost always present drills with he and never with she." c) Strategies of L2 learning: Learning strategies as stated by Corder (1981: 89 ) refers to: "The mental process whereby a learner creates for himself a language system underlying the data he is exposed to." While communication strategies are the devices whereby the learner exploits whatever linguistic knowledge he possesses to achieve his communicative targets. Corder (ibid : 104 ) continues arguing as he says : " Much of the literature in this field seemed to lack a general view of the problem as one of the principle confusions is between what are called ' learning strategies 'and 'communicative strategies " Sometimes, learners' errors could only be explained as a relation of both strategies. In this sphere, Richards (1993:71) puts both learning strategies and communication strategies to refer to the language they get in touch with, due to the situation of learning and the uses required of English .Learners try to simplify items. Because simplification is one way on which speakers of different languages can make a new language easier to learn and use. Richards relies on simplification as a way in which learners of different languages can make a new language easier to learn and use. He says: "The learner generates a grammar in which many of the marked or unmarked distinctions of the target language are removed, where inflected forms tend to be replaced by uninflected forms, and where preposition, auxiliary and article usage appears to be simplified." So, simplification may thus be considered as a common learning strategy based on the extension and application of rules. Overgeneralization and analogy are examples of the same process. Jain (1974:191) agrees with Richards in the matter of simplification, She explains that it is the learner's tendency to reduce their learning burden . She says: "The reduction of target language to a simpler system seems to be best affected through generalization, which are very often restricted in nature." Thus, it is obvious that learners carry with them possible errors through over-application of these generalizations. " On the other hand, Brown (1980: 162 ) gives four learning strategies: " transfer, interference, generalization and over- generalization " as a manifestation of one principle of language learning, namely, the interaction of previously learned materials with a present learning event. He regards interference as negative transfer and overgeneralization as the negative division of generalization. A careful analysis of the performance data showed that the students made excessive use of the present tense form of a verb, by dropping the regular past tense –ed morpheme in situations where the context demands past tense. In other words, the students cut down the complexity of task involved in sentence production, which resulted in errors (see Richards 1974: 175; and Ellis 1997-a : 114). Similarly, Jain described the situation as follows: . . .from that of a child learning his native language to that of an adult learning a second language, the learning strategy to reduce speech to a simpler system seems to be employed by every learner . . . (1974: 191). The students’ attitude toward spoken English indicates that they employed the strategies they had developed through spoken English which confirms the prediction made by Richards (1974: 177). According to Ellis (1997: 114), on the other hand, such instances may occur when learners make use of their implicit knowledge. Most of the students had less difficulties in constructing a first clause or sentence with correct past tense form; however, whenever a student tried to use a conjunction, it resulted in an error. The strategy behind it would be that the student first formed a sentence using the simple past tense, then added a conjunction and while writing the next sentence unconsciously ignored the pastness or used his/her verbal communication strategy that forced the use of a present form instead. The students' efforts which produce the most frequent over-generalization errors in this study are evident in the use of the coordinator: and but, sub-coordinator: because and when ; and so. although attributing the source to language transfer, also comment on the difficulties learners could have in the usage of English conjunctions. For the errors associated with the irregular past tense forms, a relatively few instances of over-generalization and frequent occurrences of the present tense indicate that the students are at a certain level, possibly below the intermediate level, and that the level is not progressing. L2 users think in different ways to monolinguals trying to get learners to be like native speakers is ineffective; their minds and their knowledge of language will inevitably be different. The benefits of learning a second language are becoming a different kind of person, not just adding another language. The main obstacle to setting the successful L2 user as the goal is the belief that the native speaker speaks the true form of English. This implies the comparison of one group with another: the language of non-natives has always to be compared with that of natives; anything that deviates is wrong. For other areas of language study, William Labov established that it is discrimination to treat one group in terms of another group that they can never belong to, whether women as men, black Americans as white Americans, or working-class as middle-class. People must be allowed to be what they are when this is an unchangeable effect of birth or of early education. An appropriate goal for many learners is then using the L2 competently for their own purposes and in their own ways, which may very well not be the same as those of a monolingual native speaker and indeed may not involve native speakers at all. Learners can become successful L2 users rather than forever ‘failing’ the native speaker target. This is applicable to both MT acquisition and L2 learning at a later stage in life. It is not known if the simplification or speech reduction in L1 learning and adult L2 language is qualitatively the same. What is important is that this strategy is used by the L2 learner and some of its characteristic features are identifiable in his performance data, as both errors and non - errors. However, Jain (1974: 191) argues that both the native child and the second language use a developmental process of speech reduction, at one stage in their learning" the native child ' expands ' his 'reduced system. to give it a one to one correspondence with the excepted adult system of his speech community ; the second language learner with varying degree of adjustment continues to operate it at a reduced system." Therefore, if the reduction move away widely from the TL and operates at all syntactic levels, the learner L2 performance is marked with errors of diversity kinds, if however, the reduction is selective and does not seriously violate the TL system, his L2 performance data may be comparatively free from errors . This tendency to reduction is a common learning strategy, proposing that the learner's brain is an efficiency – seeking organism , and hence it is able to exercise a natural idea in rejecting , modifying or accepting the learning material . This implies that simplification is not limited to L2 learners but is also utilized by native speakers. Simplification is used when addressing people who are supposed to be unable to understand the normal speech of the community of the TL, such as foreigners and children. It is also used for other purposes such as telegraphic instructions. d) Strategies of Second Language communication: Strategies of communication were first summoned by Selinker (1977) to account for certain classes of errors made by learners of a L2. These errors are considered as a by- product of the learner's attempt to express his meaning in spontaneous speech without having an inadequate grasp of the TL system. Ellis (1985:182) attributes communicative strategies to psycholinguistic plans when saying that : " Communicative strategies are psycholinguistic plans which exist as part of the language user's communicative competence ." Duly, communicative strategies are potentially conscious , and serve as substitutes for production plans which the learner is unable to apply. But Richards (1993 : 70 ) has another point of view: "Under communicative strategies we may characterise interlingual features derived from the fact that heavy communication demands may be made on the second language." Herewith, Richards forces the learner to get out what he has assimilated of the language into a means of saying what he wants to say, or of getting done what he wants to do. e) Overgeneralization of Target Language Rules Overgeneralization is defined by Brown (1980 : 173 ) as : "The incorrect generalization of rules within the target language. " Whereas Taylor (1975 : 393 ) defines syntactic overgeneralization along the same line as : "A process in which a language learner uses syntactic rules of the target language inappropriately when he attempts to generate a novel target language utterance . " This definition suggests that, the product of such process will suggest that the learner grasps the mechanics of a particular grammatical rule of the TL, but he fails to master its correct forms. This in turn would suggest that the learner is operating on his already acquired knowledge of the TL creatively as he is neither imitating what he hears around nor transferring MT structure in his TL attempts. Thus overgeneralization may be the result of the learner's attempt to reduce the learning load. For example, the learner may omit the 3rd person singular ( s ) relieving himself of the effort that requires agreement when producing a sentence like this : *He play tennis well. Overgeneralization is also associated with redundancy reduction. For instance, the (ed ) past tense marker in narrative or in other past context often appears to be redundant to some learners when lexical past tense adverbial indicators such as " yesterday ", " last week " are used, thus, the learner cuts down the task involved in sentence production and reduces the TL system to a simple form. These errors are described by Ali ( 1997: 114 ) as : " intralingual errors as they occur as a result of factors within the TL system itself regardless of the learner's MT." Another interpretation for overgeneralization is developed by James(1999:184) tackles the deviance of structure apart from recourse to L1 transfer, the learners in ignorance of a TL form on any level and of any class can do either of two things :"Either they can set about learning the needed item, engaging their learning strategies or they can try to fill the gap by resorting to communication strategies. Learning strategies are used for code-breaking while communication strategies are encoding and decoding strategies." Both types of strategy can be the source of error. For more explanation James (ibid, 184) exposes three main categories of error: 1) Interlingual: interference happens when a structure in the second language shows some degree of difference form, and some degree of similarity with the equivalent form or structure in the learner’s first language” 2) Intralingual: a) Learning strategy-based errors: false analogy , misanalysis , incomplete rule application, developing redundancy, ignoring co-occurrence restrictions, hypercorrection (monitor overuse) and overgeneralization or system simplification b) Communication strategy-based errors:- holistic strategies: e.g. approximation, language switch, analytic strategies. 3) Persuaded errors: which result from the classroom situation than from either the student’s incomplete competence in English grammar (intralingual errors) or first language interference (interlingual errors) Stenson, (1974:256): classifies that as follows: "Material induced errors, teacher-talk induced errors, exercise-based induced errors. errors induced by pedagogical priorities and look-up errors," Richards ( 1993: 178 ) on the other hand refers to the process underlying instances where the learner creates a deviant structure due to his faulty comprehension of distinction in the TL and call it " false concepts hypothesized " He adds " There is a class of developmental errors which derive from faulty comprehension of distinction in the target language. These are sometimes due to poor gradation of teaching items," For example, the overuse of the continuous form of the verb in the classroom may lead the students to assume that this form in English is a tense for telling stories and for describing a succession of events in either the past or the present which could lead to errors such as:- *I was admiring the speaker and was liking him. However, it is evidently difficult to attribute errors to this cause arbitrary, without close observation of the total teaching situation. Nevertheless, little systematic studies in this respect has been made, except for few attempts explained by Richards ( 1993: 177 ) when he gives the examples of using a statement form instead of a question form as in the case of yes/ no interrogatives or simply by adding a question word to the statement form as in the case of wh - interrogatives. "The use of question is a common teaching device. Typically they are used, not to find out something, but as a means of eliciting sentences. Alternatively, the statement form may be used as a means of eliciting questions through a transform exercise." e.g. Teacher's Questions Student's Response Do you read much? Yes, I read much. What was she saying? She saying she would ask him What does she tell him? She tell him to hurry. What is he doing? He opening the door. Ask her how long it takes? How long it takes? The above examples illustrates, when a question is used to elicit sentences, the answer often has to be corrected by the teacher to act against the influence of the question. Closely related to the overgeneralization which results in deviant structures, is the failure to observe / ignore rule restrictions. That is the learner grasps a certain TL rule but fails to observe the restriction governing the application of that rule in the different contexts. This could be manifested in the form of ' incomplete application of rules ', where the learner produces deviant structures resulting from applying certain rulers incompletely. 2.6 Fossilisation The second language acquisition (SLA) literature over the past 30 years has seen miscellaneous interpretations and applications of the term ‘fossilisation’. This, on the one hand, is a sign of improvement in the general understanding of the theoretical construct. On the other hand, however, the lack of uniformity in interpretation and application creates confusion, which can be counterproductive to second language theory and practice. In this article, some major conceptual and methodological issues surrounding fossilisation will be unveiled and discussed. Fossilisation is no longer a massive concept as it was three decades ago but rather one tied up with various manifestations of failure in L2 learning, and thus that any attempt to explain fossilisation by way of a singular explanation will prove to be inadequate. It is argued that in constructing theories of SLA, fossilisation remains a central issue to be faced and explained. Hence, that need to develop principled approaches to investigating it. This phenomenon of the non-progression of learning despite continuous exposure to input and opportunity to practice – generally referred to in the literature as ‘fossilisation’ – became a central concern for second language acquisition (SLA) researchers almost as soon as the research field itself came into existence, and may even have driven the field into existence (Selinker, personal communication May 1998). More greatly, it has been seen as part of a larger background issue, namely ‘whether or not adults can ever acquire native-like competence in a second language or whether this is an accomplishment reserved for children who start learning at a relatively early age’ (Kellerman, 1995a:219). Indeed, the issue of fossilisation has been key to a number of theoretical proposals that argue a fundamental difference in process between adult SLA and child first-language acquisition (FLA). Of note are Schachter’s (1988, 1990, 1996) Incompleteness Hypothesis and Bley-Vroman’s (1989) Fundamental Difference Hypothesis. The former, essentially stating that adult SLA is bound for incompleteness, is founded on what Schachter observes as four major areas of difference between first and second language acquisition: completeness, fossilisation, equipotentiality and previous knowledge.1 The latter, the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis, however, identifies nine areas of difference,2 one of which is fossilisation: It has long been noted that foreign language learners reach a certain stage of learning – a stage short of success – and that learners then permanently stabilise at this stage. Development ceases, and even serious conscious efforts to change are often fruitless. Brief changes are sometimes observed, but they do not ‘take’: The learner backslides to the stable state. (Bley-Vroman, 1989: 46–47) It is important to point out that both the Incompleteness Hypothesis and the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis are responses to a larger debate on the so-called logical problem of language acquisition (Hornstein & Lightfoot, 1981), namely, how is language acquisition possible? Of course, the position held by Schachter and Bley-Vroman is that the logical problem is not the same for SLA as for FLA: while for FLA, the gap between the language data – usually degenerate and under determinate – and the striking uniformity of the competence attained by child acquirers warrants an explanation, SLA calls for a dual explanation vis-à-vis (a) the gap between the available experience and the resulting competence and (b) inter-learner and intra-learner differential success (Bley-Vroman, 1989; cf. Han, 1998).3 Further, the logical problem is, as Gregg (1996)notes, only part of the explanatory goals of L2 acquisition theory. A chief problem in need of explanation is the so-called developmental problem (Felix, 1984), namely, how does acquisition actually happen? Thus, whereas the logical problem is product-oriented, the developmental problem is process-oriented. Gregg (1996) follows Cummins (1983) in suggesting that the two require different theories to explain them: property theory for the logical problem and transition theory for the developmental problem. The point to be made is that fossilisation, if it is – as many contend – a feature Bilingual Education and Bilingualism characterising SLA and not FLA, 4 must be taken into account when constructing both a property theory and a transition theory. Of relevance to the construction of a property theory are questions such as: why do some adults, beyond simple phonological problems, never seem to fully master the L2? Does this suggest an interaction with other domains of cognition (and) something quite deep about the nature of Universal Grammar? Is it possible to argue that there is an independent domain-specific faculty for language while at the same time maintaining that it is so inextricably tied to other aspects of cognition that it is difficult to affect one area without affecting many others (Flynn & O’Neil, 1988: 18–19). Questions raised from a similar perspective which are relevant to the building of not only a property theory but also a transition theory include, but are not limited to, the following: why some learners ‘fossilise’ with divergent interlanguage grammars whereas others successfully attain a native-like grammar, why some factors are successfully reset whereas others are not, why positive input is only sometimes successful as a trigger for grammar change? (White, 1996: 115) For more than three decades, the construct of fossilisation has been subjected to questions under a range of different terms, not only under its by now traditional name of ‘fossilisation’ (Selinker, 1972; passim the research literature) but also as ‘virtual halt’ on-line communication), and so forth. However, for various reasons, empirical studies of fossilisation have never succeeded in the history of L2. The truth of the matter is that whereas the importance of understanding the phenomenon is generally recognised by SLA researchers, theoretical and empirical attempts at investigating it are more often than not sidelined or rejected by some researchers and L2 practitioners. Prejudice against empirical studies of fossilization often seems to stem from concerns of a more practical than theoretical nature. Fossilisation is an undesirable occurrence in the judgement of many practitioners. Researching fossilisation for them therefore emphasizes the negative at the expense of the positive. Empirical studies of fossilisation, especially longitudinal ones, thus far remain sparse, although they seem never to have come to a standstill (for recent studies, w.w.w.ntlword.comvivian.csiaslab, Moreover, fossilization is said to be a common experience to witness in a learner's language various erroneous features of language. It is noticed that many of those who have learned a L2 language after adolescence may persistently make syntactic and lexical errors. That is due to incomplete linguistic forms into a person's L2 language competence. This is referred to as fossilization . Brown (1987: 186) describes this term when he explains the internalization of incorrect forms that takes place by means of the same learning process as the internalization of correct forms as fossilization "fossilization should not be viewed as some sort of terminal illness, in spite of the forbidding metaphor that depicts an unchangeable situation…Items become fossilized when two kinds of information transmitted between sources ( learners) and audiences (in this case, native speakers) information about the affective relationship between source and audience, and cognitive feedback." B) Language Analysis On the case of listening, the study will focus on how to improve students' skill by following some strategies such as: a) to get involved with lecture while taking notes simultaneously. b) to hear what is wanted to hear not what is actually being said. c) to know that listening to an academic lecture is not a passive act, in addition, active listening keeps you on your toes. On the case of speaking, it is known that speaking is a productive skill. There are three kinds of speaking: a) interactive speaking, including face to face conversation or telephone calls. b) partially interactive, such as giving speech to a live audience does not interrupt the speech. Hence, the speaker may judge the expression of his audience face whether he is being understood. c) non-interactive, such as for a radio broadcast, On the case of reading, a learner has to improve the reading skill by means of reading a group of words at each glance. Reading more selectively, as students read more and more, their reading ability will improve. Also when books are used widely, it is inevitably students will profit a lot and their receptivity will increase. On the case of writing, a learner has to get aware of the importance of writing, the problems faced by students in writing and the rules of spelling. The sub-systems of language: phonology, vocabulary and grammar must be mastered by students on two levels: The receptive and the productive. The degree to which a student makes automatic responses to linguistic features marks his receptive ability in language; and the degree to which he makes automatic use of linguistic features marks his productive ability in it. Moreover. The experiences of students involve the school activities, the home, the family, relatives, some sports and some outings. The vocabulary connected with these activities should be taught. Hence, teaching words that represent new ideas is a mere burden on them. Two general principles can be stated for the choice of vocabulary items to be taught to students. 