東京家政学院筑波女子大学紀要第３集 203 ∼ 216ページ 1999 年

Error Analysis to Understand Your Students Better

Mariko MIYAO

Abstract

Teachers wonder why their students often have trouble understanding the meaning
of simple reading materials in English. Students themselves are not very helpful for the
teacher to understand their problems as they do not usually voice their questions in
class. In this case study, the author examines the kind of comprehension errors her
junior college level students tend to make, and tries to find any patterns or tendencies in
those errors. Also, some comparisons between reading comprehension errors and
production errors will be made to find if there are any similarities and differences in
those two areas. The purpose of this case study is to help the teacher better understand
the nature and the causes of the errors her students tend to make so that their problems
can be dealt with more effectively in the classroom.

keywords: error analysis, reading comprehension errors, production errors

1. Introduction

Have you ever wondered why your students often have trouble understanding very simple
reading passages? While your goal is to train them to grasp the overall meaning of reading
materials, they instead are stuck with such local problems as unknown vocabulary or unfamiliar
sentence structure. To make the situation even worse, they seldom ask questions voluntarily to
help you understand their problems; compared to production errors which can be understood by
reading what they write or listening to what they speak, reading comprehension errors are much
more difficult for the teacher to detect unless they ask questions or the teacher reads
misinterpreted passages in their native language.
In order to find a solution to their reading comprehension problems, the author occasionally
assigns her students to submit written questions. To gather correct data, students are encouraged
to explain exactly what prevents them from understanding a particular passage. By reading and
analyzing their problems, the teacher can often find how and why they reach a certain problem.
Many students share similar problems which the teacher fails to detect until reading their

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explanations.
This case study provides (1) the method of collecting data from students to reveal their
reading comprehension problems, (2) the analysis to find certain patterns or tendencies in those
comprehension errors, and (3) how to correct the errors effectively on the basis of the error
analysis. The paper also discusses some similarities and differences between reading and writing
errors by comparing data gathered in actual reading and writing activities.

1.2 Rationale
What is the definition of errors? Corder (1974) categorizes errors of performance as mistakes,
and the systematic errors of the learner or his transitional competence as errors(p.25).
Richards and Sampson (1974) claim that “errors should not be viewed as problems to be
overcome, but rather as normal and inevitable features indicating the strategies that learners use”
(p. 4). However, language teachers are not always aware of why and how students misinterpret
certain reading passages. Unlike production errors, the teacher is often unable to notice his or her
students’ errors because students would not ask questions or do not realize they are misunder-
standing a passage.
The purpose of this error analysis is, therefore, to find “what the learner knows and does not
know” and to “ultimately enable the teacher to supply him, not just with the information that his
hypothesis is wrong, but also, importantly, with the right sort of information or data for him to
form a more adequate concept of a rule in the target language” (Corder, 1974, p.170).
For the role of the language teacher, Corder (1974) suggests that “we cannot really teach
language, we can only create conditions in which it will develop spontaneously in the mind in its
own way” (p. 27). And when we understand the way a learner learns, we can “adapt ourselves to
his needs rather than impose upon him our preconceptions of how he ought to learn, what he
ought to learn and when he ought to learn it” (Corder, 1974, p. 27).
As Richards and Sampson (1974) recommend, we should provide feedback of the knowledge
and understanding acquired from error analyses “to language teaching practice and to general
linguistic theory” (p. 14).

2. Method of Collecting Data

2.1 Errors in Textbook Reading

The subjects were 59 first-year students majoring in computer science at a junior college. The
data was collected in 1997 by asking them, as homework assignments in a general English course,
to list difficult sentences while reading a textbook. To acquire detailed information to grasp what
prevented them from understanding a particular passage, the students were asked to (1) write a
sentence which they felt was difficult, (2) guess the meaning or translate the sentence as best as
they could, and (3) explain the difficult portion that prevented them from understanding it.

