SHITTU MURITALA ADEWALE
Department of French
School of Secondary Education
(Languages Programme)
Federal College of Education (special)
Oyo
&
AWONUSI ABIODUN MAKINDE
Department of French
School of Secondary Education
(Languages Programme
Federal College
Osiele ,Abeokuta ,Ogun State
Abstract
This research work is in the domain
of language acquisition and more particularly foreign language learning using
the theoretical framework of Error Analysis but also taking into account the
concept of the development of Inter-language during the learning of a foreign
language. We consider how learners of French as a Foreign Language in the
Federal College of Education (special) oyo,Alvan Ikoku College OF Education
Owerri,Federal College of Education,Katsina all in Nigeria seem to fall, either consciously or
unconsciously, on the English Language during their oral and written
productions. For this study, first and
second year students of French from the in college were given a series of images and asked
either to describe what they saw and/or to use the images to tell a story or
form a dialogue. It was observed that there was evidence of English structures,
transpositions, transliterations, etc.in their productions. We consider that
these interferences are part of the development of the Inter-language of the
learners and we examine some of the types of errors identified in the
production of the students. We conclude that this is a natural process for the
learner of a foreign language in a multilingual context and we consider how the
teacher of a foreign language class can take advantage of these productions to
improve his teaching and also improve learning by his/her students.
Key Words:
Error analysis, transference,
Foreign Language Learning, Inter-language, English, French
Résumé (French)
L’article appartient au domaine de
l’acquisition linguistique et plus particulièrement l’apprentissage de langue
étrangère en se basant sur le cadre théorique de l’Analyse des Erreurs mais
prenant aussi en compte le concept du développement de l’Interlangue pendant
l’apprentissage d’une langue étrangère. Nous examinons de comment les
apprenants du Français Langue Étrangère à
Federal College d’Education (Special) Oyo semblent avoir recours, soit
consciemment soit inconsciemment, à la langue anglaise pendant leur production
orale et écrite. Pour cette étude, on a donné aux apprenants en première et
deuxième années de college des images et
on leur a demandé de raconteur une histoire ou de former des dialogues à partir
des images. On a observé qu’il y’avait des éléments structuraux de l’anglais,
des transpositions, des translitérations, etc. dans leurs productions. Nous
estimons que ces interférences font partie du développement de l’Inter-langue
des apprenants et nous examinons quelques uns des types d’erreurs identifiées
dans la production des apprenants. Nous concluons que l’Inter-langue et les
erreurs font partie du processus d’apprentissage d’une langue étrangère et nous
considérons comment l’enseignant dans une classe de langue étrangère pourrait
profiter de ces productions pour améliorer son enseignement et l’apprentissage
de la langue par ces étudiants.
Mots clés: Analyse des Erreurs, transfert linguistique, Apprentissage d’une langue
étrangère, Interlangue, Anglais, Français
Introduction
It is generally agreed that a foreign language learner does
not enter the language classroom one day and come out the next as a near-native
speaker. There is a developmental process which takes place over a long period
of time and during this process, the learner may write or speak the language in
a manner that is not considered ‘authentic’ by the native speaker. As time goes
on and as the learner progresses in learning the language, the errors gradually
reduce until the learner acquires near-native perfection. This transition between
starting to learn the language and acquiring native-speaker proficiency is what
is termed the Inter-language. According to Atoyebi (2009, p 67), Inter-language
demonstrates intermediate stages of L2 development. This inter-language may be
viewed either positively or negatively especially as there is usually the
question of language transfer from the L1 with positive transfer being
considered to aid language learning and negative transfer being considered a
bane to acquiring the second language.
Research into
learner errors in foreign language learning and into language transfer by
foreign language learners has greatly developed since the 1990s with the works
of Dada (1999 p, 54) who focused on the notion of inter-language and who
pointed out that L2 learners do not produce random mistakes and that their
errors seem to be governed by certain rules linked to the underlying grammars
of the learners. Their conclusion that language transfer is an integral part of
L2 learning has been corroborated in more recent times by Adewale (1997 p,93),
Oladeji (2011). Indeed, past research also indicates that in a given situation,
there are differences between the production of a learner and that of a native
speaker when they attempt to convey the same meaning in the target language
(Dada, (1999).
The purpose of
this paper is to present some errors discovered in the oral and written
production of students of some first and second year students of French as a
Foreign Language at the Federal College of Education (special) oyo,Alvan ikoku
college of education and federal college of education in katsina all in Nigeria
; discuss what these errors reveal about transference and the development of
Inter-language; and find out how the Foreign Language teacher can take into account
these errors in the classroom to make learning the foreign language more
productive. However, we will first consider the unique context of studying
French in Nigeria and the role of the English language and other languages
spoken in Nigeria.