1) the frequency of words. 2) The students' needs and background of experience. There are many obstacles hindering the performances of the four skills in English language, the differences between Arabic script and English script, phonological differences, morphological differences, pronunciation differences, grammatical differences, etc. 2.7 Listening Listening is one of the most challenging skills for our students to develop and yet also one of the most important. By developing their ability to listen well students will develop their ability to become more independent learners, as by hearing accurately they are much more likely to be able to reproduce accurately, refine their understanding of grammar and develop their own vocabulary Language is a constantly developing form and when learners listen in their native language they still hear words that are new to them or that they may not fully understand. This doesn't however lead them to check lists of unknown words in dictionaries or learn word lists before they listen. They have evolved a process of deducing the meaning of new words. This is a process they also need to develop in all students. By constantly pre-teaching and preparing students teachers are undermining the development of this process. Students need to be challenged and to struggle to find meaning for themselves, with teacher's guidance and support, in order to develop this ability. To make this happen teachers need to do less pre-teaching and more developmental and post listening work so that students' first listening to a text is as close as possible to a 'true' experience. students can then use this first listening experience diagnostically to assess the problems that they are having and what they need to do to overcome those problems. Students can also measure the degree to which they are succeeding with their listening and build on this. The average college student spends about 14 hours per week in class listening (or perhaps "hearing"--there is a difference!) to lectures. So, students can improve their listening skills. The following strategies will help them to: 1) keep eye contact with the teacher. Of course a learner will need to look at his notebook to write his notes, but eye contact keeps him alert on the job at hand. 2) focus on content, not delivery. 3) avoid emotional concern. When a learner is emotionally involved in listening, he tends to hear what he wants to hear--not what is actually being said. He should remain objective and open-minded. 4) avoid disruption. A student mustn't let his mind rambles or be disturbed by the person near him. If the classroom is too hot or too cold he should try to remedy that situation if he can. The solution may require that he prepares more properly to the room temperature. 5) treat listening as mental task. Listening to an academic lecture is not a passive act-at least it shouldn't be. He needs to concentrate on what is said so that he can process the information into his notes. 6) stay active by asking mental questions. Active listening keeps them on toes. Here are some questions that can be asked at listening. What key point is the professor making? How does this fit with what a learner knows from previous lectures? How is this lecture organized? 7) use gaps between the rate of speech and the rate of thought. They can think faster than the lecturer can talk. That's one reason their minds may tend to move. All the above suggestions will help keep minds occupied and focused on what is being said. Learners can begin to expect what the lecturer is going to say as a way to keep their minds from wandering away. Their minds do have the capacity to listen, think, write and contemplate at the same time. Furthermore, El-koumy (2002:49) identifies listening as follows: "Listening is defined as a collection of micro-skills, including phonics vocabulary, grammar, etc… From the whole language perspective, listening is defined as an active process in which students construct meaning from an aural text" There are a number of reasons why listening is important for first and second language learners. Firstly, and most importantly, listening is essential for oral communication. Secondly, it often affects the development of reading and writing, and helps to enlarge student's vocabulary. Thirdly, it plays a central role in academic success because the lecture remains the most widely used method for instruction at all levels. 2.7.1 Pre-listening There are certain goals that should be achieved before students attempt to listen to any text. These are motivation, contextualisation, and preparation Motivation It is enormously important that before listening students are motivated to listen, so you should Motivation try to select a text that they will find interesting and then design tasks that will arouse your students' interest and curiosity. Contextualisation When we listen in our everyday lives we hear language within its natural environment, and that environment gives us a huge amount of information about the linguistic content we are likely to hear. Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is a very unnatural process. The text has been taken from its original environment and we need to design tasks that will help students to contextualise the listening and access their existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text Preparation To do the task we set students while they listen there could be specific vocabulary or expressions that students will need. It's vital that we cover this before they start to listen as we want the challenge within the lesson to be act of listening not of understanding what they have to do. Approach to process writing – Graham Stanley, British Council Barcelona 2.7.2 While listening: When students listen to something in their everyday lives they do so for a reason. Students need to listen, and that will focus their attention. For these, students really develop their listening skill they will need to listen a number of times - three or four usually works quite well - as it is found that: The first time many students listen to a text they are nervous and have to tune in to accents and the speed at which the people are speaking. Ideally the listening tasks which are designed for them should guide them through the text and should be graded so that the first listening task they do is quite easy and helps them to get a general understanding of the text. Sometimes a single question at this stage will be enough, not putting the students under too much pressure. The second task for the second time students listen should demand a greater and more detailed understanding of the text. Make sure though that the task doesn't demand too much of a response. Writing long responses as they listen can be very demanding and is a separate skill in itself, so keep the tasks to single words, ticking or some sort of graphical response. The third listening task could just be a matter of checking their own answers from the second task or could lead students towards some more subtle interpretations of the text. Listening to an unfamiliar language is a very intensive and demanding activity and for this reason it's very important that students should have 'breathing' or 'thinking' space between listening. Students are usually get to compare their answers between listening as this gives them the chance not only to have a break from the listening, but also to check their understanding with a closely look and so review before listening again. 2.7.3 Post-listening There are two common forms that post-listening tasks can take. These are reactions to the content of the text, and analysis of the linguistic features used to express the content Reaction to the text Of these two I find that tasks that focus students reaction to the content are most important. Again this is something that we naturally do in our everyday lives. Because we listen for a reason, there is generally a following reaction. This could be discussion as a response to what we've heard - do they agree or disagree or even believe what they have heard? - or it could be some kind of reuse of the information they have heard. Analysis of language The second of these two post-listening task types involves focusing students on linguistic features of the text. This is important in terms of developing their knowledge of language, but less so in terms of developing appear' listening skills. It could take the form of an analysis of verb forms from a script of the listening text or vocabulary or collocation work. This is a good time to do form focused work as the students have already developed an understanding of the text and so will find dealing with the forms that express those meanings much easier (http://www.d.umn.edu.student/loon/acad/strat/ss,) Listening is an essential part of the communication cycle. When you take part in conversation, you usually act both as a speaker and as a listener. When an other person is giving a lecture, an oral report, or a speech, however, you usually act only as a listener. Listening is an important skill. Following these guidelines described by Kuhlman et al (1984:166) will help you become a good listener: - Look at the speaker. - Think about what the speaker is saying. You may want to take notes on the speaker's most important ideas. - Do not try to think about two things at once. Forget your special interests or problems for a while. Think only about what the speaker is saying. - Try to ignore other noises. If other people are whispering, do not pay attention to them. - Now think about the last time you listened to a lecture, an oral report, or a speech. Which guidelines for listening did you follow? Which guidelines did you have trouble following? What did you learn from the lecture. Speech. Or report? What do you think you might have missed? Rost (1990: 6) defines listening as he declares: "Relevant theory offers a useful backdrop for a discussion of listening in language education, but we also need a model of the use of the linguistic and pragmatic competence that underlie successful communication. Although some models of verbal understanding has been attempted, they are for the most part broad descriptions of linguistic competence or narrow descriptions of verbal processes. Consider, as an example of a broad description of verbal understanding, the ' new model of understanding ' by Demyankov (1983). According to this model, language understanding consists of these stages: 1) acquisition of the linguistic framework of the language in question; 2) construction and verification of hypothetical interpretation of what is heard; 3)discernment of the speaker's intentions; 4) assimilation of the spoken message; 5) coordination of the speaker's and listener's motivation for participation in the conversation; 6) discernment of the tone of the message; " Moreover, listening provides a key theoretical and practical discussion of the role of listening in language use and language learning. Although much work has been done on the development of oral communication skills in language education, the nature of listening problems in language use, the way in which a learner's background influences understanding, and the means by which one's ability to listen can be improved. To help students improve their ability at understanding spoken English, it is hoped that students will increase their awareness of different features of the spoken language and become more sensitive to changes in sounds, contractions, stress, and intonation. Clear speech concentrates on rhythm, stress and intonation, because improvement in these aspects of pronunciation can do the most good in improving both listening and clarity of speech. Sounds and contraction are taught as part of rhythm and stress. With sounds, all sounds of English are exemplified, in words and sentences. a) Sounds There are usually 44 sounds in English. These sounds are classified in the following table. The sound is underlined in each word ( and the phonetic symbol for that sound is given after that word). Consonant sounds Group 1 1 pen /p/ 9 fail /f/ 17 hot /h/ 2 bad /b/ 10 very /v/ 18 my /m/ 3 ten /t/ 11 thin /θ/ 19 no /n/ 4 day /d/ 12 they /ð/ 20 sing / ŋ/ 5 key /k/ 13 so /s/ 21 let /l/ 6 get /g/ 14 zoo /z/ 22 red /r/ 7 cheap /t∫/ 15 she /∫/ 23 yes /j/ 8 jump /d/ 16 pleasure // 24 wet /w/ Vowel sounds Group 2 1 see /i:/ 5 arm /α:/ 9 soon /u:/ 2 it /ı/ 6 got // 10 cup /Λ/ 3 bed /e/ 7 saw / :/ 11 learn /:/ 4 man /æ/ 8 put // 12 about /ә/ Group3 1 page /eı/ 4 now /α/ 7 There /eә/ 2 home /ә/ 5 boy /ı/ 8 tour /ә/ 3 five /αı/ 6 here /ıә/ -- -- -- Table 1: the sounds and their phonetic symbols The letter 's' or 'es' at the end of words can be pronounced in three ways: /s/, /z/ or /ız/. A learner needs to activate his listening so as not to face difficulties while dealing with such words. The following table shows the difficulties that occur in the final 's' of the pluralization, Phonemes consonants Plural Inflections Singular Examples Plural Examples /p/ /s/ lip lips - v /t/ /s/ mat mats - v /k/ /s/ silk silk - v /f/ /s/ laugh laughs - v /θ/ /s/ birth births - v /b/ /z/ cab cabs +v /g/ /z/ log logs +v /v/ /z/ cave caves +v /ð/ /z/ lathe lathes +v /m/ /z/ jam jams +v /n/ /z/ can cans +v /ŋ/ /z/ song songs +v /ı/ /z/ chill chills +v /r/ /z/ war wars +v /w/ /z/ row rows +v /y/ /z/ boy boys +v /s/ /ız/ mass masses +v /z/ /ız/ quiz quizzes +v /∫/ /ız/ wish wishes +v // /ız/ church churches +v // /ız/ judge judges +v Vowel /i:/ /z/ sea seas +v /еı/ /z/ bay bays +v /α:/ /z/ ma mas +v /u:/ /z/ clue clues +v /ә/ /z/ foe foes +v /:/ /z/ law laws +v /αı/ /z/ cry cries +v /ı/ /z/ boy boys +v Table 2. The use of /s/, /z/, or /ız/ in pluralization For additional explanation, Noun Singular Plural 1) duck /dΛk/ ducks /dΛks/ /s/ 2) dog /d g/ dogs /dgz/ /z/ 3) box /bks/ boxes /bksız/ /ız/ = /әz/ 1- The noun: duck ends in /k/, a voiceless consonant, so the plural noun ends in the suffix /s/, which is similar to /k/ (which is also voiceless 'unvoiced' ) 2) The noun: dog ends in /g/, a voiced consonant, so the plural noun ends in the suffix /z/, which is similar to /g/ , which is also voiced. 3) The noun: box ends in /ks/. If /s/, or /z/,is added the word cannot easily be pronounced. So the suffix is /ız/. So the plural suffix in /bksız/ is /ız/. Similarly, the preterit of the verbs that end with 'ed' may have the sound of /t/, /d/ or /ıd/. Symbols Preterit Inflection Infinitive Preterit Examples /p/ /t/ clap clapped -v /k/ /t/ pick picked -v /f/ /t/ laugh laughed -v /θ/ /t/ unearth unearthed -v /s/ /t/ miss missed -v /∫/ /t/ wish wished -v // /t/ watch watched -v /b/ /d/ rob robbed +v /g/ /d/ beg begged +v /v/ /d/ love loved +v /ð/ /d/ bathe bathed +v /z/ /d/ quiz quizzed +v / /d/ judge judge +v /m/ /d/ climb climbed +v /n/ /d/ fan fanned +v /ŋ/ /d/ wing winged +v /l/ /d/ call called +v /r/ /d/ colour coloured +v /w/ /d/ vow vowed +v /j/ /d/ play played +v /t/ /ıd/ plant planted /d/ /ıd/ mend mended Vowels /і:/ /d/ key keyed +v /еı/ /d/ play played +v /u:/ /d/ sue sued +v /:/ /d/ Show showed +v /αı/ /d/ eye eyed +v /α/ /d/ plough ploughed +v /ı/ /d/ toy toyed +v // /d/ stow stowed +v Table 3: The /t/, /d/, and /ıd/ to make the regular past tenses For additional explanation: Past Tense and Past Participle 1) 1) They walked /t/ , /w:kt/ 2) They moved /d/, /mu:vd/ 3) They added /ıd/, / ædıd/ Here the same rule of assimilation applies, and so the inflectional suffix 'ed' in walked is pronounced /t/, /w:kt/, and /d/ in moved ; but in added , it is pronounced /ıd/ Even when there is a doubled letter in English, it is pronounced as only one consonant, for example : Announce /әnαns/, arrive /әrαıv/, allow /әlα/, running /rΛnıŋ/, swimming /swımıŋ/. b) Contraction The following 24 words are all verb forms: am are is were was shall will should would have has had do does did can could may might must ought need dare used Each of these words can be combined with another word. The combination is then pronounced as one word. These are called contractions. Contraction can be affirmative or negative. They are very common in everyday spoken English. The following are examples of affirmative contractions: am, are, is have, has 1 I am → I'm 9 I have → I've 2 you are → you're 10 he Has → he's she's 3 he is → he's she she is → she's 11 They have → they've it is → it's 4 we are → we're Should, would, had 5 they are → they're 12 I should → I'd 13 he would → he'd shall/ will she had → she'd 6 I shall/will → I'll 14 you → you'd 7 he she shall/will → he'll she'll 8 we shall/ will → we'll The former 24 verbs listed above may be combined with the weak form 'nt' of 'not to make negative contractions: 1 aren't 9 haven't1 17 mayn't 2 isn't 10 hasn't 18 mightn't 3 weren't 11 hadn't 19 mustn't 4 wasn't 12 don't 20 oughtn't 5 shan't (= shall not) 13 doesn't 21 needn't 6 won't (= will not ) 14 didn't 22 daren't 7 shouldn't 15 can't 23 usedn't 8 wouldn't 16 couldn't Note: a). ' am ' does not contract with ' not '. The negative is ' I'm not ' and the, negative question is ' Aren't I?' b). ' mayn't ' and ' usedn't ' are not often heard now. ' May ' is usually spoken in its full form: You may – you may not'. The negative of ' used ' can also be ' didn't use '. c) countable nouns ( which take a plural verb from the plural) : Example: students, books, eggs boys. d) uncountable nouns ( which do not take a plural verb form) : Example: advice, news, information. Butter, water. e) other words: a - singular: this, that plural: these, those b - some a lot of countable or uncountable nouns c) a few + countable noun d) a little + uncountable noun e) another = singular others = plural the other = singular or plural c) Stress and intonation The rhythm of spoken English consists of stress ( strong) and unstressed (weak) words or parts of words (syllables). The strong or weak syllables and words combine to form patterns. Ghali (2001:52) defines stress as he declares: "Stress is conveniently defined as the degree of force with which a syllable is uttered. A strong energy of utterance means energetic action of all the articulating organs; it involves a strong force of exhalation, and therefore gives the objective impression of softness." English word stress cannot be learnt by means of rules. In most cases there is no rule as to the post