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2.2 Errors in Authentic Material Reading

85 second-year students in an English word processing course were assigned to read authentic
materials such as newspaper job ads or English Web pages of their own choice. Although the
assignments were not primarily intended to gather the data for the error analysis, the students
were also asked to write down difficult sentences and possible reasons for the difficulty by
following the same format as in the textbook reading. Not all reports contained questions or
comprehension errors but some of them offered enough samples to analyze their problems in
reading authentic materials. Due to the time constraint, only the data collected in 1997 were used
for this case study although the previous year’s data were also available.

2.3 Production Errors

85 second-year students in the English word processing course mentioned above participated
in self-introduction activities offered as a pair work using e-mail. The author was able to read their
exchanges electronically because they sent her a copy each time they exchanged messages with
their peers. Only the data collected from a smaller sized class (30 students) were analyzed for the
current study because of the time constraint. In the future, it would be necessary for her to
analyze a larger sample in order to acquire more precise and concrete results.

3. Error Analysis on Reading Comprehension

Duskova (1983, p. 229) distinguished five major groups of errors in his study of reading
comprehension errors which were made by Czech adult learners of English at advanced level.
At first in this case study, the author tried to follow Duskova’s categorization to determine
which category was most suitable for a particular error. This task of grouping errors, however,
proved to be very difficult and confusing probably due to the unfamiliarity with both grammatical
categories and error analysis itself. Especially when an error seemed to be a combination of
syntactic, semantic and cultural errors, it was just not possible for her to classify the particular
error.
The purpose of this case study, however, is to find what problems students tend to have so that
the teacher can help them more effectively in the classroom. Therefore, some adjustments were
made to fit more comfortably for this case study. This categorization will probably need further
modifications when more data and knowledge regarding this issue are gained.
Two separate tables of comprehension error analysis were made, one for textbook reading and
another for the reading of authentic materials to compare if there were any different characteristics
between these two. (See Appendix A for the errors made while reading textbooks, and Appendix
B for the errors made while reading authentic materials.)
The following is the categorization of reading comprehension errors for this case study:

Table 1. Syntactic errors in constructions (that are different in English and Japanese)
Under this group, four examples in Appendix A are those of errors in relative clauses.

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Students study relative clauses in high school but many of them still have trouble understanding
the difference between relative clauses and wh-questions.
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1983) point out that students who are native speakers of
Japanese, Chinese, and Korean will have to grasp the fundamental ordering difference between
English and their native languages and also “Japanese students of ESL/EFL may require
additional practice with English relative pronouns in order for them to become comfortable in
using relative clauses” (p. 361).
Another problem is that many students find it difficult to tell which portion of a sentence
modifies which other portion (4, 5, and 6 in Appendix B, Table 1) as in the Table 2.

Table 2. Syntactic errors in constructions due to failure in dividing a sentence into meaningful
portions and/or following events in the correct sequence
Students often divide a sentence in a wrong place. For example in Appendix A (2 and 3 in
Table 2), they often become confused when encountering a sentence containing a dependent
clause, a ‘that’ clause with a long noun phrase, or a conditional clause.
In Appendix B, there are several typical examples of errors that will pass unnoticed unless
students ask questions or until the teacher reads a misinterpreted sentence in the mother tongue.
For example, one student misinterpreted an abbreviation mark as a period at the end of a sentence
by producing a completely different interpretation (Appendix B, Table 2, 1).

