A reading test and three cloze tests (English, health, and social studies passages with fifth/sixth grade readability levels) were administered to 410 ninth grade students to study the relationship between cloze errors and reading ability. Six types of incorrect responses were considered: synonymous, syntactically acceptable but semantically…

Two studies on the phonology of Spanish spoken by Cubans in the United States are critically analyzed. The studies are: "Markedness and a Cuban Dialect of Spanish," by Jorge M. Guitart, and "Some Theoretical Implications from Rapid Speech Phenomena in Miami-Cuban Spanish," by Robert M. Hammond. The methodologies of Hammond and Guitart are…

This paper discusses the use of error analysis by teachers of English as a second language and suggests that error analysis should be used in regular composition courses as well. Teachers who use error analysis emphasize learning from one's mistakes rather than simply drilling to eliminate mistakes; they use errors as clues to the cognitive…

This paper discusses the concept of error in the learning of the phonology of a second language and argues that the concept of error must be viewed as a positive element, an initiation of the process of successive approximations toward the correct phonetic realization. Based on the idea that interference between two languages generates a…

This paper discusses the problem of how to deal effectively with students' errors from the perspective of Error Analysis. Basic aspects of the theory such as "interlanguage,""learning strategies" and "the interpretation of errors" are introduced; and empirical data from child language learning studies are presented to support the underlying…

The development of an interactive error analysis system for a highly interactive programing language compiler is explored. A project is underway at the University of Illinois to automate the teaching of elementary computer science programing language courses by utilizing the PLATO IV interactive computer system. One goal of the project is to…

Examines errors made by English speakers learning German and, in attempting to find sources for them, contrasts certain phenomena of German and English grammar. The phenomena in question are cleft sentences and the treatment of case. (TL)

Shows how third graders' error patterns on a reading test related to their cognitive styles. Suggests corrective teaching strategies to follow such categorization and analysis. (RL)

A description of language acquisition and second language learning by adults in terms of method and achievement. Some socio-psychological and neurophysiological reasons for the possible differences between children and adults are briefly discussed. There is a sizable bibliography. (AMH)

Describes the phonology, grammar and semantics of Technical English in India. Interference from the mother tongue and from Common English is also discussed. (KM)

A pilot study is described which illustrates a methodology that can be used in determining the relative importance of different error types according to evaluations made by native speakers and presents preliminary results concerning the relative importance attached by native German teenagers to errors committed in German by English speakers. (SW)

A brief discussion of the role of contrastive linguistics and transformational generative grammar in studying transfer and interference in language learning. The base language is not necessarily the mother tongue. It is the language known by the learner which most closely resembles the new language being learned. (AMH)

Predictions were derived from the assumption that the vocabulary store underlying the auditory analysis of verbal stimuli is organized as an acoustic space rather than as a lexicon (tree) or collection. The relationship between frequency of occurrence in the language and frequency of occurrence as an error is low. (Author/SW)

Authors present a critical, historical overview of research on second-language acquisition. Outlines four analytical approaches--contrastive, error, performance, and discourse analysis--traces the shifts among these approaches, and demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of each. Also shows how the different approaches reflect changing…

Examines the listening comprehension of English-as-a-second-language learners by answering the following questions: (1) How do learners acquire information when repeatedly exposed to the same material? and (2) What influence will dictation practice exert on and to what degree is dictation practice related to the acquisition of meaning? (SED)