of stress, and when rules can be formulated at all, they are generally subject to various exceptions. It is therefore necessary for the learner of English to learn the stress of words individually. In this case Ghali (ibid:52) states that: All one-syllable words, when spoken in isolation, have primary stress. This means that the phonetic transcription of such a word as 'pill' is not complete unless it shows the stress . When two syllable words are spoken in isolation, some have primary stress on the first syllable and weak stress on the second, such as the word English [ıŋglı∫] and study [stΛdı]; others have weak stress on the first syllable and primary stress on the second such as the words believe [bıli:v] and dictate [dıkteıt] There is a number of two-syllable words the grammatical function of which is determined by the placement of primary stress on either the first or the second syllable. For example, content, when pronounced with primary stress on the first syllable, functions as a noun. But when pronounced with primary stress on the second syllable, it functions as a verb. Thus, content, (noun) is pronounced [kntent] and, content (verb) is pronounced [kәntent]. The pronunciation of more than two syllable words is characterized by the incidence of a third degree of stress, namely 'tertiary' [ `] on the syllable which does not have either primary [´ ] or weak [ ] stress. Note The analysis of spoken English has shown that it is possible to distinguish four relative degrees of stress which are traditionally called: 1) primary [´ ] 2) secondary [ˆ ] 3) tertiary [ `] 4) weak [ ] Primary stress being the strongest and weak stress the least strong. Examples: Animation [ænımеı∫n] Tertiary stress on the first syllable, primary on the third and weak on the second and fourth. Satisfied [sætısfαıd] Primary stress on the first syllable, weak on the Second and tertiary on the third. Necessary [nesәsәrı] Primary on the first syllable, weak on the second and third, and tertiary on the fourth. The following table shows the most common words in their stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) forms: Word Pronunciation Stressed (strong) Unstressed (weak) a [еı] [ә] an [æn] [әn], [n] the [ðı] before vowels [ðә], [ð] before consonants and [ænd] [әnd], [әn], [nd], [n] but [bΛt] [bәt] to [tu:] [t], (before vowels) [tә], [t] (before consonants) by [bαı] [bı], [bә] For [f:] [fәr] (before vowels) [fә], [f] [fr] ( before vowels) from [fr:m] [frәm], of [:v] [әv], [v], [v] [f] (before voiceless consonant sounds on [:n] No weak forms so [sә] [s], [sә] some [sΛm] [sәm], [sm] that (relative pronoun) [ðæt] [ðәt], [ðt] than [ðæn] [ðәn], [ðn] there [ðeә] [ðeәr (before vowels) [ðә] [ is [ız] [z] is only used when the preceding word ends in a vowel sound or a voiced sound or a voiced consonant sound other than [z] [s] is only used when the preceding word ends in a voiceless consonant sound other than [s] are [α:] [α:r] (before vowels) [ә] [r] (before vowels) was [w:z] [wәz], [wz] were [weә] [weәr] before vowels [wә] [wәr] before vowels been [bi:n] [bın] me [mi:] [mı] you [yu:] [y] your [y:], [yә] [y], [yә] he [hi:] [i:], [hı], [ı] him [hım] [ım] she [∫i:] [∫ı] her [h:] [h:r] (before vowels) [hә], [ә] [әr] (before vowels) it [ıt] no weak forms we [wi:] [wı] us [Λs] [әs], [s] they [ðeı] [ðә] (especially before vowel sounds) them [ðem] [ðәm], [ðm], [әm], [m] has [hæz] [hәz], [әz], [z], [s], [ız] is only used after words ending in a voiced sound other than [z], [s] is only used after words ending in a voiceless consonant sound other than [s] have [hæv] [hәv], [әv], [v] had [hæd] [hәd], [әd], [d] will [wıl] [l], [wәl], [ә] would [wd] [wәd], [әd], [d] shall [∫æl] [∫әl], [∫] when we or he follows [∫l] should [∫d] [∫әd], [∫d] [∫t] before voiceless consonant sounds can [kæn] [kәn], [kn] could [kd] [kәd] may [mеı] [me] (before vowel sounds) [mı], [mә] must [mΛst] [mәst], [mәs], [mst], [ms] Table 4: The most common words in their stressed and unstressed forms. On the other hand, intonation is the changing pitch, or rising and falling, of the voice. English intonation patterns are of two types usually begin fairly high and then fall until the last significant stress. Jordan (1984:26) describes these types in the following way: "Type 1 falls at the end, this mark (`) indicates falling intonation : `No `Stop `Where `Why `Good This pattern is often used for questions beginning with a question word (e.g. 'where?'), orders, and definite remarks. Look at the following questions and responses. 1 What's the `time? I don't `know. 2 Where has she `gone? To visit her `aunt. 3 Which is `yours? The one on the `shelf. 4 Who's the `author? A man called `Brown. Type 2 rises at the end, this mark (/) indicates rising intonation /Me? /These? /Two? /His? /Who? This pattern is often used for questions that can be answered 'yes' or 'no' (those beginning with an auxiliary verb). It is also used for statements made as questions, for apologies, and some other emotions. 1 Do you /know? 6 That's /right. 2 Are you /ready? 7 Good /bye. 3 Can I /help you? 8 I beg your /pardon? 4 Does she /like it? 9 Please sit /down 5 Will you be /free tomorrow? 10 If you /like. It is important to have the correct intonation. If the wrong intonation pattern is used it may change the meaning, and that for sure leads students to commit some kinds of errors. Examples: 1 a) /sorry? ( a question, perhaps asking for repetition) b) `sorry. ( an apology) 2 a) /pardon? (a question, as above) b) ( I beg your) `pardon. ( an apology) 2.8 Speaking El-Koumy (2002: 54) views speaking as he says: "Speaking is defined as a collection of micro-skills, including vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc. From the whole language prospective, speaking is defined as an oral process of meaning construction and expression. The definition of speaking, which is the author's opinion provides a sound theoretical base to promote speaking in EFL, students must combine both skills and meaning." Here are some of the micro-skills involved in speaking. These skills would help the speaker to: a) pronounce the distinctive sounds of a language clearly enough so that people can distinguish them. b) use stress and rhythmic patterns, and intonation patterns of the language clearly enough so that people can understand what is said. c) use the correct forms of words. This may mean, for example, changes in the tense, case, or gender. d) put words together in correct word order. e) use vocabulary appropriately. f) use the register or language variety that is appropriate to the situation and the relationship to the conversation partner. g) make clear to the listener the main sentence constituents, such as subject, verb, object, by whatever means the language uses. h) make the main ideas stand out from supporting ideas or information. i) make the discourse hang together so that people can follow what you are saying. On the other hand, the comments of O'Connor (1980:3)"If speech depends on hearing, and books don't talk, what are you to do?" Fortunately there is a lot of English spoken about the world. On films, on the radio, on tapes, on records. Most people can get the opportunity of listening to English in some way, and this what they must do. They must hear English. But just hearing it is not enough; you must listen to it not for the meaning but for the sound of it. Obviously when a learner is listening to a radio programme he will be trying to understand it, trying to get the meaning from it; but he will try also for a short time to forget about what the words mean and to listen to them simply as sounds. Learners meet, talk and listen to, and work with many people during the day. They communicate with other people in many ways. Communication is a cycle that involves at least two people. The following chart described by Kuhlman et al (1984:164) show the most important parts of the communication cycle. Diagram 2 : The important parts of the communication cycle Speaking is the productive skill in the oral manner. It, like the other skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words. There are three kinds of speaking situations in which learners find themselves: interactive, partially interactive, and non-interactive. These kinds are extracted from Lingua-Links Library (speakingskills.htm) Interactive speaking situations include face-to-face conversations and telephone calls, in which we are alternately listening and speaking, and in which we have a chance to ask for clarification, repetition, or slower speech from our conversation partner. Some speaking situations are partially interactive, such as when giving a speech to existing listeners, where the convention is that the listeners do not interrupt the speech. The speaker nevertheless can see the listeners and judge from the expressions on their faces whether or not he or she is being understood. Some few speaking situations may be totally non-interactive, such as when recording a speech for a radio broadcast ." In this sense Porter et al (1992:13-19) consider speaking as two important components as he declares: "The presentation has two important components; what you say (the content) and how you say it ( the delivery). The term delivery covers a wide range of features of speaking . There are physical elements, such as posture, eye contact, voice control, comprehensibility, and speaking dynamics, such as vitality, confidence, spontaneity use of humor and interaction with the audience." These important features can be described as follows: 1) Posture Posture is the way the teacher holds his body, whether sitting or standing when he gives a lecture 2) Movement A certain amount of movement while giving a lecture can be helpful, although it is not always necessary. 3) Facial Expression and Gestures A smile as he begins his lecture can give an impression of friendliness but could not be forced if it does not come naturally. 4) Eye Contact The appropriate use of eye contact varies from one culture to another. In some culture, women are expected to lower their eyes in most communication settings, younger people must keep their eyes lowered when addressing older people. 5) Vitality Vitality is a combination of liveliness and enthusiasm. Obviously the teacher will be more vital and lively if he is talking about a subject he feels interested and enthusiastic. 6) Spontaneity A good speaker also talks directly to the audience, rather than reading the speech or speaking from memory. The quality of speaking in a natural manner rather than repeating previously planned exact words is called spontaneity. 7) Sense of Humor Being able to use humor at appropriate times during a presentation is a great advantage to a speaker. Even in a speech about a very serious topic, a humorous remark or a story can help establish a link between you and your audience. 8) Voice Control Learning to exercise good voice control is also very important if you are to become an effective speaker. 9) Comprehensibility The teacher's comprehensibility, that is, how his listeners can understand what he is saying, depends partly on the voice control factors of rate, fluency, volume and intonation. Nowadays, English is used as an international language in many fields such as diplomacy, trade and tourism . Non-native speakers, frequently find themselves in many situations where they have to speak in English. Speaking is also regarded by some linguists as the base upon which other language skills are established. Learning to speak a language is always described as the shortest road to learning to read and to write. On the other hand, Kuhlman (1984:163-97) categorizes and explains speaking as follows: "Descriptive speaking: Good oral description can be in prose or in poetry. Whatever its form, a good oral description can make a person or a place real to your listener. Narrative speaking: Narrative speaking tells a story. Sometimes you wish to tell a story to inform. This last kind of story often has a point. Persuasive Speaking: Persuasive speaking can take many forms. People try to get others to buy something, or to think a certain way. A persuasive speech often contains both opinions and facts. It is important for the listener to be able to tell one from the other. Expository Speaking: An expository speech explains something. Such a speech gives listeners information and ideas. Expository speeches often tell how to do something." 2.8.1 Vocabulary Elkoumy (2002:21) presents this definition " Vocabulary is one of the subskills involved in the major language skills. It also holds that vocabulary involves many micro-skills such as pronunciation, spelling, word structure, etc. In contrast, the whole language approach views vocabulary as word meaning within the context, that is, meaning which is more than the sum of individual words. " vocabulary revision will cover, the vocabulary that appears in the exercise, which a student may have forgotten, the vocabulary which a student has to produce to his exercise. Students must be able to produce the appropriate vocabulary to complete the missing words in a mentioned sentence. Hence, the number of errors made by them usually be reduced, whenever the teacher revises the orthography of any problem during his oral presentation. Consequently, the orthography of the comparative could usually be revised before asking students to write the exercise. e.g. 1) Tomorrow will be hot Today…….. 2) Huda is short Sameera…… 3) A road is wide A pass…….. When speaking about vocabulary, learners should not ignore dictionaries. A dictionary is well attached with vocabulary. In this respect, Redman (2003:10) offers some advice, information and ideas that are helpful to answer these questions: 1) What dictionaries do you use? If possible, buy two dictionaries: a good bilingual dictionary and a good English- English dictionary. The bilingual dictionary is a quicker and easier for a learner to understand. The English- English dictionary may give him more information about a word or phrase, and it is also a good idea for him to work in English as much as possible. 2) What information does a dictionary give to a learner? - the meaning, e.g. homesick = unhappy when someone is away from home for a long time . - the pronunciation, e.g. chaos /keıs/, dreadful /dredfl/, island /αılәnd/ - the part of speech, e.g. dirty adj ( = adjective ), lose v (= verb ), law n (=noun) - any special grammatical features, e.g. advice (U) = uncountable - common collocation (word partners), e.g. you do homework not you make homework] - example phrase or sentence, e.g. It was such a big menu, I didn't know what to choose. - opposites ( where they exit), e.g. polite (≠ impolite / rude) Note: In most English-English dictionaries for foreign learners, collocations are usually shown in bold or italics, or they are included in the examples given after the definition. 3) How should learners use their dictionaries? Here are some ideas to help them: - When a learner looks up a word, he puts a √ next to it. Each time he returns to a page with a √ look at it quickly to check that he remembers the word. - If he sees an English word in a text, first he tries to guess the meaning, and carries on reading to see if his guess seems correct. He uses his dictionary to check the meaning. - If he looks up a word in a bilingual dictionary and get several different words in his own language, he looks up the word in his monolingual dictionary. This should help him to decide which word in his own language is the nearest translation in this context. - He will remember that many words have more than one meaning, and the first meaning in the dictionary is not always the one he wants. Researchers claim that vocabulary is very important to general academic achievement. They declare that students who possess larger vocabularies tend to achieve greater success in their content courses, because there is a strong relationship between vocabulary and academic performance. For errors made by students in vocabulary building. In this area, Rodman (1982: 120) declares that speakers of a language know the morphemes of the language and the rule for word formation is shown as much by the error made by the forms produced. "Morphemes combine to form words. These words form our internal dictionary… 'Amsel Greene' collected errors made her students in vocabulary-building classes and published these in a delightful book called Bullet Surprises…" Here are some of the students' errors: Word Students' definitions Deciduous able to make up one's mind Longevity being very tall Fortuitous well protected There are other confusing words of similar spelling. The confusion is because of a degree of similarity in pronunciation or spelling, however, there are hundreds of these words, Here are a few examples : no, now, know; to, too, two; were, where, wear; their, there, they're; picture, pitcher; whether, weather; empire, umpire. In addition to that, Vocabulary is essential for learning the main language skills. It is of course essential for the mastery of a language. Without words, a student rarely can understand what is being communicated to him nor can he express his thoughts to others. Duly, vocabulary is important for both spoken and written language. For children to understand both spoken and written language, they must know the meanings of the words they come across. On dealing with meaning, it is a good chance to begin with semantics, as it is defined initially and conditionally as the study of meaning. Although all the speakers of a language share the same basic vocabulary, the sounds and meanings of words, there are still some confusing concepts in language. All people, all speakers of a language know how to combine the meanings of words to get to the meanings of phrases and sentences. Therefore, the study of the linguistic meaning of words, phrases and sentences is called semantics. Traditional grammar was found on the assumption that the word was the basic unit of syntax and semantics. Lyons (2002: 136) states that semantics is the study of meaning. But he explains that philosophers have debated the question of meaning , with particular reference to language, for well over 2000 years. The result was that no one has yet produced a satisfactory answer to it. He declares that: "One reason may be that the question, in the form in which it is posed, is unanswerable. It makes two presuppositions which are, to say the least, problematical: (a) that we refer to, in English, with the word 'meaning' has some kind of existence or reality; (b) that every thing referred to as meaning is similar, if not identical, We may call these, respectively: (a) the presupposition of existence and (b) the presupposition of homogeneity." In semantic errors there are two main types defined by James (1999: 151- 53) 1) Confusion of sense relations Lexicologists describe vocabulary in terms of lexical systems, reflecting the meaning relations existing between words…The major types of error are: a) Using a more general term where a more specific one is needed (superonym for hyponym ). The result is an under specification of the meaning: The flowers had a special * smell (√ scent/ √ perfume ). The village women *washed (√ scrubbed) the steps. Capitalism…made America *big (√ great /√ powerful) . b) Using too specific a term ( hyponym for superonym ): The colonels (officers) live in the castle. c) Using the less apt of two co- hyponyms …a decision to *exterminate (√ eradicate) d) Using the wrong one from a set of near-synonyms: … a *regretful (√penitent/ √ contrite) criminal or sinner 2) Collocational errors Collocations are the other words any particular word normally keeps company with. The psychologist's word-association tests rely on collocational knowledge, specifically when syntagmatic ( not paradigmatic) associates are in focus…There are three degrees of collocation. First, semantically determined word selection: it is right to say crooked stick but not *crooked year because in the world as we know it years cannot literally 'be' crooked. Next, there are combinations with statistically weighted preferences. We can say that an army has suffered big losses but heavy losses is preferred. Finally, there are arbitrary combinations: we make an attempt and have a try but can neither *make a try nor *have an attempt, despite the synonymy of attempt/try 2.8.2. Grammar James (1999: 154) characterizes grammar by saying: "Grammar has traditionally been discussed in terms of morphology and syntax, the former handling word structure, the later handling structures 'larger' than the word." Whereas Ghali (2001:1) adds phonology as he says: " Language is a means of communication; and communication involves meaning. Here, when we study sounds, we are mainly concerned with sounds which distinguish meanings. Such distinctive sounds are called phonemes; and the study of such distinctive sounds is called phonemics. The word phonology is generally used to include both phonetics and phonemics." On the other hand, El-koumy (2002:34) puts it as follows: " Grammar is a set of micro-skills, including syntax, morphology, rhetorical organizations, etc. Conversely, the whole language approach views grammar as a process through which meaning is understood and/or created." Grammar is the tool by which messages are produced. Without it, learners cannot speak or write effectively. It also helps to make language more comprehensible. So, it should be taught for the sake of communication not for its own sake 1- Syntax errors There are errors that affect texts larger than the word, namely phrase, clause, sentence and paragraphs. These errors are classified by James (ibid:156-60). 