Table 3. Lexical errors occurred mostly with polysemic abstracts

Examples of sentences shown here are not particularly difficult or uncommon in English.
Therefore, the teacher may not even think of a possibility of their errors until checking their
translation. Appendix B has nine examples compared to the four examples of Appendix A.
Textbook reading is a graded activity but when reading authentic materials, students encounter
unknown vocabulary without any warning and sometimes without any background information.
When they encounter unknown vocabulary, students often pick the first definition of a word or
phrase they find in the dictionary without reading other definitions and examples. Berman (1984)
explains about this typical FL strategy as “the tendency to select one function for any given
grammatical formative,” and when they see another function in the text, “expectancies are not met
and comprehension is impeded” (p. 144). It is also true that many students are not trained “in how
to use the dictionary to best advantage” (Summers, 1988, p.123).
If your students do not know how to use their dictionaries, just telling them to use dictionaries
more often is not sufficient. You should set aside some time to teach them how to use their
dictionaries. Nowadays much attention is focused on communication skills and we tend to neglect
basic activities such as encouraging our students to use dictionaries more often and effectively.
“Dictionary use is a valid activity for foreign learners of English, both as an aid to comprehension
and production” (Summers, 1988, p. 111). We must, however, make them aware of the fact that
dictionary definitions often fail to convey the nuances of English because of their brevity, and “the
true number of meanings contained in those definitions will always be much higher” (Bryson,

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1990, p.151).

Table 4. Lexical errors misinterpreting word classes

This type of error occurs because the students have not acquired the working knowledge of
how English sentences are structured. These errors are not strictly of lexical type but often occur
with a lack of syntactic knowledge or when they do not pay attention to the syntax. For instance,
the clause “fact is stranger than fiction” (Appendix A, Table 4, 1.) is in a typical comparative form.
But when consulting the dictionary, they see the entry of a noun, ‘stranger,’ and assume this is the
meaning of the word even though a countable noun should have an article before it, or ‘than’
usually follows an adjective in a comparative form.

Table 5. Lexical errors misinterpreting within a word class

Appendix B has two examples of misinterpreting the proper noun as the common noun even
though the noun is spelled with a capital letter. Some students are not aware of the difference
between common nouns and proper nouns even though they must have learned it in high school.

Table 6. Lexical errors involving cultural misunderstanding

Appendix A has one example. By seeing the two phrases, ‘the freezing point’ and ‘32 degrees,’
a student assumed that it was about 32 degrees below the freezing point in Celsius because in
Japan the temperature is measured in Celsius and never in Fahrenheit. The data collected for this
case study is just too small. It would be interesting if there were more examples in this category.

Table 7. Lexical errors caused by formal similarity of words

There are two examples only in Appendix B even though Duskova’s study has 34 examples.
The reading materials read by the subjects of this case study are not as difficult and advanced as
the ones Duskova’s subjects read. If the students continue to read more advanced reading
materials, this type of error may increase.

Table 8. Common/colloquial expressions in English which are unknown for the learners
There is no example in Appendix A. On the other hand, Appendix B has seven examples.
When reading authentic materials, students cannot choose what they are faced with (Duskova,
1983, p. 231). Rather simple colloquial expressions are often very difficult for learners of EFL
because they are not exposed to such idiomatic expressions unlike learners of ESL.

Table 9. Errors in the text

Only Appendix B has some examples. This grouping was made just to find out what students
may face when they read real-life authentic materials such as Web pages. The size of the data
collected was too small to show any significant trends.

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4. Comparison between reading and writing errors

Typical production errors are of production or distribution of verb groups (Table 1 in Appendix
C). This type of error is very puzzling because students learn, from the day one at school, the
correct forms of verb phrases. In his article, Richards (1974) offers some insights to the puzzled
teachers by expressing his doubt about a teaching method, ‘contrastive-based teaching,’ which, he
claims, gives “excessive attention to points of difference at the expense of realistic English” (p.
179).
Richards (1974) explains that a frequent way of introducing the simple and continuous forms
to establish the contrast is false to English (p. 179). He continues to explain that when the past is
introduced, students may draw an analogy that was and was + ing are past markers and produce
such sentences as ‘he was climbed the tree ’ (p. 180).
,’ or ‘I was going downtown yesterday
As you can see from this error example, students often acquire a wrong analogy. And some of
their analogies may be due to our teaching. We should certainly be aware of this potential
problem when teaching our students certain grammatical functions by contrast. Richards (1974)
also insists that “a safer strategy for instruction is to minimize opportunities for confusion by
selecting non-synonymous contexts for related words, by treating them at different times, and by
avoiding exercises based on contrast and transformation” (p. 181). This precaution can be
applicable to teaching reading as well as writing because students may acquire a wrong analogy
while learning to read although we do not realize about it until we see their production errors.
Many other examples of typical production errors have a direct influence from the mother
tongue of Japanese. For instance, in Japanese we tend to omit possessive adjectives, or do not
distinguish between singular and plural forms as in English. We omit articles whenever possible.
You will also notice that some errors occur because the learners have not learned the word order
and sentence structure of English language properly.
Production errors and comprehension errors are often different because “recognition of a form
is much easier than its production” (Duskova, 1983, p. 239). However, both types of errors occur
mostly because learners are not familiar with the structure of the target language, and quite often
the mother tongue influences comprehension and production abilities of learners. But if the
teacher is aware of the typical errors his students tend to make and what causes those errors to
happen, he can prepare himself better in teaching and helping students solve their problems.

