Contrastive-Analysis-&-Error-Analysis-and-Interlan

1Unit4ContrastiveAnalysis,ErrorAnalysisandInterlanguageThisunitfocuseson:*ContrastiveAnalysis*ErrorAnalysis*InterlanguageAstartingpointintheresearchonsecondlanguageacquisitionisthestudyoflearnerlanguagebecauselearnerlanguagecanrevealinsightsintotheprocessofacquisition.Thedescriptionoflearnerlanguageconstitutesthemostimportantsourceofinformationabouthowlearnerslearnasecondoraforeignlanguagewhenhe/shegetsthingswrong,becauselearnererrorscanholdvitalcluesabuttheprocessesofFLlearning.Theerrorscanbeanalyzedtoworkoutwhytheyaremadeinordertostudythedevelopmentalpatternsoflearnerlanguage.ContrastiveAnalysissoughttopredicttheerrorsthatlearnersmakebyidentifyingthelinguisticdifferencesbetweentheirL1andthetargetlanguage.Itsunderlyingassumptionwasthaterrorsweremainlytheresultofinterferencewasbelievedtotakeplacewheneverthe‘habits’ofthenativelanguagedifferedfromthoseofthetargetlanguage.ContrastiveAnalysisgavewaytoErrorAnalysisbecauseofthebeliefthattheerrorslearnersmakecanbeinfluencedbyavarietyoffactors.ErrorAnalysiscanbeusedtoinvestigatethevariousprocessesthatcontributetointerlanguagedevelopment.InterlanguageisviewedasauniquelinguisticsystemthatL2learnersconstructbydrawingontheirL1andthetargetlanguage.ContrastiveAnalysisstudiesthecomparisonbetweenmotherlanguageandtargetlanguage;ErrorAnalysisstudiedthecomparisonbetweeninterlnaguageandtargetlanguage;andtransferstudiesthecomparisonbetweenmotherlanguageandinterlanguage.Thisunitwilldiscusstheseconceptsandprovidesomeexplanationsabouttherelationshipbetweenthem.ContrastiveanalysisAsascientificcomparisonmethod,ContrastiveAnalysis(CA)hasexperiencedariseandfallinthelast60yearsofitsdevelopment.CAwasatraditionalmethodusedinthefieldoftranslationanditwasadoptedinthe1940sasaspecialmethodtostudyforeignlanguagelearningandteaching.Theterm‘ContrastiveAnalysis’wasfirstusedbyBenjiaminL.Whorfin1941,butCharlesFrieswasregardedasthefounderofmoderncontrastivelinguisticsandasthefirstmantoapplycontrastiveanalysistoforeignlanguagelearningandteaching.ContrastiveAnalysishadgrowntobeamajorconcernofappliedlinguisticsin1950s.RobertLado’sbook‘LinguisticsAcrossCultures’,publishedin1957,saysthat“Theteacherwhohasmadeacomparisonoftheforeignlanguagewiththenativelanguageofthestudentswillknowbetterwhattherealproblemsareandcanprovideforteachingthem”.HemadeasystematicstudyofcontrastiveanalysisinhisbookandshowedhowtousetheCAmethodtocomparelinguisticsystematic.However,in1960s,CAwaschallengedbyChomsky’sTGgrammaranditreceivedalotofcriticism.CAbecameunfashionableforatime,butitwasnevertrulykilledoff.CAunderwentarapiddevelopmentin1970s.‘ThePacificConferenceonContrastiveLinguisticsandLanguageUniversals’washeldintheUniversityofHawaiiin1971.DifferentschoolsofCAwereformedin1980stostudyitsprinciples,proceduresanditsapplicationsinforeignlanguagelearningandteaching.TheContrastiveAnalysisHypothesis2ContrastiveAnalysiscanbedefinedassystematiccomparisonofspecificlinguisticcharacteristicsoftwoormorelanguages.TheCAHypothesisclaimedthattheprincipalbarriertosecondlanguageacquisitionistheinterferenceofthefirstlanguagesystemwiththesecondlanguagesystemandthatascientific,structuralanalysisofthetwolanguagewouldyieldataxonomyoflinguisticcontrastsbetweenthemwhichinturnwouldenablethelinguistandteachertopredictthedifficultiesalearnerwillencounter.Inthissense,CAisanappliedcontrastivestudy,whichisconcernednotonlywiththecomparisonandcontrastoftwoormorelanguagestodeterminethedifferencesaswellassimilaritiesbetweenthem,butalsowiththeidentificationofprobableareasofdifficultyinlearninganotherlanguage.CAwasdeeplyrootedinthebehavioristicandstructuralistapproaches.Behavioristsbelievedthathumanbehavioristhesumofitssmallestpartsandcomponents,andthereforethatlanguagelearningcouldbedescribedastheacquisitionofallofthesediscreteunits.Behavioristsalsobelievedthatlearningisakindofhabitformation.OldhabitsgetinthewayoflearningnewhabitsandtheeffectsofonehabitonlearninganotherisknowninpsychologyasthestudyofTransfer.Languagelearnersattempttotransferthefeaturesoftheirmothertonguetothesecondlanguagetheyarelearning.Transferwillbepositivewhentheirfirstandsecondlanguagehabitsarethesame.Whenthetwolanguagesaredifferentinstructures,negativetransfer,alsocalledinterference,occurs.Thusdifferencesbetweenthefirstandsecondlanguagescreatelearningdifficultywhichresultsinerrors,whilethesimilaritiesbetweenthefirstandsecondlanguagesfacilitaterapidandeasylearning.SomestrongclaimsweremadefortheCAhypothesisamonglanguageteachingexpertsandlinguists.ThestrongversionoftheCAhypothesisclaimsthatallL2errorscanbepredictedbyidentifyingthedifferencesbetweenthetargetlanguageandthelearner’sfirstlanguage.Itwasbelievedthatcomparingnativeandtargetlanguageswouldtellyoualmosteverythingyouneededtoknowtodevisealanguage-teachingprogram.AsLeenotes,itstipulatesthat“theprimecause,oreventhesolecause,ofdifficultyanderrorinforeignlanguagelearningisinterferencecomingfromthelearner’snativelanguage”.OneofthestrongestclaimswasmadebyRobertLado(1957)intheprefaceto‘LinguisticsAcrossCultures’:“Theplanofthebookrestsontheassump