2- Phrase structure error Until recently linguists assumed that there were as many phrase types as there were lexical word types: Noun Phrase (NP), Verb Phrase (VP), Adjective Phrase (AjP), Adverb Phrase (AvP) and Preposition Phrase (PP)…First. the fact that these five phrase types are not discrete entities, since one finds NPs inside PPs and these inside NPs. For example, is *Some immatured teenagers an NP with an error in its AjP some immatured, or is it an erroneous NP? The second problem is that every phrase contains an eponymous nucleus or head. Now, what if there is an error on this head? An example is We have no firewood*S… A head-located error must render the whole phrase erroneous." 3- Clause errors These involve the ways in which phrases themselves well-formed-operated in clauses…Once again deviance will arise where any one of five conditions holds: (i) The [phrase]…He shaved himself [*the beard] (ii) It is omitted: Give *[NP] to the dog. (iii) It is misordered: Watson sent [to him] the letter. (iv) It is misselected: He seems *[crying/√ to cry] (v)It is a blend or hybrid: *You would be most likely get (first prize) which is an amalgam of √ You would be likely to get and √You would most likely get. 4- Sentence errors These involve the selection and combination of clauses into larger units. Whole clauses can be blended. The golden rule about coordination is that only syntactic equals can be joined. Consider: They believe [ they can become leaders of their field], and [ a good secure job]. The two conjuncts are not equals: in fact the first is a clause and the second is an NP. A sentence must express a complete thought not just part of an idea. It must also contain a subject and a verb. Anyone should be able to identify these two elements in any sentence he reads or writes. The subject tells who or what is performing an action or what the sentence is about. The verb tells you what the subject is doing. Sentences are described according to form and use: Idrees et al (2006:15-20) state that according to form, there are three types of sentences used in writing and speaking: 1- The simple sentence, which expresses one thought. It contains a subject and a verb ' Ahmed reads a book every week. Othman and Salwa read a book every week.' 2- The compound sentence. Whenever a sentence expresses more than one thought or idea of equal value, it becomes a compound sentence. A compound sentence contains two or more simple sentences of equal value connected by any one of the conjunctions, and, or, but, and so. ' Salwa reads a book and I watch television.' 3- A complex sentence, which expresses one independent and one or more dependent thoughts. The dependent clause is usually introduced by one of the following: who, whose, whom, which, that, if, when, while, although, since, because, as, etc. ' Salwa reads a book when her brother is asleep.' According to use, he explains that there are four: 1- A declarative sentence, which expresses a statement. The end punctuation is a full-stop. ' He has read three novels this week.' 2- An interrogative sentence, which expresses a question, The terminal punctuation is a question mark. ' Would you like to come to the game? ' 3- An exclamatory sentence, that expresses a strong feeling. The terminal punctuation is an exclamation mark. ' He could not have done it !' 4- An imperative sentence, is one that expresses a command. The terminal punctuation may be either an exclamation mark or a period. ' Leave immediately ! , Do it when the command is given. In English, word order is important. So, in a declarative sentence, the noun comes first, followed by the verb and the complements, e.g. A 1. N¹ + BE + ADJ The house is beautiful. 2. N¹ + BE + ADV The house is here. 3. N¹ + BE + N¹ The house is a place. B 4. N¹ + Vintr. Birds sing. 5. N¹ + Vtr. + N² The father sent a letter. 6. N¹ + Vtr. + N² + N³ The father sent his son a letter. 7. N¹ + Vtr. + N² + N³ The class elected him secretary. C 8. N¹ + V¹ +ADJ The boy looked happy. 9. N¹ +V¹ + N¹ The boy looked a captain. The major sentence errors are: a) Sentence Fragment (incomplete sentence) is part of a complete thought treated as though it is a complete sentence. ' On the table in the corner.' (What about it?). This fragment does not make sense; the thought is not complete. b) A Choppy Sentence is a sentence in which the ideas are stated too quickly and simply. ' Jamal is going fishing tomorrow; I am going too. We made sandwiches. We wrapped them in waxed paper.' The use of short choppy sentences is not entirely incorrect. It slows up the reading . If the ideas are combined into longer sentences, you will get a smooth even flow of words. 'Jamal and I are going fishing tomorrow; therefore, we made sandwiches and wrapped them in waxed paper.' 5- Inter-sentence error ( cohesion) James (1999:161) clearly differentiates between 'value-as-text' (cohesion) and value-as-message (coherence). The later is defined in terms of communicative function, involving the writer's intention and the reader's interpretation. He attempts to differentiate them in terms: "First, of discourse being a process and text its product, and secondly, in terms of meaning versus interpretation." The problem with this definition is that it makes text the concern of the speaker-writer and discourse the activity of the listener-speaker ; surely this neat division of effort stops the text-producer from contribution in discourse and the text-receiver from engagement with text. Sentences may be defined as classes of strings of word-forms, each member of the class having the same syntactic structure. The sentences of a text, however, are related to each other and by cohesion; and it is in a characteristic of a text that the sequence of the sentence cannot be disturbed without altering the meaning. A text has meaning as a text, whereas a passage consisting of more than one text as no meaning as a whole; Everything that has been said about grammar has functioned the size of the sentence or smaller. But many grammatical processes extend well beyond the sentence or clause rank. The processes of cohesion and coherence are examples. Cohesion is defined by Halliday and Hassan (1976:4) in this way: The concept of cohesion is a semantic one; it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text, and that define it as a text. "Cohesion appears where the INTERPRETATION of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another. The one PRESUPPOSES the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. When this happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are thereby at least potentially integrated into a text." When consulting the web site: http://www. alltheweb. Com., the definition extracted explains that, such effort that has attracted the attention of researchers about questions concerned with extended discourse rather than with individual sentences, questions about how humans produce and understand discourse units often referred to as texts. The site presents that: a theory of text structure examines how human produce texts. People attempt to define the concept of a text (is a semantic unit) the part of which are linked together by explicit cohesive tie. Cohesion, therefore, is defined as a text:"A cohesive tie is a semantic relation between an element in a text and some other elements that is crucial to the interpretation of it. Halliday and hassan call within-text cohesive ties ' endophoric 'and references to items outside the text exophoric." An example of an exophoric reference is the editorial "we" in a newspaper. Such references are exophoric because no antecedent is recoverable within the text. Exophoric references often help link a text to its situational context. "but as far as Halliday and Hassan are concerned, exophoric references do not contribute to the cohesion of a text. To them cohesion depends upon lexical and grammatical relationships that allow sentence sequences to be understood and connected discourse rather than an autonomous sentence" Because cohesion in English is an original activity to describe relationships between and among sentences in texts, designers anticipate that cohesion will be studied in future research addressing the linguistic features of texts Halliday and Hassan (1976:53) add: "Not only the generalized personal one but also we, you, they and it all have a generalized exophoric use in which the referent is treated as being as it were immanent in all context of situation." To make that clear: a )You, and one mean ' any human individual', as in you never know; one never knows; b) We is used in similarly but more concretely, implying a particular group of individuals with which the speaker wishes to identify himself, as in: We don't do that sort of thing here. c) They is used to mean 'persons unspecified' but also simply 'persons satisfactorily specified for purposes of discussion by the context' as in: They're mending the road out there. d) It occurs as a universal meteorological operator in a few expressions such as: It's snowing, it's hot today. So far no mention has been made of cataphoric personal reference. Personals can refer cataphorically as in: He who hesitates is lost. Personals are normally cataphoric only within a structural framework, and therefore do not contribute to the cohesion of the text. The reference is within the sentence, and is determined by the structure of the sentence. It may be helpful to summarize the cataphoric structural functions of the personal forms – in which only the personal pronouns participate, never the possessive forms. a) Third person other than ' it ' may refer cataphorically to a defining relative clause as in: This usage is felt to be somewhat archaic; it is found in proverbs and liturgical styles. b) All third persons pronouns occur cataphorically as ' substitute themes ' in clauses in which their referent is delayed to the end, eg: they're good these peaches. c) As a special case of the last, it is very frequently used in this way where the subject of the clause is a nominalization, as in: It's true that he works very hard. The alternative, that he works very hard is true. Cohesion in English specifies five major classes of cohesive ties. Two of the major classes: ' substitution and ellipsis ' are more frequent in conversation than in written discourse. Substitution replaces one element with another which is not a personal pronoun, and ellipsis involves a deletion of a word, phrase, or a clause. To explain that, note these sentences: Substitution 1) Did you ever find an umbrella? 2) Yes, I borrowed one from my neighbor The word one in sentence 2 illustrates cohesion based on substitution. Ellipsis 3) Do you want to go with me to the store? 4) Yes, I do The word do in sentence 4 illustrates cohesion based on ellipsis. Cohesion is a product of several factors: 1) Repetition ; is a major device in the global coherence of the passage. It is used extensively to build coherent text between sentences and paragraphs. 2) Synonymy ; If direct repetition is too obvious, use a synonym of the word you wish to repeat. This strategy is called ' elegant variation ' (joy – ecstasy ) 3) Antonymy ; Using the ' opposite ' word, an antonym can also create sentence cohesion, since antonyms actually share several elements of meaning. To draw ideas together, pairs of antonyms which have strong semantic associations with each other: despair- ecstasy. 4) Pro-forms ; Use a pronoun, proverb or another pro-form to make explicit reference back to a form mentioned earlier 5) Collocation ; Use a commonly paired or expected or highly probable word to connect one sentence to another. In our culture, the ideas of seeking and finding are often connected. 6) Enumeration ; Use overt markers of sequence to highlight the connection between ideas. This system has many advantages; a) it can link ideas that are otherwise completely unconnected. b) it looks formal and distinctive, and c) it promotes a second method of sentence cohesion, first, second, and finally. 7) Parallelism ; Repeat a sentence structure ( sentences have the same structure of subject, verbs auxiliary verbs, direct object, enumerator and subordinating conjunctions) 8) Transitions ; Use a conjunction or conjunctive adverb to link sentences with particular logical relationship. Transitions can be subcategorized according to the meaning. 9) Identity ; Indicates sameness, that is to say , in other words. 10) Opposition ; Indicates a contrast; but, yet, however, nevertheless, still, though, although, whereas, in contrast, rather. 11) Addition; indicates continuation ; and, too, also, furthermore. moreover in addition, besides, in the same way, again, another, a similar, the same. 12) Cause and effect; therefore, so, consequently, thus, hence, as a result, it follows that, because, since, for. 13) Indefinites; Indicates a logical connection of an unspecified types, in fact, indeed, now. 14) Concession; indicates a willingness to consider the other side admittedly, I admit, true, I grant, of course, naturally, some believe, some people believe, it has been claimed that, once it was believed, there are those who would say. 15) Exemplification; indicates a shift from a more general or abstract idea to a more specific or concrete idea, for example, for instance, after all, an illustration of, even, indeed, in fact, it is true, of course, specifically, to be specific, that is, to illustrate, truly. 5) Morphology errors A painter uses colours, arranging them in patterns to express his ideas or portray what he sees. In speaking, a learner uses words as his raw materials to express his idea. Every single word has some sort of mental association; biscuits, run, sits, towards, with and though, all summon distinct picture in the mind. Through long centuries, languages have developed. Each containing many words that can be arranged to express quite complicated ideas. Today, as man's knowledge especially in the newest field of science, becomes more complex, new words are constantly being invented. It is not since words like ' sputnik, telestar and astronaut' were devised. A word has been defined by Bloomfield as a minimum free form. This means that a word may be one or more morphemes. The word 'a' is a minimum free form, since it is made up of one sound, which can stand alone, so it is a minimum free form. The same thing applies to an, the, five, each of which has a different number of phonemes /n/, /ð/, /fαıv/. But generally a word in English has a number of morphemes; one of them is the base and the others are affixes, eg. 1) Driver /drαıv/ the base morpheme and /(r)/ a derivational morpheme which changes the verb drive into a noun. 2) Weaken /wi:kn/ the base morpheme and /n/ the derivational morpheme, changing the adjective 'weak' into a verb. 3) Famous /fеıms/ the base morpheme + /s/ the derivational morpheme that changes the noun 'fame' into an adjective. One part of growing up, is to master as many words as one can, and learner's ability to think clearly, to understand the ideas of others and to speak perfectly, depend on their understanding of words and skills of manipulating them. They already have a large store of general use, but probably still feel at a loss when operating more complicated ideas expressed in more difficult 'grown up' language. Most students give no real attention to enlarge their vocabulary, thinking that words grow naturally in the mind, whereas nothing grows well without some attention and practice. It is noticed that, in English nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs make up the largest part of vocabulary. Which is interesting in morphology, is that some words seem to be related to each other in a special way as: Phone, phonic, phonetic, phoneme, phonetician, phonemic, phonetics, allophone, phonologist, telephonic, phonological, euphonious. All these words are related in sounds. Also, in the following pairs of words, the meaning and sounds of words in column B consist of those words in column A plus the meaning 'not'. A B Desirable undesirable Likely unlikely Inspired uninspired Happy unhappy Developed undeveloped Sophisticated unsophisticated Rodman (1983:114) states that : "A single word may be composed of one or more morphemes." One morpheme: boy, desire Two morphemes: boy + ish boyish desire + able desirable Three morphemes: boy + ish + ness boyishness desires + able + ity desirability Four morphemes: gentle + man + li + ness gentlemanliness un + desire + able + ity undesirability More than four morphemes: anti + dis + establish + ment + ari + an + ism = antidisestablishmentarianism There are other morphemes in English that change the category of grammatical class of word. These are sometimes called derivational morphemes, because when they are conjoined to another morpheme or word a new word is derived, or formed. e.g. a) When a verb is conjoined to the suffix 'able' the result is an adjective: as in desire + able, (desirable) or adore + able (adorable). b) A noun can be changed to an adjective: virtue + ous. (virtuous). c) A verb to a noun: clear + ance (clearance). d) An adjective to an adverb: exact + ly (exactly). e) A noun to a verb: vaccine + ate (vaccinate). More examples: Making nouns from verbs: Accept acceptance Govern government Assist assistance Arrive arrival Inform information Depart departure Visit visitor Help helper Making nouns from adjectives Brave bravery Pure purity Wise wisdom Ideal idealism Special specialist Making nouns from nouns Coward cowardice Friend friendship Murder murderer Priest priesthood Making verbs from adjectives (are not many) Short shorten Civil civilize Solid solidify Making adjectives from nouns (are many) Child childish Cloud cloudy Culture cultural Economy economical Courage courageous English adverbs usually have the suffix 'ly' Quick quickly Slow slowly Some derivational suffixes may come with nouns, adjectives and adverbs Assistant (noun) reluctant (adjective) Library (noun) voluntary (adjective) Likely (adj) immediately (adverb) Lovely (adj) only (adverb) By this way, new words may enter the dictionary to form new vocabulary, eg. commune + ist. The redundancy of such alternative forms, may explain some of the accidental gaps in lexicon. The suffix 'able' appears to be a morpheme that can be freely conjoined with verbs to derive an adjective. Vaid (1982: 19-34) explains that: " The suffix 'ity' is found in many other words in English: like chastity, scarcity, curiosity, and 'th' occurs in health, depth, width, growth, 'en' is found in: sudden, redden, weaken, deepen." For instance, Ghali (2001: 58) acknowledges that in English morphology, learners usually study the words, their constituents bases and affixes. He states: :Affixes may come at the beginning of the word, and in this case they are called prefixes. If the affix comes in the middle of the word, it is called an infix. But if it comes at the end of the word, it is a suffix." Duly, morphology is the study of the shapes of words; so in a word there is usually more than one meaningful unit. Each unit is called a morpheme. Suffixes are of two different types: inflectional and derivational. An inflectional suffix indicates the plural of noun: books, dogs, houses. A derivational suffix changes the class of the word, by changing the verb into a noun: govern – (v) and government – (n). In the same way, the word form – (n) and the word formal (adj). So the derivational suffix 'ment' changes the verb into a noun; the derivational suffix 'al' change the noun form into the adjective form. In English there are three types of derivational suffixes: 1) Suffixes that come with nouns. 2) Suffixes that occur with adjectives. 