5. Conclusion

To close this case study, this writer would like to quote a passage from a book, “Mother
Tongue,” in which Bryson (1990) mentions that “on the strength of dictionary definitions alone a
foreign visitor to your home could be excused for telling you that you have an abnormal child, that
your wife’s cooking is exceedingly odorous, and that your speech at a recent sales conference was
laughable, and intend nothing but the warmest praise” (p. 150). From this passage, we realize that
it is actually very difficult for EFL learners to choose right words at all occasions.

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Bryson persuades us that actual meanings of words, phrases, or sentences cannot be derived
directly from dictionary definitions alone. Then, how can learners of EFL tell the difference in the
nuances of the key words in the above quotation? Often the dictionary is the only source for them
except their teachers. We must therefore understand that without a teacher, the dictionary would
be the only means for them to rely on, as they do not have the same background knowledge as
native speakers do. We tend to forget this fact and assume our students are just lazy when they
fail to understand some English passages or make seemingly very simple mistakes in producing
English. If we are more aware of what our students must go through when learning English, then
we can be more efficient and helpful when teaching them in the classroom.

References

Berman, R. A. (1984). Syntactic components of the foreign language reading process. In J. C.

Alderson & A. H. Urquhart (Eds.), Reading in a Foreign Language(pp. 139_159). New
York: Longman.
Bryson, B. (1990). Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way
. New York: Avon Books.
Celce-Murcia, M. & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1983). The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher’s
Course. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Corder, S. P. (1974). The Significance of Learners’ Errors. In Jack C. Richards (Ed.), Error
(pp. 19_27). London: Longman.
Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition
Corder, S. P. (1974). Idiosyncratic Dialects and Error Analysis. In Jack C. Richards (Ed.), Error
(pp. 158_171). London: Longman.
Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition
Duskova, Libuse. (1983). On Sources of Errors in Foreign Language Learning. In B. W. Robinett
& J. Schachter (Eds.), Second Language Learning: Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis,
and Related Aspects(pp. 215_239). Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Richards, J. C. (1974). A Non-Contrastive Approach to Error Analysis. In J. C. Richards (Ed.),
(pp. 172_188). London:
Error Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition
Longman.
Richards, J. C., & Sampson, G. P. (1974). The Study of Learner English. In J. C. Richards (Ed.),
(pp. 3_18). London:
Error Analysis: Perspectives on Second Language Acquisition
Longman.
Summers, D. (1988). The role of dictionaries in language learning. In R. Carter & M. McCarthy
(Eds.), Vocabulary and Language Teaching(pp. 111_125). New York: Longman.

