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1. Introduction
[ http://www.mailxmail.com/curso-errores-que-hacemos-aprender-ingles/introduction ]
Most of people agree that making mistakes is a part of learning, others think of
mistake as a problem, but ... what is a mistake? Why do we make them? Can we learn
a language without making mistakes? Do we need a teacher to correct all mistakes
we make? Is it useful?
This papers aim is to clarify these questions, analyse mistakes students make when
learning a foreign language, and present different techniques how to correct them.
Moreover, it focuses on the common mistakes Spanish students make when
speaking English. It also discusses the causes of these mistakes.
This paper consists of two parts. The first one is theoretical and it is based on
general information about mistakes and the second part focuses on mistakes
Spanish students make as well as on the causes of these mistakes. This part also
includes exercises and recommendations how to avoid or correct these mistakes.
2. Definition of mistakes
[ http://www.mailxmail.com/...curso-errores-que-hacemos-aprender-ingles/definition-of-mistakes]
When we talk about mistakes when learning a second language we talk about an
unconscious derivation when a learner sometimes uses one form and sometimes the other
- he "gets it right" - but sometimes he makes a mistake and uses a wrong form.
(GADUSOV, Z. and HAR?ANSK, J: Methodology of teaching English as a foreign language,
Anthology of Methodological Text, 1994)
In other words a mistake is incorrect language which a native speaker would not usually
produce, that is, sometimes that only learners of the language produce.
There are two sorts of mistakes:
The mistake that occurs when a speaker uses a correct piece of language (linguistic
form) that does not mean what the speaker wanted to mean.
The mistake that occurs when the speaker uses a correct linguistic form that is
socially unacceptable - the big problem here being one of politeness.
From a teachers opinion of how a mistake fits in with an individual students stage of
learning in her class, mistakes can be divided up into different categories:
a)
Slips: If the teacher thinks that a student could self correct a mistake.
b)
Errors: If a student cannot self correct a mistake in his or her own language, but the
teacher thinks that the class is familiar with the correct form.
c)
Attempts: When the teacher knows that the students have not yet learned the
language necessary to express what they want to say.
(EDGE, J: Mistakes and correction, Longman, 1989).
3. Causes
[ http://www.mailxmail.com/curso-errores-que-hacemos-aprender-ingles/causes]
There are six causes of mistakes but we can join them into four:
Mother tongue interference: One cause of mistake in speaking a foreign language is
the influence of the speakers first language. Although children appear to be able to
learn a foreign language quite easily and to reproduce new sounds very effectively,
most older learners experience considerable difficulty. The sound system
(phonology) and the grammar of the first language impose themselves on the new
language and this leads to a "foreign" pronunciation, faculty grammatical patterns
and, occasionally, to the wrong choice of vocabulary. As a result, when people do
not know how to say something in a foreign language, one possibility is to use
words and structure for their own language and try to make them fit into the foreign
language. E.g. a German speaker with a cigarette and no lighter might ask: "have you
fire?" instead of "do you have light?"
2.
Overgeneralization: A second cause of mistake is when learners think they
know a rule, but in fact they do not know quite enough. The learner can also make
up a rule that is simply wrong itself. E.g. "he growed up in Canada" or "your room is
more tider than mine"
3.
Thirdly, people may say things that they know are not correct because this is
still their best chance of getting their message across. This is another intelligent use
of knowledge about things in order to communicate.
4.
Fourthly, mistakes can happen because someone is in a hurry or tired or
thinking about something lese. There are differences between mistakes made by
native speakers and mistakes made by learners, but slips of the tongue or of the
pen are found in everyones English.
Its quite easy to think of possible causes of mistakes that learners make when
speaking a foreign language, but it is very difficult indeed to say in anyones case
exactly what causes a particular mistake to occur. (EDGE, J. Mistakes and correction,
Longman 1989; GOWER, R., PHILLIPS, D., WALTERS, S., Teaching Practise Handbook,
Heinemann, 1995)
5. Ortographic mistakes
[ http://www.mailxmail.com/...curso-errores-que-hacemos-aprender-ingles/ortographic-mistakes]
1. "The people is"
In Spanish, the Spaniards make concordance between the noun and the verb. The
noun "people" is used in singular in Spanish so this is why they use the verb in
singular.
In general, this kind of mistakes can be caused by the influence of the first
languages structure. They also try to apply a rule of English "noun + verb" which is
not correct because the verb is not making English concordance.
To correct this problem, this exercise can be suggested in order to practise "people
+ verb in plural" or "person + verb in singular". After having done this exercise, the
student will be able to acquire the rule.
Exercise: filling the gaps using the correct form of the verb
There is a house in the country where people _____________ (to be) very happy.
One person _________ (to be) sitting on the floor.
Three people _________ (to eat) tomatoes in my house.
I go to a club where people _________ (to play) tennis.
People in Slovakia _________ (to speak) Slovak.
2. "The car red"
The Spaniards always put the adjective after the noun. This is why they make this
mistake in English where this rule doesnt apply. We can say that this mistake is
caused by the mother tongue interference. But sometimes the student hasnt
acquired the rule and s/he uses this structure because its the best chance of
getting his/her message across. Several exercises can be used in order to correct
this problem. We can also use tapes as a good resource to help the students to place
the adjective in a correct way.