3) Suffixes coming with adverbs. In order to make the learner familiar with the prefixes and suffixes and their grammatical categories. It is preferable to identify such terms and mention their different sources. Here are the commonest prefixes in use: meaning examples: a1: without a moral a2: in the state of a blaze, a sleep ab: away from absent, abduct ad: towards, advance adjoin ambi: both, double, two. Ambiguous an: not, without anonymous ante: in front of anteroom anthrop: of mankind anthropology anti: against, opposite to anti-tank, antisocial audio: of hearing, of sound audio-visual auto: one-self autobiography bi: occurring twice in one period bi-monthly, bi-annual co: together, jointly co-education, co-operate con: together, with conduct com: together, within combine de: the negative, reverse defuse, defrost di: twice, double dilemma, dioxide dis: negative, opposite of disbelieve, disagree en: put in enlarge, enrich, encircle in: not intake, infamous, indispensable il: not illicit. illogical im: not impossible, imprint ir: not irrelevant inter: between international mono: single mono syllable multi: many multi-coloured neo: new, revived neo-classical non: not nonsense, non-stop mis: wrong misdirect, misuse, mislead pro: forward, in favor of Pro-Chinese re: again, back re-echo, rewrite, rebuilt semi: half semicircle, semifinal, semivowel sub: under subsoil, subcommittee un: not unable, untruth There are three kinds of suffixes: a) Suffixes changing nouns into adjectives: (i) al: music – musical, monument –monumental ar: family – familiar ary: element – elementary ed: talent – talented en: gold – golden, wood – wooden esque: picture – picturesque ful: care – careful, hope – hopeful ic (al): history – historical ish: style – stylish istic: character – characteristic less: useless like: life – lifelike ly: friend – friendly ous: fame – famous, danger – dangerous ward: back – backward y: wind – windy, dust – dusty b) Suffixes changing verbs into adjectives. Able: obtain – obtainable, sense – sensible ent: depend – dependent ed: frustrate – frustrated ile: host – hostile ing: bore – boring ive: attract – attractive (at) ory: congratulate – congratulatory c) Suffixes used in forming nouns. age: break – breakable ance: appear – appearance ce: absent – absence dom: free – freedom, king – kingdom hood: boy – boyhood. Brother – brotherhood ment: develop-development, govern-government ness: happy – happiness, dry – dryness th: young – youth, long – length y: pig – piggy, dad – daddy, unite - unity James (ibid:154) states that there are five lexical word types in English: nouns, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition. "We can therefore define as a morphology error one which involves a failure to comply with the norm in supplying any part of any instance of these word classes: six *book, aboli*shment (√ tion) are noun morphology error; *bringed, was drink*en (√ ing) are verb morphology errors; visit me soon*ly is an adverb morphology error; and a colourfull*er scene, an adjective morphology error. Prepositions happen to have no morphology." It is quite obvious that some researchers don't bother about little words - morphological markers of plurality, genitive, third–person singular. The most important are third singular –s, plural - s, past tense – ed, and progressive – ing. Third-person singular –s is a feature of agreement and it is suffixed to lexical verbs ( drinks) and to auxiliaries ( has, is, does). Plural –s is less troublesome than third-person singular –s. It appears redundant when preceded by numerals and other quantifiers, *six book and *several tree, *every teachers. A very probable omission is in, *One of my friend . It seems that these two rules of English ( third-person singular –s and plural –s) strike the learners ; they are confused by what appears to them to be the same marker being used to signal noun plurality and verb singularity. When and how the 's' is added to both of them. Past tense–ed is multifunctional, and error incidence varies according to whether it is Past: He cooked it; Perfect : He has cooked it; Passive: It was cooked by Fred; or adjective: a cooked dinner. Duly, learners make 'false analogy' . Have +walk+ ed = Have walked; Similarly; Can +walk + ed = *Can walked. Some words may also give some troubles. Unless learners are able to differentiate between them, they will continue making errors. e.g. 1- Lie – lay: To lie is used when only the subject is involved in the lying. The man lies on the bed every afternoon. Past tense 'lay', past participle 'has lain' . The man every always lays his tools on the bench. Past tense 'laid' past participle 'has laid'. Remember also to lie, meaning to tell lies. 2- Hung or hanged: The word hanged is used in the sense of execution, otherwise use hung. 3- All ready and already: The phrase 'all ready' signifies that several people or things have been prepared. 'already' means previously ( I have already seen it), also means as early as this ( It is six o'clock already) 4- All together and altogether: The phrase 'all together' signifies that several people or things prepared. 'altogether' means totally. (I am altogether bored with it.) 5- Learners should be careful with the followings: who's, whose; lose, loose; you're, your. And the following junctures: a) night rate /nαıt + rеıt/ nitrate / nαıtrеıt/ b) I scream /αı + skri:m/ ice cream /αıs + kri:m/ c) a name /ә + nеım/ an aim /әn + еım/ 2.8.3 Pronunciation To deal with pronunciation, students must get aware of the problems of consonants and vowels a) Consonants Problems: There are the silent consonants that make some confusion in spelling, such as: plumber, the letter 'b' is silent. 'Words containing only one vowel will end with the letters (mb) the final (b) is silent.' e.g. climb, comb, crumb, dumb, thumb, numb, lamb, limb. Consequently, 'Words that contain one vowel, the consonant that comes after this vowel is silent.' e.g. palm, calf, half, calm, folk, debt. Also, 'When words begin with the letters ( kn) the (k) is silent.' e.g. knight, knife, knowledge. 'When words begin with the letters (wr) the (w) is silent.' e.g. wrist, wrench, wrote, wrapped, wreck. In the following words, the letter (t) is silent: listen, fasten, castle and hasten. There are many homonyms with confusing consonants that should be dealt with carefully: allowed, aloud; idol, idle; principal, principle; cereal, serial. Due to that, all the problems faced by the NL and FL are the cause of the phonetic differences between the NL and FL. To explain that, there are thousands of phones that can be heard and described by a phonetician whereas a native speaker may not be aware of them, for he is trained to hear the significant sound features – the phonemes – in his own language. The English consonants that cause no problem to Arab students are / b, k, m, f, n, z, ∫, h, w, and y /. But the major differences are: /t, d, j, r, p, ŋ, v, θ, ð/ , which are relevant to places of articulation and that lead a learner to commit countless errors. Moreover, in words containing double letters, which Arab students automatically interpret as a phonetic length such as 'connect, correct, collect '. There is one place however, where some difficulties may arise in lengthening consonants when no length is needed. This is especially common when an Arab student is reading conventionally spelled English and he comes across words containing double letters. In this area of consonants problems, Selti (Sudan English Language Training Institute) (1992:9) handouts have discussed this matter by saying: "Basic to a speaker's phonological knowledge, is the ability to know which sounds in the language are distinctive and which are not. Distinctive sounds are those that they may be used to contrast meanings in the language." One interesting examples of differences between distinctive sounds of fricatives in the history of Old English (OL) was that ; voiceless fricatives as: /θ, s/ occurred at beginnings and endings of words. While voiced fricatives /v, ð, z/ occurred between vowels. For a variety of historical reasons, the distribution of voiced and voiceless fricatives change in late English, so that both of them could be used in word-initial position. Now, words starting with 'f' were distinct from those starting with 'v' and so on 'feel, veal, thing, they, sip, zip'. Although the phonetic sounds / f, v, θ, ð, ∫, s, z / occur in both OE and ME. They are part of different phonological systems. In OE no new word could have been invented beginning with /v/ and /z/. With no hesitation, people could accept /væks/ as a name of a new product. They could also invent words with /ð/, a name of a soap powder spelt thax /ðæks/. The spelling ambiguity here, is that, the only words beginning with /ð/ in English are grammatical words like: this, that, the, these, those, there, and their. /ð/ is not available as an initial sound for a noun, verb, or an adjective. b) Vowel Problems In Arabic, there are only three vowels(و ا ى ), in comparison with English language that has twelve ones added to them eight diphthongs and the glides (semi-vowels) that have the characteristics of the vowels sometimes. Albusairi (2006 : 31) classifies vowels in this way: " Vowels are more difficult to describe than consonants. Nearly all consonants as we have seen, are made with stricture involving contact of both active and passive articulators, e.g. the lower and upper lips, the tongue and the alveolar ridge, etc… Vowels are made with open approximation of the articulators, involve no closure, nor any frictional noise due to narrowing of the channel; the air passes quite freely…" Arab students tend to be poor in the mastery of English vowels. The major reason for this problem is the fact that English and Arabic have two different vowel structures or patterns. English vowels constitute one of the most serious phonological problems confronting an Arab student. Malmberg (1965:99) states that: " The pronunciation of a language does not always remain the same…The spelling does not always correspond with pronunciation…The pronunciation has changed but the old spelling has remained." In this sense Stone (1965: 106) confirms that, " English doesn't sound as it is written, is not written as it is sound." Duly, students make some errors governed by their MT (Arabic) which contradict English in this area. Furthermore, Rodman (1983: 139) has another point of view as he declares: "Writing has, however affected speech only marginally, and most notably in the phenomenon of spelling. Since the sixteenth century, we find that spelling has influenced pronunciation…" Spelling also has influenced pronunciation in words that are infrequently used in normal daily speech. Many words were spelt with an initial /h/ were not pronounced with any /h/ sound as late as the Eighteenth Century. Rodman ( ibid: 160) tackles that in this way: "Thus at that time no /h/ was pronounced in 'honest, hour, habit, heretic, hotel, hospital, and herb. Frequently used words like honest and hour continued to be pronounced without the /h/ despite the spelling ." Similarly, many words which are now spelt with a 'th' were once pronounced as 't' as in 'Thomas'. Recently, most words have undergone a change in pronunciation from /t/ to /θ/ as in anthem, author and theatre. The words 'often, soften' which are usually pronounced without the 't', are pronounced with the /t/ by some people because of the spelling. There are some difficulties which persistently face spelling, particularly in using 'ou' which represent six different sounds with different pronunciation. 1) though /ðә/ 2) thought /θ:t/ 3) rough /rΛf/ 4) bough /bα/ 5) through /θru:/ 6) would /wd/ Notice only in rough do the letter 'gh' represents the sound /f/ Pescosolido (1967: 27) has discussed this matter as follows: " Have pupils listen for the sound represented by the letters 'ou' in touch . Have the words been pronounced. Elicit from pupils the fact that the letters 'ou' represent the short 'u' sound…" Learners should differentiate carefully between pronunciation and spelling in words with plural or past inflections when there is confusion between pronunciation and the written forms. Furthermore, Rodman (ibid:128) explain the rule of vowel pronunciation as follows: " The vowel rules that determine those pronunciations are rather complicated and beyond the scope of this text. The examples are presented simply to show that the morphemes in: melody, harmony, and symphony vary phonetically in these words." Hence, different pronunciations of vowels occur in English depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed due to phonetic forms and rules. e.g. melody m[e]l[]dy m[e]l[]dious m[e]l[æ]dic harmony h[æ]rm[]ny h[æ]rm[]nious h[æ]rm[æ]nic symphony s[ı]mph[]ny s[ı]mph[]nious s[ı]mph[æ]nic Adding to that for the trill 'r' Malmberg tates that: " It seems in any case that this new pronunciation of the 'r' is an urban phenomenon which had its origin among the upper classes of the cities and which has only slowly penetrated into the pronunciation of the peasantry." Lastly, Rodman (ibid: 156) decides that : " If writing represents the spoken language perfectly, spelling reforms would never have arisen… Spelling is the written trace of a word, pronunciation is its linguistic form." 2.8.4 A Basic Approach to Fluency and Accuracy In contrast to writing, students have very little processing time when it comes to speaking, so it is hardly surprising that the following may occur. Students don't experiment with new language presented by the teacher. At lower levels students' output is mostly lexical. The more accuracy-focused students test the patience of the listener in the time they take to say something. The speech of some very fluent students is littered with errors and therefore may have a negative effect on the listener. Just as with writing we can help students to improve their accuracy and fluency. Teachers can help students improve their fluency by giving guided preparation time for a task. Students receive specific guidance in choosing appropriate language as well as rehearsal time. Task-based learning research shows that this leads to a greater range of language being used. When it comes to accuracy, research into second language acquisition says that the first stage of improving accuracy is awareness-raising. Namely, raising students' awareness of gaps in their inter-language. You can do this by using a recording of teachers / higher level students performing the same task that your students have done. Use awareness-raising exercises to focus on specific linguistic areas in the recording. 2.8.5 Sentence Structure Strategies to Support Speaking 1) Provide visual signs for teaching morphological markers. For example, to highlight the concept of plural s, you could use a picture of two cats with an s after the second cat. To illustrate the concept of' 'er', use a picture of a can of paint with 'er' written after it followed by an equal sign and a picture of a person painting a house. 2) When correcting the student’s syntactic errors and providing correct word order, speak slowly and change as little as necessary to make the sentence correct. Write the sentence and have him read it or say the sentence correctly and ask him to repeat it. 3) Use pictures to accompany activities in oral sentence comprehension. 4) Use written sentences or phrases to accompany activities in oral sentence comprehension. 5) Repeatedly expose the student to complex sentence structures in stories before introducing these sentence structures out of context for remediation activities. 6) Teach the student strategies for interpreting complex sentence structures. 7) Particularly teach the student the meaning of transition words and how they signal the relationship between dominant and subordinate clauses. Teach the student to write complex sentences and then to use them in his expressive language. 8) When teaching the meanings of and providing practice in the use of specific connecting words, maintain awareness of the difficulty of complex sentence structures, probable versus non-probable event sequences, and the level of vocabulary and concepts. 9) Provide a variety of activities in which the student combines given phrases and selected transition words into complex sentences. 10) Provide extensive oral practice with sentence combining exercises. Present the student with several clauses or short sentences and have him generate as many sentence patterns as he can by using a variety of connecting words. As an alternative activity, provide the student with a specific word or words to use in joining several clauses or sentences. 11) Once the student is proficient with a basic level of complex sentences, teach him to understand and use sentences containing relative clauses (e.g. clauses well-established in a sentence that begin with the words such as who, what, where, that). 12) Teach the student to comprehend passive voice by constructing active sentences out of word cards. Show the student how to re-sequence them, adding cards for was and by to create passive sentences or omitting was and by to create active sentences. 13) Due to the student’s dependence on using an “order of mention” strategy to interpret sentences, teach the student that word order does not necessarily imply sentence meaning. Provide training to move the student from semantically oriented comprehension to syntactically oriented comprehension. 14) Teach the student to interpret sentences in which the order of mention does not match the order of events Htt:// migrant . 12 .org 2.9 Reading El-Koumy (2002:58) argues that reading is a set of separate skills, including phonics, word recognition, grammar, etc. Under the power of this view, a number of reading specialists have identified sets of micro-skills which they assume to be necessary for reading comprehension. He therefore separates reading into four major components: "1- Knowledge of letters and sound correspondence, 2- knowledge of words and word forms, 3- knowledge of grammatical structures of sentences and their functions and 4- knowledge of meanings and semantic relations…Similarly, Randall (1996) views reading as a decoding of visual symbols or letters and suggests that word recognition skills should be given a high priority within any reading course for EFL…" The definition of reading must combine both skills and meaning. Reading English is very important for several reasons: 1- It is a requirement to success 2- It is a useful source for information that might be missed in class lecture. 3- It can accelerate foreign language learning and improve other language skills. 4- It can improve native language reading. 5- It is a major means of learning both vocabulary and spelling, 6- Reading is often needed for formal and informal testing. Pre-reading instructions before the actual act of reading a text begins, some points should be regarded in order to make the process of reading more comprehensible. It is necessary to provide the necessary background information to the reader to facilitate comprehension. In addition, pre-reading activities can lighten students' cognitive burden while reading because prior discussions will have integrated. Teacher-directed pre-reading some key vocabulary and ideas in the text are explained. In this approach the teacher directly explains the information the students will need, including key concepts, important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual framework. • Interactive approach in this method, the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information students already have and interjects additional information considered necessary to an understanding of the text to be read. Moreover, the teacher can make explicit links between prior knowledge and important information in the text. • Purpose of reading, it is also necessary for students to become aware of the purpose and goal for reading a certain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomes more mature this purpose, i.e. awareness raising strategy-can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves, "Why am I reading this text? What do I want to know or do after reading?" One of the most obvious, but unnoticed, points related to reading purpose is the consideration of the different types of reading skills. 