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APPENDIX A
Errors in Reading Comprehension (Textbook)
TABLE 1. Syntactic errors in constructions (that are different in English and Japanese)

1. “Just drop by, and you can hear Chinese dialects, inspect chinaware, . . . .” (Misinterpret-
ing the imperative mood (for invitation/suggestion) as a declarative clause, furarito
tachiyoru, soshite)
2. “He will fight men who are twice his size . . . with women who will not pay any attention to
him.” (Translation in the future tense does not sound natural in Japanese.)
3. “Only when he completes his walkabout is he accepted as an adult member of his tribe.”
((1) Misinterpreting the word ‘only.’ (2) Dividing the sentence in a wrong place (after
‘walkabout is’) (3) Failing to understand the rule of a conditional sentence and
subject/verb inversion in the main clause.)
4. Relative clauses:
4.1 “They have a custom called a ‘walkabout,’ which is a survival test given to a young boy of
thirteen or fourteen.” (Translating by (1) dividing the sentence into two complete
sentences or (2) using ‘and’-conjunction plus ‘it’ in stead of ‘which’.)
4.2 “. . . because this is the time when he must show how truly strong he is.” (Translating as
(1) “I used to do . . . in the past.” or (2) “This is the reason (why) he must show how
truly strong he is.”)
4.3 “That is why people wonder if the world will be able to produce enough food for everyone
on this earth.” (Unable to understand the relation between ‘why’ and ‘wonder if.’)
4.4 “He must find a water hole where he can get water to drink.” (Translating as “He must
find a water hole so that he can get water to drink, mizu wo nomu tameni .)
5. “The mouse, hearing the roar, rushed to the lion to help him.” (Unsure about the function
of the -ing adverbial clause

TABLE 2. Syntactic errors in constructions due to failure in dividing a sentence into

meaningful portions and/or following events in the correct sequence
1. “A church worker had lighted a hanging oil lamp and left before the student came in.”
(Translating by (1) omitting ‘left before’ and inserting ‘then’ or (2) omitting ‘and left.’
Misinterpreting ‘left’ as the noun.)
2. “The news didn’t say what had brought him there or where his parents were when this
strange incident happened.” (Failing to understand that the underlined clause is a
dependent clause linking to ‘where his parents were.’)
3. “He must learn how to make a fire, how to cook, and how to find the next water hole where
he can get some water to drink and rest.” (Failing to understand the clause is a dependent
clause and dividing the sentence into two sentences to translate.)
4. “Anyway, Mikey decided, at 3:30 in the morning, that the bed he had been sleeping in was
not as comfortable as the one he had at his home.” (Unable to translate the clause after
‘that’ and feeling that the sentence is too long and complicated.)
5. “This is why the bridge there is called . . . “ (Misunderstanding that ‘there’ and ‘is’ are one
unit.)
6. “Only when he completes his walkabout is he accepted as an adult member of his tribe.”
(Dividing the sentence after ‘walkabout is’ and misunderstanding the latter part as “he
accepted (whom?) as an adult member of his tribe.”)

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TABLE 3. Lexical errors occurred mostly with polysemic abstracts

1. “Fresh seafood is available not only in fancy restaurants but also on busy streets.” (Misun-
derstanding ‘available’ as yakudatsu (useful, helpful) instead of tenihairu (accessible).)
2. “You have probably seen at least one or two of Charlie Chaplin’s films, I am sure.”
(Misunderstanding ‘I am sure’ at the end of a sentence as hontouni (definitely, really).)
3. “He put on not only his clothes but also gloves and overcoat.” (Misunderstanding the verb
phrase as oita (placed something on somewhere).
4. “The city has many steep hills and they make its cable cars a practical means of transporta-
tion as well as a unique attraction for tourists.” (Misinterpreting ‘unique’ as ‘only.’)

TABLE 4. Lexical errors misinterpreting word classes

1. “Fact is stranger than fiction, says a proverb.” (Misinterpreting ‘stranger’ as the noun.)
2. “He used the regular beat of his pulse to time the movement of the weights.”
(Misinterpreting ‘time’ as the noun.)
3. “A church worker had lighted a hanging oil and l e f t before the student came in.”
(Misinterpreting ‘left’ as the noun (the left side).)
4. “This is why the bridge there is called . . .” (Misinterpreting ‘why’ as the wh-question
word.)
5. “This was what had happened to little Mikey whose age was only four.” (Misinterpreting
‘what’ as the wh-question word. Translation: “This was about: What had happened to little
Mikey whose age was only four?”)

