When Language Transfer is Negative

This paper analyses morpho-syntactic interference errors committed by learners of French as a foreign language in four Tanzanian universities: UDSM, UDOM, DUCE and Makumira. The paper has three specific objectives: (i) to identify morpho-syntactic interference errors, (ii) to account for their sources and (iii) to recommend a corrective treatment. The study included a total of 61 respondents. The data was collected through learners’ written texts in French from which a corpus was developed. The study was guided by the interlanguage theory and the error analysis approach. Data analysis was qualitative. The findings reveal that errors included the use of nouns with English origins (18.87%), omission of prepositions (36.79%) and absence of determiners (44.34%). The findings further show that these errors are due to previously acquired or learned languages: Swahili, ethnic community languages and English. Different recommendations are given following the findings. As regards the use of definite and indefinite articles in French, teachers should provide a guided reading of different French texts through which learners will be able to understand how articles are used. To master the use of prepositions, teachers should encourage learners to read a variety of texts in French as this can make them understand and internalize the different prepositions. Moreover, through regular exercises on word formation in French, learners may be able to familiarize themselves with French nouns, hence internalizing their forms. Finally, the learning of French nouns should be done in context.

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Analysis of French grammatical gender errors committed by learners in Tanzanian universities

Journal for Foreign Languages ◽

10.4312/vestnik.11.65-86 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 65-86

Author(s):

Jonace Manyasa

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Error Analysis ◽

College Of Education ◽

Grammatical Gender ◽

Dar Es Salaam ◽

Analysis Approach ◽

Definite Article ◽

Indefinite Article ◽

Written Texts ◽

The Feminine

This paper analyses the grammatical gender errors committed by learners of French as a foreign language in four Tanzanian universities: UDSM, UDOM, DUCE and Makumira (University of Dar es Salaam, University of Dodoma, Dar es Salaam University College of Education and Makumira University). The paper has three specific objectives: (i) to identify grammatical gender errors, (ii) to account for their sources and (iii) to propose a corrective treatment. The study included a total of 61 respondents. The data was collected through learners' written texts in French from which a corpus was developed. The study was guided by the error analysis approach and interlanguage theory. The data was analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings show that grammatical gender errors were found with regard to the masculine definite article (29.73%), the feminine definite article (24.32%), the masculine indefinite article (22.97%), the feminine indefinite article (16.22%) and possessive adjectives (6.76%). These findings show there is a need to help learners of French as a foreign language in the context of Tanzania using the recommended strategies.

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Fossilized Use of Active and Passive Simple Present by Iraqi M.A. Students

10.31235/osf.io/9b3hc ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Nawal Fadhil Abbas ◽

Lina Laith Younus ◽

Huda Hadi Khalil

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Foreign Language ◽

Error Analysis ◽

Language Learners ◽

English Language ◽

Current Problem ◽

College Of Education ◽

Language Transfer ◽

Foreign Language Learners ◽

Master Of Arts

Interlanguage fossilization is a crucial dilemma that foreign language learners may fall in. The problem of the present study is shown clearly in the answers of Iraqi students of Master of Arts in the College of Education for Women University of Baghdad. In spite of all the previous years of studying English language, some still have the problem of fossilized active and passive simple present tense. The present study aims at shedding light on the reasons behind the Iraqi students’ problem. An error analysis is applied to critically examine the students’ answers in their final course exam of two courses namely; pragmatics and discourse analysis. Depending on Selinker’s model (1972) of error analysis, students errors are all traced back to the language transfer of their native language. Among the results of analysis the researchers have arrived at a suitable solution for the current problem embodied by Sharwood’s Consciousness-Raising Approach (1981). It is recommended as a psycholinguistic model for defossilization. It is very suitable for mentally matured learners and help to solve the dilemma.

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Avoidance of Phrasal Verbs—A Case for Contrastive Analysis

Studies in Second Language Acquisition ◽

10.1017/s0272263100005167 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 73-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Menachem Dagut ◽

Batia Laufer

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Error Analysis ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Negative Transfer ◽

Teaching Experience ◽

Analysis Approach ◽

Learning Difficulty ◽

Contrastive Analysis ◽

Phrasal Verbs ◽

Group Structures

Schachter (1974) drew attention to the importance, in error analysis, of examining not only the L2 forms actually produced by the learners of a foreign language in their attempts to express themselves in L2, but also the L2 forms they seem consistently to avoid using. She also noted the close interrelation between such avoidance phenomena and the Contrastive Analysis approach to L2 teaching and learning: avoidance is the reverse side of negative transfer, since learners tend to avoid using in L2 those structures that have no parallel in their L1 and therefore provide them with no pattern for transfer. Of course, as Kleinmann (1977) has pointed out, “avoidance” implies that the structure in question is known to (i.e., can be passively recognized by) the learners, but not freely used by them; failure to use a structure or word that is unknown to the learners is an indication merely of ignorance, not of learning difficulty. Now a prime constructive purpose of error analysis is (or should be) to identify the sources of a learner's difficulties, as a necessary preliminary to helping him or her overcome them. Hence the importance of genuine avoidance phenomena that, when properly identified, can throw light on what would otherwise remain hidden recesses of uncertainty in the learner's mind. Levenston (1971) has convincingly argued, with numerous illustrations, that avoidance (“under-representation” in his terminology) of various English “clause (or group) structures” by Hebrew-speaking learners of English can be explained by the lack of Hebrew “translation-equivalents” for the English structures in question and the learners' consequent choice of less appropriate but more L1-equivalent structures. However, since Levenston was concerned not with avoidance phenomena as such, but rather with the evidence they provide of L1 interference with L2 learning and their stylistic effect on the learner's L2, he took the phenomena in question as established facts (on the basis, presumably, of his own teaching experience), without attempting to examine their frequency and extent.