1) Skimming: Reading rapidly for the main points 2) Scanning: Reading rapidly to find a specific piece of information 3) Extensive reading: Reading a longer text, often for pleasure with emphasis on overall meaning 4) Intensive reading: Reading a short text for detailed information • The most frequently encountered reason as to why the four skills are all included into one -intensive reading- is that students studying a foreign language feel the urge to look up every word they don't understand and to identify on every structural point they see unfamiliar. To make students aware of the different types of reading, ask them about the types of reading they do in their first language. • The type of text the reader must become familiar with the fact that texts may take on different forms and hold certain pieces of information in different places. Thus, it is necessary to understand the layout of the material being read in order to focus more deeply on the parts that are more tightly compacted with information. Even paying attention to the year of publication of a text, if applicable, may aid the reader in assumptions about the text as can take a quick look at the name of the author. • The information mentioned in pre-reading will not take a very long time to carry out. The purpose is to overcome the common urge to start reading a text closely right away from the beginning. • During-reading information what follows are orders that encourage active reading. They consist of summarizing, reacting, questioning, arguing, evaluating, and placing a text within one's own experience. These processes may be the most complex to develop in a classroom setting, the reason being that in English reading classes most attention is often paid to dictionaries, the text, and the teacher. Interrupting this routine and encouraging students to dialogue with what they are reading without coming between them and the text presents a challenge to the EFL teacher. they use the following strategies. • Making predictions: The readers should be taught to be on the watch to predict what is going to happen next in the text to be able to integrate and combine what has come with what is to come. • Making selections: Readers who are more proficient read selectively, continually making decisions about their reading. • Integrating prior knowledge: The schemata that have been activated in the pre-reading section should be called upon to facilitate comprehension. • Skipping insignificant parts: A good reader will concentrate on significant pieces of information while skipping insignificant pieces. • Re-reading: Readers should be encouraged to become sensitive to the effect of reading on their comprehension. • Making use of context or guessing: Readers should not be encouraged to define and understand every single unknown word in a text. Instead they should learn to make use of context to guess the meaning of unknown words. • Breaking words into their component parts: To keep the process of comprehension ongoing, efficient readers break words into their affixes or bases. These parts can help readers guess the meaning of a word. • Reading in chunks: To ensure reading speed, readers should get used to reading groups of words together. This act will also enhance comprehension by focusing on groups of meaning-conveying symbols simultaneously. • Pausing: Good readers will pause at certain places while reading a text to absorb and internalize the material being read and sort out information. • Paraphrasing: While reading texts it may be necessary to paraphrase and interpret texts in order to verify what was comprehended. • Monitoring: Good readers monitor their understanding to evaluate whether the text, or the reading of it, is meeting their goals. After-reading instructions It is necessary to state that post-reading activities almost always depend on the purpose of reading and the type of information extracted from the text. Post-reading exercises first check students' comprehension and then lead students to a deeper analysis of the text. In the real world the purpose of reading is not to memorize an author's point of view or to summarize text content, but rather to see into another mind, or to mesh new information into what one already knows. Group discussion will help students focus on information they did not comprehend, or did comprehend correctly. Accordingly, attention will be focused on processes that lead to comprehension or miscomprehension. Generally speaking, post-reading can take the form of various activities as presented below: a) Discussing the text: Written/Oral b) Summarizing: Written/Oral c) Making questions: Written/Oral d) Answering questions: Written/Oral e) Filling in forms and charts f) Writing reading logs g) Completing a text h) Listening to or reading other related materials i) Role-playing A paper by/ Graham Stanley, British Council, Barcelona 2.9.1 Extensive Reading In general, students learning to read in English do not like reading and they rarely read. This is partly due to the way reading is approached in the language class. The reading skill is most often taught by close study of short passages followed by analysis of language. Extensive reading: An alternative approach The value of this intensive reading procedure, with its focus on the teaching of discrete reading skills has been questioned by some, who claim that teaching students reading strategies does not necessarily make them better readers. It is widely believed that people become good readers through reading, and that learning how to read should mean a focus of attention on the meaning rather than the language of the text. Another model for teaching reading exists. This is an 'extensive reading approach' and involves students reading long texts or large quantities for general understanding, with the intention of enjoying the texts. Students are allowed to choose the books they read depending on their interests, and there is not always a follow-up discussion or work in class. In this way students are encouraged to read for pleasure and should become better readers. 2.9.2 Aims of Extensive Reading The principal objective of undertaking an extensive reading approach is to get students reading in English and liking it. An increase in reading fluency should be another objective. Because of this, reading should be a pleasurable activity for the student, promoted as much as possible by the teacher. 1- Reading material Reading for pleasure requires a large selection of books be available for students to choose from at their level. Here, teachers can make good use of graded readers (books which have been written specifically for EFL/ESL students or which have been adapted from authentic texts). Setting up a class library is a good way to provide material for students, and because the books are kept in the actual classroom, there is a greater chance that they will be borrowed, and teachers also have more opportunities to refer to them during class. 2- Student choice Students choose what they want to read based on their interests. If a student finds a book is too difficult or they don't enjoy it, they can change it for another one.• 3- Reading for pleasure and information Often students are put off reading when it is tied to class assignments. In an extensive reading programme, the students are reading principally for the content of the texts. Teachers can ask students about the books they are reading informally, and encourage occasional mini-presentations of the books or book reviews, but these should not seem like obligations to the students. 4- Extensive reading out of class Teachers can do a lot to help students pursue extensive reading outside of the classroom. Having a classroom library and regularly encouraging students to borrow books to take home are some things which can help. If books are shelved in the classroom, students can also be given class time to browse and select books. 5- Silent reading in class Extensive reading should not be incompatible with classroom practice and methodology. There are teachers who set aside a regular fifteen minute period of silent reading in class. This silent reading has been said to help structural awareness develop, build vocabulary, and to promote confidence in the language. 6- Language level The vocabulary and grammar of the books that students read should not pose a difficulty. The objective of an extensive reading programme is to encourage reading fluency, so students should not be stopping frequently because they do not understand a passage. However, the books should not be too easy as this may well demotivate students, who feel they are getting nothing out of the books. • Use of dictionaries Reading becomes a chore if students think they have to stop and look up every word they do not understand in a dictionary. For this reason, dictionaries should be avoided. Instead of interrupting their flow, students should be encouraged to jot down the words they come across in a vocabulary notebook, and they can look them up after they have finished reading. • Record keeping If the teacher takes an interest in and keeps record of what students are reading, then this can in itself encourage students. If a note is also made of which books the students like, then the teacher can also recommend other books to the students. The teacher should also be careful to explain the reasons behind the programme, and to highlight the benefits of extensive reading to them so that they know why they are doing it. 2.9.3 The Teacher as Role Model If the teacher is also seen to be a reader by the students, then they will be encouraged to read. The teacher can talk in class about books that she or he has been reading, and if they are knowledgeable about the books in the class library, having read them, then they can make genuine recommendations to students about what to read. The teacher can also read aloud to students, as a way of introducing students to different genres or individual books. a) Motivation One of the key factors to the success (or not) of an extensive reading programme is motivation. Capturing student interest is the key. If the materials available are interesting to the students, then they will be far more likely to want to read them. These books should also be at a level appropriate to their reading ability. As mentioned earlier, the texts should not be too difficult so students experience the frustration of not being able to understand the books. Getting the extensive reading programme off to a good start is also vital. The aim is for an initial successful experience so that students discover they can read in English and that they enjoy it. This positive experience should stimulate them to read more, increasing motivation, enjoyment and a desire to read. b)The teacher's role The teacher encourages and assists the students with their reading, which the students undertake during and /or after class. Occasional summaries (oral or written) can help with this as they show both that the students are reading and also that they understand what their books are about. The activities can also help students improve their writing or speaking ability. Another activity teachers can become involved in is individual counseling - this gives the teacher an opportunity to ask students about their reading experiences and can be done by the teacher while the rest of the class are silent reading. Above all, however, extensive reading should be a student-centred and a student-managed activity. Post reading Similarly, learners can work together use to get my students working in groups are: • Learners read and then act out the story. • Jigsaw reading. Each group has different information from a different part of the text and they must tell other students about the part of the text they have read. This way the learners construct meaning from the text collectively. • Learners read and prepare some true/false questions for the other groups. This latter activity not only empowers the learners, as they get to write their own questions, but it also helps you to see the areas where they may be having problems with meaning. Leveling the task appropriately so that it's achievable It is of course helpful to choose a text which is intrinsically interesting for my learners, because then they will be more motivated to read. Find out what your students like, and then look for suitable reading material. I often find my material on the Internet, or in pop magazines and newspapers. Choosing really interesting material may mean that the text I'd like to use is slightly above the level of my learners. The key is to set a task which gives my learners a sense of accomplishment, and that doesn't necessarily mean understanding every single word. If you level the task appropriately, the learners' reading level will improve little by little, and they will start to understand more of these texts. Here are some low-level tasks which help my learners with their 'text attack skills.' They range from beginner level to upper elementary. • Finding information about characters from the text and putting it next to the name of the right character. • Putting pictures depicting events from the text in the right order. • Putting cut up paragraphs or segments of the text into the right order. • Finding the mistakes or differences between a text and an illustration. A paper by Graham Stanley, British Council, Barcelona 2.9.4 Motivational Strategies to Develop Broad Reading Skills For broad reading activities, provide the student with a selection of high-interest, low-vocabulary readers so that he will discover that reading is enjoyable. 1) Read and discuss high-interest materials with the student to increase his willingness to spend time reading. 2) Select or have the student choose materials to read that are directly related to student's interests. 3) Encourage the student to discuss with others the materials that he has read. Provide structured activities for these types of discussions within the classroom. 4) Have the student share with the class or a small group something interesting she/ he has learned from a book. 5) Set aside a certain amount of time each day for recreational reading. 6) Do not ask the student to read aloud in class unless he volunteers. 7) Inform the student of the passage that he will be asked to read aloud in class. Have the student practice the material several times, before he is asked to read to the group. 8) Encourage and reinforce broad reading. 9) Discuss with the student how daily silent reading will help him improve reading skill. 10) Establish a system using reinforces to increase the amount of time the student spends in daily reading. 11) Establish a contract with the student that identifies the minimum number of pages he will read in a day. 12) Increase the student’s contact to literature and nonfiction books. 13) Use a variety of reading materials in the classroom to help the student recognize the need for reading in daily life (e.g. cookbooks, magazines, newspapers, menus, directions on food and medicine, game instructions, catalogues. 14) Provide the student with reading materials directly related to his career or vocational goals. Htt: // migrant. Ju 12 . org 2.10 Writing Writing is communicating ideas and emotions on paper. Although not all students will become professional writers, teachers should expect all students to be able to express their thoughts and feelings in writing both accurately, and coherently. Consequently, if they expect students to be able to write well, all teachers must provide guidance and frequent opportunities for students to develop and apply this skill. It is a life skill. Students need to write every day. Research shows that students learn to write by writing. Therefore, writing must be a major component of the language arts curriculum. Good writing takes time. It is known that successful writing is more than putting words and sentences on paper. It is a step-by-step process. If you learn the steps and follow them, you will find that writing becomes easier. You will communicate more effectively with your readers. Writing is a process which involves pre-writing, drafting, composing, revising, editing, and writing the final draft. Complementary Skills such as critical thinking, reading, listening, speaking, organizing, and analysing contribute to proficiency in the writing process. Teachers across all content areas must encourage and provide writing instruction and opportunities into the curriculum. They must identify student needs in writing and address them. Writing programmes must offer instruction, experience, and feedback. So, writing instruction should employ computer technology as a basic tool in implementation of the writing process. 2.10.1 The Importance of Writing The secret of writing good instructions is to think out exactly what an individual wants to say and then writes in the fewest possible words. Thomas (1961: 45) comments:" To write accurately we must think out clearly, step by step, It is very helpful to write each step on a separate line." When people write, they use a combination of letters representing different sounds. Then from these sounds they form sentences that can be written down and drilled into texts. It is possible to learn to speak a foreign language without learning to write it. Relevant to that, a learner needs more skills and some professional capacity to learn how to write an acquired language through different stages. As learners progress to the intermediate stage of language learning, the pedagogical factor which has been noted above, will still apply, but in addition to that, written works can be provided intensively and extensively integrated with other skills. At the time, at this stage and later on. Writing may be a goal in itself. None is in a position to predict which student has a need for writing. Most students will have to do some of written examination and this will increase their motivation to learn to write well. In addition, writing which has a practical value can be identified and concentrated on. Meanwhile, writing assignments are given to students in higher stages as way of following up so that they might learn how to write well reasoned essays in terms of examination. So, reading and writing become closer as students progress. The importance of writing is expressed by Bakhtel Rida (teachers training center) (1980: 97) " It is thought that English language and writing activities serve two different purposes: The first one is to reinforce the learning which goes on through the medium of listening, speaking and reading skills. The second one is to help students to learn the kind of professional writing." Selti ( Sudan English Language Training Institute) (1992:10) explains that writing as a skill, can serve several varieties: a)Writing is likely to be an aid to retention. b)Written works serve to provide the pupils with some tangible evidence that they are making progress in the language, and that they have achieved something. c)Writing exposes the foreign language through more than one medium, especially skills which are properly integrated, appear to be more efficient relying on single medium alone." d) Writing provides variety in classroom activities, serving as a break for oral work. At the same time, it increases the amounts of language contact through work that can set out of class. e) Writing is often needed for formal and informal testing. Although, in general, oral ability should be measured through oral tests. In some cases -of course- a written test may even be appropriate, e.g. making notes wile listening. It is agreed that if writing extinct, there will be no knowledge of electronics for TV technicians to study. There will be little technology in years to come, no film or TV scripts, no literature, no books no mail, no newspapers, no science. Of course, the losses would far outweigh the gains. There are almost as many legends and stories on the invention of writing, but according to Islamic teaching, the alphabet was created by Allah himself, who presented it to man Because of the vast importance of writing, Rodman(1083:141) as human memory is short and the brain's storage capacity is finite, he confirms to writing : "Writing overcomes such problems and allows communication across the miles and through the years and centuries. Writing permits a society to permanently record its poetry, its history and its technology." It is difficult to imagine language without writing, for the spoken words seem tied to written ones. Of course, one does not say to a new learner " Get into a car and start" Mc Arthur (1984:10) declares that: "Too much freedom in writing can mean frustration. We aim also to make writing practice a pleasant, realistic, and rewarding experience, because writing in English is an art not part of fixed science." Elkoumy (2002:67) tackles the importance of writing in the area of EFL that writing has many uses and functions. "The ability to write acceptable scientific English is essential for post-graduate students who must write their dissertations in English. Moreover, writing EFL allows for communication to large numbers of people all over the world. It is also provides students with physical evidence of their achievement. This in turn helps them to determine what they know and what they don't know." 2.10.2 Problems Faced by Students in Writing a) The differences in writing between Arabic and English Its agreed that all Arab students have problems in learning English. To write their own scripts, Arab students follow these habits; Bakhtel Rida (1980:11) 1. They write from right to left. 2. Leave letters open. 3. Write through the line. 4. Push the pen across the page. But when they write in English, they have to follow different habits such as: 1. Write from left to right. 2. Close most of the letters. 3. Write on or about the line. 4. Pull the pen across the page. For all these differences, English tends to be difficult to Arab learners. A new Arab learner, has to follow – as a pre-writing exercise-the following eight basic shapes involved in the formation of English letters to facilitate his performance. The following table illustrates eight basic shapes involved in the writing of the English language. 1. anti clock wise 2. Clock wise 3. 4 5 6. 7. 8. Diagram (3): the 8 basic shapes of English It is necessary to produce slanting, curving and dotting in order to establish a good writing. For writing in the beginning stages, students are asked to write words and phrases to intensify their practice. Spelling is evidently a major problem for the foreign learners of English. Mastering the best spelling conventions of English, seems to be a bigger burden of learning the language. Thus, in written Arabic there are only "three" letters, namely, (ى and و ا) used to indicate vowel length. In other words, the sound – symbol for vowels which Sudanese Students are accustomed to, be rather simple and straight forward compared to that for English. However, in English, there are on average almost twelve ways of spelling each vowel sound and stated by Gimson (1967. 