TABLE 5. Lexical errors misinterpreting within a word class (No example)

TABLE 6. Lexical errors involving cultural misunderstanding

1. “If you know that the freezing point is 32 degrees F, you can imagine how cold it was, can’t
you?” (Misinterpreting the portion as “32 degrees below the freezing point (in Celsius).

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APPENDIX B
Errors in Reading Comprehension (Authentic Materials)
TABLE 1. Syntactic errors in constructions (that are different in English and Japanese)
1. “Let’s find out what all the excitement is about!” (Failing to understand that ‘about’ links to
‘what.’)
2. “Agent needed for an American glass artist who is a national living treasure to develop.”
(Translating “Agent (is) needed” as “Agent needs an American . . .”)
3. “A personalized birth announcement is included in the see-through delivery pouch.”
(Unable to understand which is the subject or the predicate. Translation: “By looking at
the birthday through the delivery pouch, (someone) reports including (the fact of) having
seen through.”)
4. “Because of his size and the company he keeps, Woodstock is an accident waiting to
happen.” (Translation: “While Woodstock is waiting for something to happen, there is
some coincidence.”)
5. “. . . you are guaranteed an unforgettable experience full of unexpected happenings.”
(Failing to understand that the portion modifies the preceding noun phrase. Translation:
“From happenings, you are guaranteed to (have) an unforgettable experience.”)
6. “Visitors to . . ., can experience . . . the magic of Disney in the nostalgia, fantasy and
adventure that awaits in this Kingdom of Dreams and Magic.” (Failing to understand
where the ‘that’-clause links to.)

TABLE 2. Syntactic errors in constructions due to failure in dividing a sentence into

meaningful portions and/or following events in the correct sequence

1. “Over 1 5 yrs. experience in all round accounting practices.” (Misinterpreting the

abbreviation mark after “yrs’ as the period and the portion as the age of a person.)
2. “Reliable native English, French and German teachers wanted for private lessons.”
(Misinterpreting that “n a t i v e’ modifies only ‘E n g l i s h ,’ and ‘French and German’ a r e
nationalities not languages.)
3. “The Walt Disney Classics Collection captures all of the magic and emotion of your favorite
Disney moments and brings them to life in an exclusive collection of fine animation art
sculptures.” (Unable to translate the underlined portion thinking it is too complicated and
long.)
4. “The large cake comes professionally sliced in 16 equal portions separated by pastry papers
. . . .” (Unable to find where to start translating by complaining that there are too many
verbs.)
5. “ . . ., reading with Pooh can mean hours of fun each and every day.” (Misinterpreting
‘each’ as ‘each person. Translation: “ . . . every day and each person can have fun and
meaningful hours.”)
6. “Because of his size and the company he keeps, Woodstock is an accident waiting to
happen.” (Misinterpreting the portion as “his large size which he protects and the friend
whom he protects”

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TABLE 3. Lexical errors occurred mostly with polysemic abstracts

1. “N a t i v e English Sp eak ers are urgently needed to teach English conversation.”

(Misinterpreting the word ‘native’ as sobokuna(simple, free from affectation).)
2. “University degree essential.” (Misinterpreting the word ‘degree’ as teido (extent, relative
intensity).)
3. “If these are the kinds of things that are rolling through your mind, here is the latest . . . .”
(Misunderstanding the verb ‘roll’ to mean that something actually rolls. Failing to read
other definitions.)
4. “Hello Kitty would love you to stay for tea!” (Translation: “Hello Kitty would love someone
who offers (or participate in) tea (or a tea party). (ochasuru = offer or participate in a tea
party))
5. “A seacoast Victorian-style house with a touch of b e a c h c o m b e r eclecticism . . . .”
(Misunderstanding ‘beachcomber’ as oonami (a big wave).)
6. “Just do it.” (Misinterpreting the word as choudo(exactly).)
7. “ ‘Get a life. Get a girlfriend. Get some hair.’ That’s Nate’s touching, sensitive advice . . . .”
(Misinterpreting ‘touching’ as awarena (pitiful, pathetic) and ‘sensitive’ as shinkeishitsuna
(oversensitive, easily offended).)
8. “There are also some co-sysops of this board, . . . .” (Misinterpreting ‘board’ as ita (flat
wood))
9. “Because of his size and the company he keeps, Woodstock is an accident waiting to
h a p p e n .” (Translated word ookisa implies ‘a large size’. ‘K e e p s’ was translated as
mamotteiru (protects).

