The eleven essays in this book cover a wide range of topics from the role of 'interlanguage' and the influence of external factors on the process of language learning, to the development of syntax and the methodology of error analysis. Collectively they provide a valuable perspective on the learning process, which both enriches our theoretical understanding of the processes underlying second language acquisition and suggests ways in which teaching practice may best exploit a learner's skills.

The use of language, especially for second/third languages or foreign languages, is inseparable from errors in either oral or written use. In analyzing these language errors, the approach used is contrastively and non-contrastively. This book covers what is means by Error and Mistake, types of language learning errors such as Global and Local Error. In its taxonomies, errors observed in the acquisition of English as a second language as 1) Overgeneralization; 2) Ignorance of rule restriction; 3) Incomplete application of rules; and 4) False concepts hypothesized. Sources of errors are divided into 1) Interference transfer; 2) Intralingual transfer; 3) Context of learning; and 4) Communication strategies. In conducting error analysis, there are several procedures that can be used as a reference: 1) Collecting a sample of learner language, 2) identifying the errors, 3) describing the errors, and 4) explaining the errors. Analysis of these language errors, both oral and written, is needed because the results of the analysis will indicate the treatment that can be done for language learning.

This text introduces teachers to techniques for exploring their own classroom experiences. The paperback edition introduces teachers to techniques for exploring their own classroom experiences. Numerous books deal with classroom observation and research, but this is the first to offer a carefully structured approach to self-observation and self-evaluation. Richards and Lockhart aim to develop a reflective approach to teaching, one in which teachers collect data about their own teaching; examine their attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions; and use the information they obtain as a basis for critical reflection on teaching practices. The approach is not linked to a particular method, but rather can be applied to a variety of methodologies and teaching situations. Each chapter includes questions and activities appropriate for group discussion or self-study.

Errors in Language Learning and Use is an up-to-date introduction and guide to the study of errors in language, and is also a critical survey of previous work. Error Analysis occupies a central position within Applied Linguistics, and seeks to clarify questions such as `Does correctness matter?', `Is it more important to speak fluently and write imaginatively or to communicate one's message?' Carl James provides a scholarly and well-illustrated theoretical and historical background to the field of Error Analysis. The reader is led from definitions of error and related concepts, to categorization of types of linguistic deviance, discussion of error gravities, the utility of teacher correction and towards writing learner profiles. Throughout, the text is guided by considerable practical experience in language education in a range of classroom contexts worldwide.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,3, Technical University of Braunschweig (Englisches Seminar), language: English, abstract: Foreign Language Pedagogy (FLP), in general, aims to convey to teachers the essential information about the role of the learner and the teacher in the process of language learning, and also provides them with theoretical, didactic methods and practical means for the foreign language classroom (FLC). We can even go a step further by claiming that the mission of FLP is to research for and establish the supreme way of a teaching a foreign language (FL) to the learners. However, within this field of research it becomes quite obvious that the learners take in a rather passive role and do not contribute very much to new research data and, hence, new approaches towards foreign language teaching (FLT). This thesis can be held true, to give just one example, when we consider the various teaching methods for the FLC. Although the role of the learner is taken into account in each method, the learners are fairly more than “testing objects” of teaching models hypothesized by didactic scientists. On the other hand, one must admit that in correspondence with the recent emergence and establishment of the communicative approach (CA), the learners preferences and demands have been taken far more into consideration and their linguistic and communicative performance serve as source for methodological research input and constructive, teacher strategies-oriented as well as learner strategies-oriented output offered by science. Recently, and paradoxically enough, it can be perceived intensive discussion concerning the question how to deal best with errors produced by learners. More precisely, there has been a shift from the formerly applied “Contrastive Analysis” (CAH) toward the occupation with “Error Analysis” (EA). (...)