124) that the most frequently occurring vowels in English, a 'Schwa', // for example can be spelled with a in woman /ә/ ar in particular /ә/ o in oblige /ә/ or in doctor /ә/ e in gentleman /ә/ er in mother /ә/ u in suppose /ә/ ou in famous /ә/ i in possible /ә/ our in colour /ә/ ure in figure /ә/ This shows that the sound – symbol in English is far complex than that in Arabic. There is also a problem that can be attributed to differences to orthographic system between the learners e.g. While English orthography belongs to the Greek- Latin group whose alphabets indicate vowels by separate characters. Arabic belongs to the Aramaic – Hebrew group where vowel sounds are indicated by diacritic marks. However, the insertion of these marks is not obligatory in writing. Thus, when the vowel marks are omitted as in most of the texts (a part from the canonical works such as in the Quran), the writing is 'consonantal' and when the vowels are indicated then the combination of the consonant characters and the vowel marks treated as a syllabic unit. b) Sentence Fragments A sentence fragment ( incomplete sentence) is part of a complete thought punctuated as though it was a complete sentence . e.g. On the table in the corner. ( What about it?) Shivering in the snow. ( Who or what was?) Here are some types of sentence fragment to avoid in your writing and speaking: 1. A group of words having no subject. Incorrect: Just growled at me. Correct: The dog just growled at me. 2. A group of words having no verb. Incorrect: The basketball star. Correct: The basketball star won the game 3. A group of words with neither subject nor verb. Incorrect: After the first half of the match. Correct: The goalkeeper's arm hurt after the first half of the match. c) Run-on Sentences A run-on sentence is a sentence containing two or more complete thoughts punctuated as though they were one. ' I became annoyed by his gossip, I walked out of the room. To correct it: 1- Separate the two ideas with a full-stop. e.g. I became annoyed by his gossip. I walked out of the room. 2- Supply a coordinating conjunction. e.g. I became annoyed of his gossip so I walked out of the room. 3- Subordinate the first or the second of the two ideas by turning each one into a dependent clause. e.g. Because I became annoyed of his gossip, I walked out of the room. d) The Comma Sentence The Comma Sentence is sentence error in which a comma has been used instead of a full-stop to separate two or more complete thoughts. ' The motor of the refrigerator had developed a squeak, the mechanic had to take the motor apart.' To correct it: 1- Separate the two ideas by a correct punctuation. 2- Supply a coordinating conjunction 3- Subordinate the first or the second of the two ideas by turning each one into a dependent clause. 2.10.3 Punctuation Al-Talafha (2005:60) agrees that punctuation marks are very important in writing and the writer may use them in order to: a) express a fine shade of meaning. b) make the thought more clear and accurate. c) indicate the relationship between one idea and another. d) make the meaning of the sentence clear. 1. Full Stop (.) is the basic essential of all punctuation marks. Its rules are: a) It should be used after a complete statement. e.g. I thanked Ali for his kind present. b) It is used after shortened forms of words. e.g. B.C. (before Christ). Mon. (Monday). 2. Question mark (?) is used at the end of a direct question. e.g. How old are you? 3. Exclamation mark (!) is used after exclamations or exclamatory sentences. E.g. what a beautiful day it is! 4. The Comma (,) is used: a) to separate words of one kind in a list, except the last two words that we should join them with (and). e.g. I visited Aidoun, Irbid and Jerash. b) after a sentence introducing direct speech. e.g. He said to me, "Did you see Ali?" c) before and after the name of a person you are speaking to. e.g. Samir, will you go with me? I saw you, Ali, speaking to that guy. 5. Semi-colon (;) is used to help the writer to avoid the frequent use of conjunctions such as (and). e.g. Commerce spreads Civilization: it spreads culture; it introduces new ideas; it creates a desire in a man to visit new countries. 6) The Colons (:) are used to introduce a statement or a list or for giving details. e.g. This book is divided into there parts: a- introduction. b- grammar. c- words. 7) Quotation marks(" ") are used to indicate a word or a passage quoted from a piece of writing. e.g. William Words Worth said " Let nature be your teacher". 8) The Dash (-) should be used to mark a parenthesis or to give special emphasis to the end of the sentence. e.g. He looked up at the cliff-the leper settlement lay under the shadow of a cliff-and wondered how to obtain a supply of water. 9) The Apostrophe (') is used to indicate possession, the omission of a letter or letters or the plural of letters or figures.e.g. a) The barber's shop is closed today. b) He can't. (He cannot) c) He won't. (He will not) d) I've. (I have) e) I'm. (I am) f) I'll. (I will) g) I don't. ( I do not) h) It's. ( It is) i) How badly you write your 5's. 2.10.4 Prepositions A preposition is a word that used to show the relationship between a noun and some other word or part of the sentence. It is always a single word e.g. in, upon, into, and it may also be more than one word. E.g. in front of, in spite of. 1 – Time - On. It is used: a) with a day of the week. e.g. I met him on Saturday. b) with a day of the month. e.g. I saw him on May 20. - At. It is used: a) with a part of the day considered as a point. e.g. I will see you at night. b) with an hour of the day. e.g. The meeting will be at ten o'clock. - In. It is used: a) with a month. e.g. I saw him in June. b) with a year. e.g. He died in 1980. c) with a part of the day. e.g. I saw Layla in this morning. d) with a season. e.g. I will see him next Summer. - Since. It gives the beginning point. e.g. I haven't seen him since Friday. - To. It is used of distance. e.g. we walked to he big house and then returned. - Till, Until. It is used of time. e.g. I waited till he came. - By. It is used at any time up this point. e.g. I can see you by Monday. - For. It gives a quantity of time. e.g. I can see you for one hour. - After. It is used when speaking of space of time of the past. e.g. I'll see you after Monday. - Before. It is used when the event precedes the time given in the (before) phrase. e.g. I will see you before Friday. 2 – Position. - In. It gives the area of something enclosed: a drawer, a room, a building, the world, container. e.g. would you please hang my shirt in the closet. - On. It is used to indicate the surface of something: a floor, a wall, a desk. e.g. Don't put the books on the table. - At. It is used for addresses of street numbers. e.g. Salwa lives at 200 park Avenue. - Over. It means higher than a point. e.g. The plane flew over the green mountains. - Above. e.g. She lives on the floor above us. - Under. e.g. A subway runs under this street. - beside. e.g. Ali sat beside his wife during the party. - Between. e.g. Ali sat between his two sons. - Besides. e.g. I have two other cars besides this one. 2.10.5 Transition Words and Phrases ( cohesive ties) Idrees et al 2005:143) state that: " Transitions connect your paragraph to one another, especially the main body ones. It is not effective to simply jump from one idea to the next; you need to use the end of one paragraph and/or the beginning of the next to show the relationship between the two ideas. Between each paragraph and the one that follows, you need a transition. It can be built into the topic sentence of the next paragraph, or it can be the concluding sentence of the first. Transition words and phrases help you to establish clear connection between ideas and ensure that sentences and paragraphs flow together smoothly, making them easier to read. " The following examples illustrates the above ideas. To indicate more information To indicate an example Besides for example Furthermore for instance In addition in particular Indeed particularly In fact specifically Moreover to demonstrate Second…third… etc to illustrate To indicate a cause or reason To indicate a result or an effect As accordingly Because finally Because of consequently Due to hence For so For the reason that therefore For the reason that thus since To indicate a purpose or reason To compare or contrast Why: although For fear that however In the hope that in comparison In order to in contrast So likewise So that nevertheless With this in mind on the other hand similarly whereas yet To indicate a particular time frame or a shift from one period to another: After, initially, before, lastly, currently, during, meanwhile, eventually, next, finally, previously, first.., second.., etc, simultaneously, formerly, soon, immediately, subsequently. To summarize To conclude Briefly given these facts In brief hence Overall in conclusion Summing up so To put it briefly therefore To sum up thus To summarize to conclude 2.10.6 Spelling Rules Spelling is one of the subskills involved in reading and writing. It is viewed as a developmental process through which meaning is understood and/or created. Duly, El-Koumy (2002: 29) defines that, the importance of spelling lies in the fact that it is literate, one must become proficient in spelling "Learning to spell correctly is necessary for being a good writer…Spelling also improves reading because knowledge of spelling-sound correspondences is a basic component of reading. Moreover, research has shown that there is a strong relationship between spelling and reading." Robey (1978: 151-57) states that:" To write acceptable papers, you must spell the words in them correctly. If you have trouble with spelling, words that give you the most trouble are probably not familiar- so familiar that you are in doubt about the spelling of a word." While Kolb (1980: 76- 68) comments that the complexity of English orthography stems from two historic circumstances. "The first is that the English has many ancestors, Germanic in origin. English acquires much of the its vocabulary from Latin as well as from French. A second complication was made by the invention of printing in the mid-fifteenth century, which fixed spelling while pronunciation continued to evolve." As a result, there are about three hundred ways to spell the forty-four sounds used in English. No wonder G.B. Shaw could suggest 'ghoti' as a possible spelling of 'fish' 'gh' as in rough 'o' as in women; 'ti' as in 'nation'." Vaid (1982: 9) has precisely declared that spelling of English follows no set rules. They are often inconsistent and irregular. "The spelling do not always conform to the pronunciation. Often similar sounding words are spelt differently. e.g. to, two, too; their, there; seas, seize, cease; are spelt differently though their pronunciation is very much the same…Differently pronounced words have similar spelling, e.g. 'cut' and 'put'; 'come' and 'home' ; 'bound' and 'wound' ; 'go' and 'do'; are differently pronounced, the first letter is excepted, but the rest of the word is in similar manner." The problem described above can be minimized greatly by following these guides stated by Vaid ( ibid: 10-11) 1- If one is taught to recognize words through varied experiences with words in reading, writing and conversation. 2- If one is taught to pronounce words correctly. 3- If one is taught to or encouraged to use newly taught words in their own written expression. 4- And finally, if one is made to realize very early the need and value of correct spelling. When writing any word, it is suggested to develop the principle of syllabication. e.g. ' to write the word syllables, add the accent mark making sure you know how it is spelt, then write the entire word' " Pescosolido (1967: 22) seems to agree with Vaid by developing the principles of syllabication: in these examples: 1- common com'mon 2- button but'ton 3- blossom blos'som Sometimes, there is a multi-syllabic word: 4- suddenly sud'den'ly 5- century cen'tu'ry 6- historical his'to'ri'cal A dictionary should be used to check proper syllabication whenever one is in doubt as to its correctness. For proper utility, the following pages will be prepared to help the learner pick up useful words with caution about their exceptions. 1- Use of 'ie' and 'ei' in a word Kolb (1980: 76) declares that: " When 'ie' is pronounced 'ee' that solves many troubles with some exceptions such as seized, weird, and leisure," While Vaid (1982: 10) asserts that: "In general 'i' comes before 'e' that is 'ie' believe, tied, died, friend, but if the previous letter is 'c' then the 'e' comes before 'i' that is 'ei' ceiling, deceit, conceit, conceive." Palmer (1980: 9) states that: " Put 'i' before 'e' when the sound is 'ee' as in 'see' e.g. believe, except after 'c' …in some proper nouns ( Keith, Sheila) and in counterfeit, forfeit, onomatopoeia, plebeian, protein, vein, leisure etc. " 2- For Changing 'y' into 'i' Coe (1980: 12) coincides with Vaid when saying: " Out of the total 26 alphabets in English language five alphabets ( a, e, i, o, u) are vowels and the rest of the 19 alphabets are called consonants. When 'y' is the last letter of a word and preceded by another consonant, 'y' becomes 'i' , e.g. dry – dried; beautify – beautified; deny – denied; cry – cried; but the above rule does not hold good when 'y' is preceded by a vowel, e.g. valley – valleys; monkey – monkeys; enjoy – enjoys; " Palmer (1980: 9) adds to this rule: " When adding an ending to a word ends in 'y' change the 'y' to 'i' e.g. happy + ness = happiness; merry + ly = merrily; exceptions: sly and shy ( slyly, shyly, slyness, shyness). To spell words ending in 'ly' first write the word without the 'ly' then add the 'ly' e.g. sincere + ly = sincerely; quick + ly = quickly; safe + ly = safely." 3- For the Plural Coe (1980: 217) fixes these rules: " For the plural of count nouns, and the 'es' ending of the present simple," a) If the ending is a consonant + 'y' omit 'y' and add 'ies' e.g. spy – spies; party – parties. b) Adding 's' the words in hissing sounds ( sibilants)…if the ending is 'ch, sh, x, z or a verb ending in single 'o' add 'es' e.g. match – matches; pass – passes; brush – brushes; box – boxes; buzz – buzzes; clothes; etc. In all other cases except the verbs 'have' and 'be' and irregular plurals add 's' e.g. top – tops; day – days; gate – gates; bridge – bridges; call – calls; month – months; c) Some words do not change (salmon, heather, deer, sheep). d) Some words change internally ( man – men; mouse – mice; tooth – teeth; goose – geese) . e) Words ending in 'f' or 'fe' usually have plural ending in 'ves' e.g. (leaf – leaves; knife – knives) exceptions: hoofs, roofs, chiefs, handkerchiefs, dwarfs, proofs, reefs, foodstuffs). f) Words ending in 'o' usually add 'es' ( tomato – tomatoes; volcano – volcanoes) exceptions: anything to do with music ( pianos, radios, altos, piccolos) and cuckoos, Eskimos, photos, memos, dynamos. g) Words ending in 'us' to 'i' ( cactus – cacti; fungus – fungi; radius – radii) exceptions: circuses, octopuses, geniuses) h) Words ending in 'is' change 'is' to 'es' ( crisis – crises; oasis – oases; analysis – analyses). i) Compound nouns, usually change the most important word ( son-in-law – sons-in-law; rear-admiral – rear-admirals). Note: court-martial – court-martials; spoonful – spoonfuls; cupful –cupfuls. j) For special attention: Formula – formulae Mr. – Messrs. ( French Messieurs) Phenomenon – phenomena Mrs. – Mesdames Ox _ oxen index – indexes ( list of contents) Child – children indices (X) Datum – data penny– pennies (number of coins) Stratum – strata pence ( sum of money) Rostrum – roster medium – media (agencies) Bureau – bureaus mediums (people who claim to plateau – plateaus speak to the dead) that - those Never use an apostrophe for plurals of abbreviations or years ( MPs, 1980s, MAs, 1994s) Note: An apostrophe is used in the plurals of single figures and letters of the alphabet ( 6's and 7's, p's and q's, possess has four s's " is fixed by Palmer (1980: 81) 4- For the Comparative and Superlative of Short Adjectives and Verbs Coe (1980: 217) has a fixed definition: a- If the ending is a consonant + 'y' omit 'y' and add 'ier' and 'iest' e.g. pretty – prettier, prettiest; happy – happier, happiest. b) If the ending is 'e' add 'r' and 'st' , e.g. large – larger, largest; wide – wider, widest; free – freer, freest; etc. c- If the ending is one vowel + one consonant, then double the consonant and add ; 'er' and 'est' e.g. big – bigger, biggest; fat – fatter, fattest; etc. d- In all other cases, except irregular forms add 'er' and 'est' e.g. long – longer, longest; thick – thicker, thickest; broad – broader, broadest; etc. Note: the rules of comparative ending 'er' also apply the ending 'er' for people who do a certain activity e.g. carry – carrier; dig – digger. 5- When Adding 'ing', 'ed', 'er', 'est' Palmer (1980: 9-10) coincides with Coe when stating that: a- If the word ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant double the final consonant e.g. drop + 'ing' = dropping. b) If the word ends in a single vowel followed by a single consonant but has more than one syllable, double the final consonant only if the emphasis in the word is on the final syllable, e.g. refer – referred; commit – committed; allot – allotted; exceptions: offer – offered; develop –developed; focus – focused. Note: If the word ends in a single vowel followed by 'l' double the 'l' whenever the emphasis is e.g. travel – travelled; quarrel – quarrelled; exceptions: parallel – paralleled. Kolb (1980: 77) also agrees with them by adding: " A second useful rule organized the seemingly erratic behavior of a final consonant confronted with suffixes; double the final syllable before if the accent is on the final syllable, e.g. occur – occurred; submit – submitted; etc. exceptions: benefited, appealed." While Vaid (1982: 13) adds: " However, the words in which the last letter ( consonant) is preceded by two words, the letter (consonant) is not doubled when any suffix is added : gain – gained; sleep – sleeping;" 6- When Adding a Suffix to a Word Ends in a Silent 'e' Palmer gives more information: a) If the ending begins with a vowel, drop the silent 'e' e.g. come + ing = coming; love + able = lovable; exceptions: likeable, saleable, sizeable b) If the ending begins with a consonant, do not drop the silent 'e' e.g. like + ly = likely; hate + ful = hateful; exceptions: whole + ly = wholly; due + ly = duly; true + ly = truly; argue + ment = argument; awe + ful = awful. c) When adding an ending to a word ends in 'e' or 'ge', do not drop the silent 'e' unless the ending begins with the 'e' or 'i'; manage – management, manageable, managing; notice – noticeable, noticing. d) Die + ing = dying; sing + ing = singing; dye + ing =dyeing; singe + ing = singeing. e) Vaid (ibid: 13-14) adds to this rule: " Similarly, final letter 'e' is dropped or omitted when suffixes 'ous' and 'ish' are added : virtue + ous = virtuous; miracle + ous= miraculous; trouble + ous = troublous: blue + ish = bluish; there are few exceptions : courage + ous =courageous." f) Palmer (1980: 12) also states: " Never drop final 'e' in a word when suffix 'ment' is added e.g. excite + ment = excitement; judge + ment = judgement; elope + ment = elopement. g) The 'e' is retained at the end of the verb when there are double 'e' at the end, e.g. see – seeing; agree – agreeing; decree – decreeing; exceptions: be – being. 