TABLE 4. Lexical errors misinterpreting word classes

1. “Agent needed for an American glass artist who is a national living treasure to develop.”
(Misinterpreting ‘living’ as the noun, and ‘treasure’ as the verb; “who treasures the national
living.”)
2. “ . . . Goofy’s house is right at home next to Toon Lake.” (Misinterpreting ‘right’ as the
noun (migi meaning ‘a direction on the right side’; “Goofy’s house is on the right of and
next to Toon Lake”
3. “As kids read along with Pongo, Perdy, . . ., they get to move the story along by . . ., six
sing-alongs and hundreds of surprise animations.” (Misinterpreting ‘as’ as (kodomo-tachi)
no youni (just like kids). Misinterpreting ‘surprise animations’ as the noun and adjective
dougano odoroki(animation’s surprise).

TABLE 5. Lexical errors misinterpreting within a word class

1. “ . . . , Donald’s footprints can be found at M a n n’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.”

(Misinterpreting the proper noun phrase as the common noun phrase “a Chinese theater”
omitting “Mann’s.”
2. “There are also some co-sysops on this board, one being me (mornar) and the other being
Plague.” (Misinterpreting the proper noun as the common noun densenbyou(a contagious
disease).)

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TABLE 6 Lexical errors involving cultural misunderstanding (No example)

TABLE 7. Lexical errors caused by formal similarity of words

1. “University degree essential.” (Mistaking the word ‘university’ for ‘universality.’)

2. “There are also some co-sysops on this board, . . . .” (Translating ‘there are’ as ‘they are’
(sorera).)

TABLE 8. Common/colloquial expressions in English which are unknown for the learners

1. “Thanks for stopping by ! ”

2. “Just do it ! ”
3. “ . . ., she has a schoolgirl crush on Linus, her ‘Sweet Babboo’.”
4. “The Sysop of this BBS is Ronald, . . .” (Systems operator?)
5. “The most memorable, most magical Walt Disney World celebration ever is under way ! ”
6. “It’s been magically transformed into a 16-story birthday cake ! ”
7. “. . . the streets come alive every night . . .”
8. “Read along, sing along, and play interactive learning games ! ”
7. “Get a life. Get a girlfriend. Get some hair.” (Unable to translate even though the student
understood the following two sentences.)

TABLE 9. Errors in the text

1. “That is why in 1987 she decided to create a ligne of cosmetics and launched a perfume, ‘le
b.’.” (Typographical error for ‘line.’ Unable to translate)
2. “Her trademark is the red bow she always wears on her left car.” (The noun ‘ear’ came out
as ‘car’ because the home page was very lightly printed.)
3. “Vanessa Paradis images on this site were scanned by Maria Margarida Salvado Special
thanks to Miguel Gomes and Boys keep swinging.” (A period after ‘Salvado’ is missing.)
4. “The characteristic air grates and controls with m a s s i v, chromed m e s s i n g, the well
smelling Connolly-leather and shining timber-work are proverbial.” (‘e’ after ‘massiv’ is
missing. Also, no entry of a word ‘messing’ in dictionaries. (Maybe a term for an auto
part)

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 Mariko MIYAO ： Error Analysis to Understand Your Students Better

