9.2 Errors, Slips, and Deciding When to Correct

9.2 Categorising Errors and Deciding When to Correct

Introduction to Error Analysis in ELT

In English Language Teaching (ELT), how a teacher perceives and responds to learner mistakes is a fundamental indicator of their pedagogical competence. Rather than viewing non-target language production as mere failure or bad habit formation, modern communicative language teaching (CLT) and second language acquisition (SLA) theories view learner mistakes as vital diagnostic evidence of an evolving internal language system, known as interlanguage (Selinker).

To manage error correction effectively, candidates preparing for the Cambridge TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test) must master two foundational capabilities:

1. Taxonomic Categorisation: Accurately identifying the underlying nature, origin, and linguistic domain of a non-target utterance.
2. Pedagogical Timing: Determining the exact moment to intervene—or withhold intervention—based on activity objectives, affective factors, and cognitive load.

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Slips, Errors, and Attempts: Edge's Taxonomy

Julian Edge, in Mistakes and Correction (1989), proposed the practical three-way classification used throughout TKT preparation, building on Pit Corder's earlier distinction between competence errors and performance mistakes. Not all non-target utterances originate from the same psychological or linguistic cause. Teachers must distinguish between slips, errors, and attempts.

1. Slips (Mistakes of Performance)

A slip (or performance mistake) occurs when a learner produces an incorrect form despite possessing full underlying linguistic competence. Slips are caused by temporary cognitive overload, fatigue, distraction, emotional stress, or fast speech processing.

• Key Diagnostic Criterion: The learner is capable of self-correcting immediately when their attention is drawn to the mistake.
• Example: A B2-level learner says, "She go to the bank yesterday... oh, I mean she went."

2. Errors (Deficits in Competence)

An error represents a systematic deviation caused by a gap in the learner's interlanguage knowledge. The learner cannot self-correct even when prompted, because they have not yet fully acquired or internalised the underlying rule, form, or usage constraints.

• Key Diagnostic Criterion: The learner cannot self-correct even when prompted, because they lack the requisite knowledge. They require external guidance, scaffolding, or explicit instruction.
• Example: An A2 learner consistently says, "I have arrived yesterday," believing the present perfect is compatible with specific past-time adverbs.

3. Attempts (Communicative Striving)

An attempt occurs when a learner tries to express a complex idea or communicative intent without having been taught or exposed to the requisite grammatical structure or vocabulary.

• Key Diagnostic Criterion: The resulting language is often unclear, fragmented, or structurally ambiguous because the learner is guessing or improvising beyond their current syllabus level.
• Example: An A1 learner trying to express a hypothetical condition says, "If no rain tomorrow, I maybe go park."

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Underlying Sources of Error: Interlanguage Development

Understanding why an error occurs enables teachers to choose appropriate remediation. TKT Module 1 highlights two primary internal sources of error:

L1 Interference (Cross-Linguistic Transfer)

L1 interference (or interlingual transfer) occurs when a learner inappropriately applies structural, phonological, lexical, or pragmatic patterns from their native language (L1) to the target language (English/L2).

• Syntactic Transfer: A Spanish speaker saying "I have 25 years" (translating Tengo 25 años) instead of "I am 25 years old."
• Lexical Transfer (False Friends): A German speaker using "actual" to mean "current" (confusing German aktuell).
• Phonological Transfer: A Japanese speaker substituting /b/ for /v/ due to L1 phonemic inventory boundaries.

Developmental Errors (Overgeneralization)

Developmental errors (or intralingual errors) occur naturally as part of the language acquisition process across all L2 learners, regardless of their native language background. They reflect active hypothesis testing where the learner overgeneralizes a regular rule to irregular exceptions.

• Morphological Overgeneralization: Adding regular past tense -ed to irregular verbs ("He breaked the window", "She goed home").
• Plural Overgeneralization: Adding regular -s to irregular nouns ("two childs", "three mouses").

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Global vs. Local Errors

Burt and Kiparsky categorized errors based on their impact on communication:

• Global Errors: Errors that significantly corrupt sentence structure or key vocabulary, rendering the message incomprehensible or misleading to the listener/reader.
• Local Errors: Errors in minor structural elements (such as missing articles, third-person singular -s, or prepositions) that do not hinder overall comprehension.