7- For the Past Simple and the Past Participle Coe (1980: 212) states: a) If the ending is a consonant + 'y', omit 'y' and add 'ied' e.g. cry – cried; marry – married; certify – certified; etc. b) If the ending is 'e' add 'd' e.g. live – lived; tie – tied; chase – chased; free – freed; agree – agreed; etc. c) If the ending is a stressed syllable, including verbs of one syllable, with one vowel and one consonant, then double the consonant and add 'ed' e.g. commit – committed; stop - stopped. Note : this rule is applied when adding 'ing' also e.g. committing, stopping. When the ending is 'ic', Coe (1980: 212) decides that: d) If the ending is 'ic' add 'ked' e.g. picnic – picnicked; panic – panicked; etc. Note: it is also applied when adding 'ing' picnicking, panicking. e) In all other cases except irregular verbs add 'ed' e.g. walk – walked; leak – leaked; play – played; etc. 8- Irregular Nouns Coe (ibid: 217) fixes different rules: a) A few nouns end in 's' but go with singular determiners, and pronouns, etc, and a singular verb, including: barracks, headquarters, means, works, e.g. There is a barracks near here. It was built in 1941. b) A few nouns end in 's' but go with mass determiners and pronouns etc, and a singular verb including: news, measles, mumps, linguistics, mathematics, e.g. The news is important. It must be announced at once. c) Tools and clothes that have two equal parts often end in 's' and are plurals, although their meaning is one article including: binoculars, pliers, pants, scissors, tongs, tweezers, braces, glasses, jeans, knickers, trunks, e.g. Can I wear these jeans? No, they aren't dry yet. If it is necessary, we can make it explicit that we are referring to one article with a pair of, which is singular e.g. A pair of damp jeans was hanging in the bathroom. d) A few nouns do not end in 's' but are plural including: cattle, clergy, people, police, e.g. These people are waiting to see if they have won. e) Some nouns ending in 'o' form the plural with 's' some with 'es' and some with either .e.g. With 's' With 'es' Kangaroos, radios, studios echoes, heroes, Negroes, zoos, kilos, pianos, photos, potatoes, tomatoes, concertos, dynamos, solos, sopranos. Others can add either 's' or 'es' e.g. rhino, gecko, etc. When going back to a dictionary to fetch out some examples to the last rule – others can add either 's' or 'es' – What is only found in the dictionary of Proctor (1978: 23) is that: " When the plural is always or sometimes the same as the singular, then the following shows it: These nouns usually form their plural in the regular way. But sometimes ( as with animals when talking about hunting) the plural is the same as the singular." So, these examples can do: rhino, gecko etc. Coe (1980: 217) says: f) A few compound nouns form the plural with the first word, in particular, mothers-in-law, sons-in-law, etc. and passers-by. But most compound nouns form the plural with the last word, e.g. grown-ups, printouts, male-nurses, apprentice-butchers, etc. g) Many nouns ending in 'f' or 'fe' are regular, e.g. beliefs, chiefs, safes, but a few omit 'f' or 'fe' and add 'ves' including: calf – calves; half – halves; knife – knives; leaf – leaves; shelf – shelves; thief – thieves; wife – wives; wolf – wolves; etc. For the irregular nouns that do not conform to rules, Coe (ibid: 218) reports that: h) A few nouns form the plural with a change of vowels: e.g. foot – feet; goose – geese; tooth – teeth; louse – lice; mouse – mice; man – men; and woman – women; etc. i) Most words for animals have regular plurals, e.g. dogs, elephants, etc. But there are a few that have the same form of singular and plural, including: deer, fish, police, salmon, and sheep. Fish also occasionally has regular plural fishes. Coe (ibid : 218) says: j) There are also many other words that have been borrowed from other languages. Most of the more common ones are: basis – bases; diagnosis – diagnoses; curriculum – curricula. 9- Varieties in Spelling a- When adding 'full' to a word, drop one 'l' e.g. care + full = careful; beauty + full = beautiful; also well + come = welcome. b- These words are all nouns: advice, practice, licence, prophecy, device. These words are all verbs: advise, practise, license, prophesy, devise, appologise, realise. c- One 's' and two p's in: disappear, disappoint, disapprove, disappearance, disappointment. d- One 'f' and two s's in: profess professor profession professional confess confessor confession confessional e- supercede is the only word ending in 'cede'. f- All right must be two words. g- There is a 'd' in knowledge, but not in college, allege, privilege, pigeon and tragic. h- Possess, possesses, four s's (possession, possessed). i- There are many words that are derived from the root word 'port' meaning to carry. When prefixes are added, the word gives different meaning and needs a manner of syllabication to write. It can help in determining the meaning of the derived word form: prefix meaning derived word 1- ex out export 2- im in import 3- re back report 4- sub under support 5- trans across transport Many other words can be treated as so. Palmer (1980: 10) suggests that: " To refine the dictionary skill of the use of the 'schwa' /ә/ in pronunciation e.g. the entry and phonetic spelling of the word chemical appears in the spelling dictionary as follows: chemical /kemıkl/. The pronunciation key indicates that the symbol /ә/ represents 'a' in about and 'e' in taken." j- Use of 'dis' and 'mis' as prefixes, as described by Vaid (1982: 11) " Never spell a word with double 's' while using 'dis' or 'mis' as prefix. e.g. dis + allow = disallow; mis + place = misplace…The second 's' occurs in the spelling only when the first letter of the word to which the prefix 'dis' or 'mis' is being added, being with 's' e.g. dis + sent = dissent; mis + spell = misspell; dis + service = disservice; mis + shapen = misshapen; dis + solve = dissolve." Note: here the second 's' or double 's' occur because 's' is the first letter in all words: ( sent, spell, service, shapen, and solve) to which prefixes 'dis' and 'mis' have been added to create a new word. The spelling of words containing the letter 'c' as described by Pescosolido (1967: 15-33) " 'c' generally represents 'k' sound when it is followed by ( a, o, u) or a consonant e.g. candy, bacon, actor, mercury, picnic when 'c' comes lastly. Usually when 'c' is followed by ( e, i, or y), it represents the 's' sound, e.g. perceive, conceive, receive, notice, advance, policy, merciful…The spelling of words in which the letter 'c' or 'ck' represents the sound of 'k' e.g. crack, deck, stick. Notice that the 'k' sound, followed a short vowel sound, is represented by the letter 'ck'. When the letter 'ck' go together to represent one sound, they are not separated in the syllabication." 10- Irregular Comparison For the ending of regular comparatives and superlatives, there are a few irregular forms for comparative and superlative: Positive Comparative Superlative Positive Comparative Superlative many more most ill worse worst much more most wrong worse worst little less least bad worse worst good better best far farther farthest well better best far further furthest right better best Table 5: Illustrates the irregular comparison Adjectives also have the regular forms: older and oldest, but elder and eldest are often used for family relationship, e.g. Musa is my elder brother. Robey (1978: 151-57) explains the matter as follows: " Learn the difference between words ending in 'ant' and 'ance'. Some words may sound the same when you say them quickly, but do not mean the same things." e.g. Describing words, persons, and things: Different That is a different idea. Important That is an important letter. Convenient That is a convenient restaurant. Patient He is a patient teacher. Naming persons, things Difference That is the difference. Importance This letter has importance. Convenience A dish washer is a kitchen convenience. Patience He has very little patience. Patients The emergency room was full of patients. Students face great difficulties to distinguish between different or difference, important and importance, the 'ent' ,'ence', 'ance'. But the most difficulty that students are concerned about, comes in spelling the 'ent', 'ence', and 'ance' as they all have the 'schwa' sound. So, most of the errors come from wrong replacements. Use a hyphen (-) to join words and numbers, Coe (1980: 2317) states that: " Use a hyphen to join two or more words that work together as one word to describe another word, except when the words come after the word they describe, e.g. middle-aged woman, the woman was middle aged, well-known writer, the writer was well known. Use a hyphen when you spell out compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine, e.g. sixty-eight, seventy-three. Use a hyphen with fractions ( one-fourth, three- fifth). Use a hyphen to join 'self', 'all' and 'ex' to a word in order to make a single word, e.g. self-control, all-powerful, ex-husband." 11- Strategies for Revising in the Development of Written Language skills The following strategies will help to: 1) improve student's attitude toward writing by increasing the amount of attention and positive feedback he receives on assignments. 2) identify the student with his stress meaning first; then teach any skills that he needs in the context of meaning. 3) evaluate the student’s papers, emphasize the clarity of thought and the meaning of the message over basic writing skills so that his interest and willingness to write are not reduced. 4) Provide individualized teacher feedback to the student on his writing assignments. Focus on the paper’s strengths and present constructive suggestions for improvement. 5) Make sure the student receives positive and corrective feedback on his writing assignments. Let the student know exactly which papers a teacher will evaluate and when he will read them. 6) Have a brief revision meeting with the student before he attempts to revise a paper. Discuss specific ideas that will help the student improve the paper. 7) Discuss in detail any parts that do not make sense after reading the student’s paper with him, and ask the him to come up with ideas for improvement. 8) Show the student how to use a past revision process, have him locate the best passages in his writing and cut them out, have him arrange them in different orders and have him reassemble the pieces in the best order and then write the necessary transitions. 9) Show the student various editing techniques that are used for revision, such as cutting up parts of a paper with scissors to reorganize sections or circling blocks of text and drawing an arrow to show where they should be inserted. 10) Improve the student's editing skills by providing assistance in revising assignments that he has written on a computer and teach him how to delete and insert words and sentences and how to move blocks of text. 11) Teach the student how to evaluate the organization of his paper, to review the style and point of view, the sequence of the ideas, the relevance of the details to the stated purpose, the clarity of the message, and the consistency between the discussion and conclusions. 12) make the student understand what he is revising and organizing, he should not simultaneously attempt to edit for spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure. 13) Teach the student how to use a vocabulary by providing opportunities for practice with this reference book during writing. Htt: // migrant. Ju 12 . org C ) Previous Studies The followings are collection of studies in relation to the field of errors that are committed by learners of English language as a second language. 1) Nada AbiSamra / American University of Beirut / An Analysis of Errors in Arabic Speakers’ English Writings. http://w.w.w.google,com / January 2003. In this research, Nada's main question was: “Is negative transfer 'interference' of L1 the major cause for errors in the English writings of Brevet students?” To verify that she attempts to: 1. Provide a theoretical background for: a error Analysis, b) Models for Error Analysis, and c) Sources of Errors. She will also examine related terms such as interlingual errors, negative L1 transfer/interference, interlanguage, and intralingual errors); 2. Identify, describe, categorize, and diagnose Arabic speakers’ errors in English essay writing in order to find the sources of those errors and a way for remediation; 3. Cover the implications of the findings for teaching ESL/English to Arabic speaking students; and, finally, 4. Discuss the limitations of this study and propose future areas of research. Her procedures to do so, are as follows: 1- Error/Data Collection: For the selection of a corpus of language, following the guidelines offered by Ellis (1995, 51-52), a sample of written work was collected from 10 students. These students were provided with the topic ‘What are your plans for the future?’ and were asked to write on it in 200 to 250 words. They were given sufficient time to write, and students are got to work in groups on their projects, they would have to practise together for their oral presentations, and speak English with each other instead of Arabic. Besides, they would, hopefully, correct each other’s errors. As for the writing rules and conventions, these need to be “enforced” much earlier. She suggests a few error analysis exercises and objective tests that would help the students be more accurate. She believes that students need to write in class, at home, in their journals. They need to be given some well defined essay writing rules (for the thesis statement, introduction, conclusion, transition words, etc...), and some samples of their writings need to be transcribed and distributed to them for correction and analysis: they would be learning from their errors. The findings of her research are as follows: The total number of errors that are found in the 10 essays was 214. they are divided according to the different categories: 29 grammatical, 35 syntactic, 26 lexical, 3 semantic, and 120 substance (mechanics & spelling) errors. The total percentage of transfer/interlingual errors was 35.9%, whereas the total percentage of develop-mental/intralingual errors was 64.1%. The highest percentage of transfer errors was in semantics & lexis, respectively 100% & 73%. As for the highest percentage of developmental errors, it was, by far, in substance (mainly spelling) The total number of transfer/interlingual errors was 77, whereas the total number of developmental/intralingual errors was 137. Based on these findings, she can tell that Brevet students do commit errors because of negative L1 transfer, however, their biggest number of errors is due to developmental/intralingual reasons. In brief, she suggests that teachers definitely have to adapt themselves and their curriculum to their needs. Hereby some of her lL imitations & suggestions for further studies “We should be aware that different types of written material may produce a different distribution of error or a different set of error types” (Corder, 1974, p. 126). “The recognition of error ... depends crucially upon the analyst making a correct interpretation of the learner’s intended meaning of the context” (Corder, 1974, p. 127). “It has already been noted that learners often appear inconsistent in their production of errors” (Corder, 1974, p. 131). She advises teachers to be careful when conducting an error analysis study: Teachers need to keep all these facts in mind when conducting an error analysis and reaching conclusions on which they would base all their teaching. Besides, this study was conducted on a small number of students, and also on a very limited number of essays. Therefore, the conclusions reached are far from being decisive. She considers this study a preliminary one that just “gives an idea” of those brevet students’ sources of errors. It should set the pace for other studies which would be much more comprehensive, covering a bigger number of students and a wider range of materials. As a conclusion: This study attempts to identify, describe, categorize, and diagnose the errors in English essay writing of the Arabic speaking Brevet students. It is found that only one-third of the second language learner’s errors can be attributed to NL language transfer, this is what this study came up with. Most of the errors are caused by an overapplication of L2. Teachers do need to incite their students to speak English at home and with their friends in order to reduce the number of mistakes due to Negative L1 transfer, but they also need to try to teach more effectively the rules and conventions of writing. However, when trying to solve these problems, they need to bear in mind that L2 users’ knowledge of a second language are not the same as that of native speakers even at advanced levels. L2 users’ knowledge of their first language L1 are not the same as that of monolingual native speakers. 2) Omer Al-Sheikh Hago / University of Yemen /A Sample of Yemeni Students Performance at the University Level/MA /1998. The main question of this research is: Do Arabic-speaking learners of English face difficulties in performing basic writing tasks in order to communicate efficiently in English? So, the main objective is to master these difficulties on an attempt to find remedial methods that help to facilitate students competence while studying English language. The techniques the researcher follows to elicit his task are : Written performances such as translation, multiple choice questions, besides free composition writing which is used to as a main elicitation technique. A hundred students were chosen randomly from the second year , department of English at the Faculties of Education, University of Sana'a to represent the original population in his study. The students' ages range between 20-23 years who have had an average of seven years of formal instruction as foreign language learners at schools and universities. The analysis of students errors was c;assified into spelling errors, syntactic errors and lexical errors. The major spelling errors were identified by: omission: V 26.2%, C 18.5%, substitution: V 16.2%, C 20.8%, addition: V 16.9%, C 16% and transposition: V9.2%, C 0.8%. Whereas the major syntactic errors were classified according to the areas of English grammar into six categories, namely: article errors: 18.145%, tenses and verbs errors: 61.2903%, preposition errors: 2.016%, concord errors; 12.90%, pronominal errors; 4.435% and other errors; 1.209%. The lexical errors, when learners have difficulty in finding the TL lexical items which may convey the intended meaning, students resort to the translation of the equivalent item from their mother tongue and use it in the TL context. In this area, the errors are catogorised into: errors of paraphrasing, errors resulting from false analogy and errors of synonymy. Here are some of the findings: -Vowel omission could be attributed to MT interference, where Arabic is a language which orthographically possesses an intact consonantal structure. - Consonant omission could be attributed to the un-phonetic nature of English spelling where there are forty-four phonemes that can be used in spoken English whereas there are only twenty-six letters used in written language. - Inadequate teaching and lack of exercise on spelling are also behind these errors. - Irregularity of English article system which hinders the formation of a generalized rule which says that the indefinite article is used with the singular countable nouns where in some examples it is not, such as: 'As painter, he is not well known. It is a pleasure to see you.' - Wrong choice of tense could be due to the fact that students are probably incapable of selecting the appropriate tense forms for the appropriate context. - Some errors could be attributed to the students ignorance of the conjugation of verbs when students fail to produce the right form of these verbs and manage to extend its use by overgeneralising the general rule of conjugation. REFERENCES Aitchison, J. (1983) The Articulate Mammal, London: Hatchison. Albusairi, M. (2006) Phonetics, Khartyoum Open University of Sudan Ali, S.I. (1997) Aspects of Modality in Standard English and Modern Standard Arabic, Khartoum: Alneelain University Allwright, R. (1975) Problems in the Study of Teachers Treatment of Errors, Washington: Burt, M & Dulay eds. Al-Talafha, A. F. (2005) The fundamentals of English Language, Dar Aljeel Bairout. Libanon Bakhtel Rida Teacher Training Centre (1980) Khartoum: Handouts Rida Press Brown, H. D. 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Lingua-Links Library (speakingskills.htm) www.migrant.ju.12.org (http://www.d.umn.edu.student/loon/acad/strat/ss,) A paper by/ Graham Stanley, British Council, Barcelona Approach to process writing – Graham Stanley, British Council Barcelona CHAPTER THREE Methodology of the Study 3.0 Introduction This chapter describes the population and samples of the errors which are committed by the students of fourth year at Alzaeim Alazhari University English department. To achieve that, (..) of the students of the fourth level were chosen. Because all students were Sudanese students, this gives an impression that they have come from the same environment. Their mother tongue is Arabic. Duly, they share the same awareness, the same ability and the same capability. Some assignments which imply: a speaking test, a comprehension test and a composition test were presented to them. The students were instructed to answer five questions concerning error analysis, specifically the questions that dealt with correction of errors. They were asked to give their points of view about the questions in order to judge their abilities to speak. They were also instructed to read a specific text carefully. Then they were instructed to answer the following questions so as to discover their understanding after reading such a text. After then, a free composition was given to them. The aim behind that was to test their ability to write eligibly. Then these assignments were analysed to detect the causes behind students' persistent errors so as to suggest an ultimate remedy for all that. 3.1 The Problem The present research has assumed that all Sudanese students learners of English language as a L2 after years of intensive learning, commit countless types of errors while trying to acquire EL as a FL. They are faced by some difficulties at speaking, reading and writing. Students of 4th year at Alzaeim Alazhari University English department are not an exception. These countless errors in English Language which are committed by the students of 4th year are to be classified and diagnosed in an attempt to find out some procedures that may offer remedial exercises to help students lessen or avoid the persistent errors. 3.2 Sample Selection (…) students of fourth year, English department, at Alzaeim Alazhari University were chosen for these tests.