Exercise: Make sentences using these words
- car/father/has/my/a/red
- I/wonderful/live/a/house/in
- wears/blue/my brother/T-shirt/a
- men/black/use/umbrellas
- music/I/modern/listen to
You went to England?
The Spaniards always use two question marks when asking (one at the beginning
and the other one at the end) and they dont use auxiliaries when asking. This is
why they make these mistakes - because of the mother tongue interference. At the
same time the Spaniards dont use auxiliaries when answering because they dont
have them in Spanish and they usually answer using the same verb as the one used
in the question. E.g. "do you go to London? Yes, I go."
To correct these problems, the following exercises should be done:
Yes, I do.
No, I dont.
Complete the sentences with the correct auxiliary according to the answer.
In this case they use "constipated" meaning "having a cold" because the word in
Spanish referring to "have a cold" is similar: constipado.
To solve this problem students just have to memorize the meaning of the word.
6. Phonetic mistakes
[ http://www.mailxmail.com/curso-errores-que-hacemos-aprender-ingles/phonetic-mistakes]
Most of the phonetic mistakes are caused for two reasons C either because some
sounds dont exist in Spanish or because they pronounce every word in the same way
as its written.
The following sounds do not occur or are pronounced differently in Spanish:
a). /b-/v/. The Spaniards dont make differences between the voiced sound /b/ and
voiceless /v/ because in Spanish they pronounce both as voiceless. E.g. very, button
C the same sound in Spanish language.
To correct the problem with /b/ and /v/, students can do the following exercises.
Before that, the teacher has to explain that one of them is bilabial(b) and the other
one is labiodental (v).
Listen to the teacher and repeat these words:
Vacation
button
vomit
basket
Very
cover
problem
verb
Listen to the tape and put a tick to the word you hear:
Vine__
Labial___
Bad____ Very____
Job___
Watch and listen to the film and write down same words with the sound /b/ and /v/.
b). / /-/s/. The Spaniards dont have the sound /s / and it is a little bit difficult for
them to pronounce words with this sound. To differentiate /s/ and / / students can
do this exercise.
Listen to the teacher and repeat these words:
Shower
vacation
Graduation
shoes
shock
question
Listen to the tape and put a tick on the word you hear:
Question___ vacation ___ special___ science ____
Shock__---_ space ____condition____ some____
c). /dz/ - /h/ The Spaniards dont have these sounds in their mother tongue. For
them its very difficult to produce these sounds. E.g. just, luggage /dz/, history,
honey /h/.
To produce the sound /dz/ in a correct way the following exercises can be done.
Listen to the teacher and repeat these words:
sandwich
Luggage
pigeon
job
jog
percentage
cage
Listen to the tape and put a tick on the word you hear:
Just ____ jump ____ garage ____ pyjama _____ cabbage ____ jumper ___
Watch and listen to the film and write down some words with the sound /dz/.
2. The Spanish pronounce every word in the same way as its written. E.g.women C
they say /women/ instead of /wimin/.Bird C they say /bi:d/ instead of /b3: d/.
Table C they say /table/ instead of /teibl/.
To correct this reading/pronunciation problems, this exercise can be done:
Listen to the tape and choose the appropriate form:
Woman- /wimin/-/wman/.
Layer- /leja /-/lajer/.
Philosophy- /filosafi/- /pilosopi/
Bird- /bi:d/-/b3:d/.
Moreover, they also tend to pronounce an e before the s at the beginning of the words
starting with s to make easier their pronunciation. E.g. Spanish-espanish.
Small-esmall. Spell-espell.
To correct this problem these exercise can be done:
Listen and repeat these words:
Spain
Slovak
Spell
Spoon
Ski
Sweater
Spanish
Small
10
7. Conclusion
[ http://www.mailxmail.com/curso-errores-que-hacemos-aprender-ingles/conclusion]
To conclude, everyone can agree with me that making mistakes is a part of learning.
Obviously, both the teacher and the student would rather they didnt make
mistakes but we can say that its nearly impossible to learn a foreign language
without making them.
To sum up, students have to realize that mistakes are necessary, acceptable, and
will be corrected in a non-judgmental, supportive and effective way.
However, students have to accept mistakes as a part of learning process as well as
try to avoid them in future situations.
11
8. Bibliography
[ http://www.mailxmail.com/curso-errores-que-hacemos-aprender-ingles/bibliography]
BARTRAM, M and WALTON, R: Correction (Language Teaching Publications, 1991)
ISBN: 09067 17914.
EDGE, J: Mistakes and Correction (Longman, 1989) ISBN:05827 46264.
GADUSOV, Z and HAR?ANSK, J: Methodology of Teaching English as a Foreign
Language (Anthology of Methodological Text, 1994).
GOWER, R, PHILLIPS, D and WALTERS, S: Teaching Practice Handbook (Heinemann,
1995) ISBN: 04352 40595.
HUBBARD, P, TONES, H, THORNTON, B and WHEELER, R: A Training Course for TEFL
(Oxford University Press, 1983) ISBN: 01943 27108.
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