APPENDIX C
Errors on Production Level
TABLE 1. Errors in the production or distribution of verb groups
1. be + verb stemfor be + verb + ing(progressive):
I’m very tired. So I’m go home early. It is rain today.
2. have(+ not) + verb stemfor have (+ not) + verb + ed(present perfect):
Have you get a job? I havn’t (haven’t) never tell to company.
3. modal + wrong form of verbfor modal + verb stem:
So I can’t playing!!
4. to (Infinitive marker) omitted before verb stem(to-infinitive):
I like eat, too.
5. Errors in negation:
I think not enjoy. (I don’t think I enjoy it.) Because I dont like high school class.
I havn’t (haven’t) never tell to company. But I have not gotten a job, too.
6. do + not + verb for have + not + verb + ed(present perfect in negative mode):
And I don’t still dicide (decide) to work too. I don’t decide that what do I want.
7. Omission of beverb before adjective:
I absent from a part time job today.
8. Errors in tenses:
I try to tell to company today. I start it when I was 6 years old. (started)
I am living alone in Tsukuba. (live) I’m 20 years old soon. (I will be)
I’m playing it since I was high school student. (I have been playing)
9. Unnecessary insertion of another verb:
I like is water melon.

TABLE 2. Miscellaneous errors

1. Omission of possessive adjectives (e.g. my, her, your):

Because I dont like high school class. What did you do with boyfriend?
Sorry to short message!
2. Errors in using possessives:
Their’s song is very cute and pop. Have a nice your summer vacation.
I’m sorry I’m late your answering letter. ((for) answering (to) your letter)
3. therefor it:
I like Tokyo Disneyland. Do you like there?
4. noun phrase for adverb:
I work a part time job in “COCO’S”. (I work part-time . . .)
My summer vacation plan is working part-time job and going to the sea.
5. noun phrase for adjective:
Member is my part me job friends, about 20 peoples. (friends on the part-time job?)
Very very happiness. (happy)
6. adjective for noun:
But I hate sultry. (sultry/hot weather)

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東京家政筑波女子大紀要３ 1999

Table 3. Errors due to failure to observe singular/plural rules

My hobby is window-shopping and drive. My hobby is shopping and to go to the movie.
My hobby is listening to music and shopping. My hobby is cooking cake and doria.
My hobbies is listening to music and playing the clarinet. And what are your hobby?
Member is my part time job friends, about 20 peoples. I like sport.
All character is very pretty. (About Disney characters) I have many CD.

TABLE 4. Errors in the use of prepositions

1.1 to instead of for: This is very fun to me.
1.2 to instead of (none): I havn’t never tell to company.
I try to tell to company today.
I go to there on Thuseday (Tuesday).
1.3 to instead of about: Sorry to short message.
2.1 for instead of forward to. : I’m looking for your e-mail.
2.2 for instead of (none) or to: I answer for your question.
3.1 (none) instead of on : Do you go a trip? (Do you go on a trip?)
3.2 (none) instead of during : I will work summer vacation.
3.3 (none) instead of for : I’m waiting your replying. (for your reply)

TABLE 5. Errors in the use of articles

1. Omission of definite article (the) :
I havn’t (haven’t) never tell to company. I try to tell to company today.
2. Omission of indefinite article (a or an) :
It is rainy day today. I’m playing it since I was high school student.

TABLE 6. Errors in the use of questions

1. Omission of wh-question word:
Do you think the jounire colege(junior college)? (What do you think about the junior college?)
2. Omission of inversion:
What your hobby is?
3. Inversion in indirect question:
I don’t decide that what do I want. (what I want (to do))
4. Wrong form of auxiliary, or wrong form after auxiliary: Do you studying hard for the test?
What time do you working? (What time do you start working, how long, which day, etc.)
5. Errors in word order within a question:
What do you like fruits? What do you like music?

TABLE 7. Lexical errors (Confusion of related words with similar meaning)

My hobby is cooking cake and doria. (cookinginstead of baking)
. . . going to the sea. (the sea instead of the beach)

TABLE 8. Errors in expressing idioms

I’m looking forward to hear from soon. (forward to hearing from you soon)
I am looking forward to hear from for your letter.

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