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Interlanguage of Error Analysis on Students Writing in Covid-19 Pandemic Era

Proceeding of International Conference on Language Pedagogy (ICOLP) ◽

10.24036/icolp.v1i1.46 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 240-246

Author(s):

Winda Siska Perwana Harahap

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Error Analysis ◽

Transfer Of Training ◽

Writing Process ◽

Sampling Technique ◽

Target Language ◽

Language Transfer ◽

English Learning ◽

Face To Face ◽

Language Data

This study aims to investigate the interlanguage of error analysis production on students writing. In writing process, there are general problem that occur such error from the interlanguage. This problem certainly getting worse during this Covid -19 pandemic era where the students only have limited direct or face to face English learning for one hour per week. Interlanguage is language used by second or foreign language when prosess of learning the target language. Data collected through documentation technique. The sample was taken using purposive sampling technique. There were five students as the sample. The framework of interlanguage and error analysis was applied in the process of data analysis. The results of this study indicate that the interlanguage of the students is influenced by 78% of language transfer, 10.5%of transfer of training and 10.5%of overgeneralization.

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Interferences in Writing Skills Performance of BA Students Enrolled in Norwegian Didactics

Nordic Journal of Language Teaching and Learning (formerly NJMLM) ◽

10.46364/njltl.v9i2.895 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 51-65

Author(s):

Raluca Pop

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Error Analysis ◽

Writing Skills ◽

Foreign Language Teaching ◽

Student Feedback ◽

Instructional Materials ◽

Language Transfer ◽

Teaching Language ◽

Different Types ◽

To Receive

This article investigates different types of language errors performed in a written summative exam by ten BA students enrolled in an elective Norwegian Didactics course in Romania. The corpus comprising the students’ exam papers was analysed qualitatively to identify various types of errors. The theoretical model suggested by Gass & Selinker (1994) was used to discuss issues of error analysis. A survey was then conducted to receive student feedback on the reported errors in the texts. Findings indicate that students make both inter-lingual and intra-lingual errors and that error analysis can be helpful when designing L2 Norwegian instructional materials. Keywords: error analysis, foreign language teaching, language transfer, language distance, writing skills, Norwegian, Romanian.

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The Social Media Neologisms: A Case Study of Facebook Users in Kenya.

Editon Consortium Journal of Literature and Linguistic Studies ◽

10.51317/ecjlls.v3i1.231 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 204-212

Author(s):

Vitalis Kandie

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Data Analysis ◽

Social Networking ◽

Word Formation ◽

Analysis Approach ◽

Formation Processes ◽

Speech Community ◽

Vast Number ◽

Translation Error ◽

The Social

This study sought to investigate the Kenyan generated neologisms as used in social media. This study was informed by the fact that human language is a dynamic and an ever-changing phenomenon only stable in performing its communicative function. The researcher conducted a Facebook survey as a representation of other social networking channels. The researcher purposely sampled 50 neologisms of Kenyan origin on Facebook and thereafter, using a descriptive qualitative data analysis approach, made a description of one of the commonest sites of social networking in Kenya, people from various walks of life engage on a litany of matters concerning their lives, be it political, socio-economic or even personal. Facebook was chosen explicitly for its wider outreach among Kenyans in comparison to other social networking channels. 50 neologisms belonging to Kenyan origin were purposively sampled on Facebook aftermath; a descriptive method of data analysis approach was used, to make a description of the word-formation processes, which are involved in their generation. A vast number of neologisms on Facebook belonging to Kenyan origin could be identified and documented by the study, most of them laced with a local flavour. Furthermore, the study analysed the word-formation processes that were involved in their development. Some of the neologisms with Kenyan origin documented in this study are; uhunye, saitan, isorait amongst others while some of the most common word formation processes employed include; loan translation, error, compounding and others. This study advocates for research on how words and expressions from indigenous Kenyan languages are being adopted in multicultural discourse among the diverse members of the Kenyan speech community through social media and general cross-cultural interactions.

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Transfer in related Slavic languages

Acta Universitatis Lodziensis Kształcenie Polonistyczne Cudzoziemców ◽

10.18778/0860-6587.27.03 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 81-92

Author(s):

Marta Pančíková ◽

Alexander Horák

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Teaching Methods ◽

Negative Transfer ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Word Formation ◽

Positive Transfer ◽

Language Transfer ◽

Slavic Languages ◽

Long Time ◽

The Impact

In the field of teaching Polish as a foreign language, transfer plays a major role. Positive transfer helps the users of closely related Slavic languages learn more quickly, while negative transfer should be closely monitored. Intercomprehension is a phenomenon which consists of guessing the meanings of related words and linguistic forms, and the ability to quickly understand languages which are closely related to the mother tongue of learners; in other words, it is a case of positive transfer. Intercomprehension in teaching related languages is directly associated with the phenomenon of language transfer. In the practice of teaching Polish as a non-native language in Slovakia and Czechia, teaching methods related to intercomprehension, including a contrast-based approach, have been applied for a long time. However, more focus has always been placed on negative transfer. In this article we provide examples of the impact of transfer, usually negative, at several linguistic planes in learning Polish by Slovaks and Slovak by Poles. The first author indicates two planes, those of inflection and syntax, using examples from the works of Polish students; the second author discusses the problems associated with lexis and indicates three planes: those of word formation, lexis, and style. Their discussions indicate that similarities help master a language more quickly and how important highlighting the differences for learners is.

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