The status of the French
language in Nigeria
The Ministry of Education, together with the French Embassy,
has been supporting the teaching of French in Nigeria since the 1990s . The
French language has the status of being a Foreign language which is taught as a
subject in schools from the Junior secondary
School Level even though some private schools introduce it earlier –
sometimes as early as Nursery . The Government acknowledges the importance of learning
the French language and the Government White Paper of the Education Reform
Review Committee (Oct 1996) emphasized the Government’s intention to ensure
that French became a compulsory subject at the Senior secondary School level and the efforts being made to ensure
that the Junior secondary School curriculum prepares students to meet this
benchmark. Indeed, the Paper states that:
It is the decision of government that apart from assuring primary tongue
proficiency in English by the end of Primary school, the study of French to
working standard --- will also become compulsory
in higher level of education …. and the Junior secondary School
curriculum should accordingly work up to that policy (NPE, 2007, p. 30).
As of now, in practice, the French
language can be chosen as an elective subject in the Senior secondary School
after which the students can further their study of the language either in the
university, training college, or some other institution of higher learning. In
the wake of the desire for regional integration on an economic, political and
social level, and, considering the fact that Nigeria is surrounded by
francophone countries, successive governments have expressed the desire for
promoting and developing the teaching or learning of French in the basic and
secondary schools as evidenced from the documents cited above.
The Role of the English Language in Nigeria,
Like other
African countries, is a multilingual society with a majority of the people
speaking at least two languages. Especially in the urban areas, most people may
speak a local language which may be considered a Primary Language or L1 as well
as a vernacular language which is widely spoken in that area. Due to
intermarriages between couples of different ethnic groups, some children, born
into mixed linguistic families are either exposed to both the language of the
father and mother (if both parents speak each other’s languages), to one of the
‘parental’ languages (if one partner understands the language of the other but
it is not reciprocal), or to a third ‘neutral’ language which serves as a point
of communication between the two parents. In some cases, especially in Nigeria, this neutral language tends to be
the English language which has a particular status in the Nigerian society. English serves as a mediator
language and children born into these families end up being exposed to English
as a first language (even if it is not a mother tongue per se .
In
Nigeria, the English language has the status of being the official language. It
is the language of education, media, the judiciary and the legislature. The
language policy in Nigeria has been changed from having the first three years
of basic education to be carried out in the local languages to using English only
right from Primary 1 Fafunwa ( 2000). In
the urban areas, children are taught in English sometimes right from crèche.
For this reason, some children whose parents speak English to them in the house
and who are also exposed to English right from an early age may be considered
as having English as their L1 or their Primary Language as they speak this more
fluently than the local language of the tribe or ethnic group of their parents.
The English language also has the status, in Nigeria, of being the main medium
of official communication in a multilingual society.
The importance of English in the foreign language classroom
in Nigeria
Considering
the fact that the foreign language classroom is a place of languages in contact
and in context, it is not surprising that we often find more than one language
at play – the language(s) the learner already speaks and the language that is
being acquired. In this paper, we posit that learners of French in the 3
colleges used for this study to draw a lot from their competence in the English
language rather than from the local languages they speak. This may be due to
several factors including the fact that they develop a meta-language for
English that they may not necessarily have for their local languages. The basic
structures of language are typically learnt in English more than in the local
languages. Thus, while a pupil or student may be able to easily identify a
noun, verb, adjective and so on, in English, he or she may not be able to do
the same for his or her indigenous language.
Also, some
teachers of the French language rely on the English language to teach or
explain certain points to the learners. Lastly, most of the available bilingual
material for teaching and learning French are in English and French rather than
in an indigenous language and French. For example, we have access to
English-French dictionaries, manuals in English and French, audio materials in
English and French etc. For this reason, the learner is also most likely to
draw from English when there is a challenge with expressing himself/herself in
French.
This notion
seems to be supported by our data since the instances of interference and
transfers observed are from the English language rather than from the
indigenous languages. For these reasons, we will systematically refer to the
English language in this paper as the Source Language (SL) and French as the
Target Language (TL). Where we refer to or quote an author, L1 should be
understood as being the SL and L2 as being the Target Language (TL).
Inter-language theory
Developed by
Selinker in the 1970s, Inter-language theory is a branch of applied
linguistics, and more particularly, language learning. In a nutshell, the
theory posits that imperfect foreign language production by a learner gives
rise to an intermediate language system which is a sort of ‘third language’
placed on a gradient between the two ‘true’ languages, i.e. the source language
and the target language.
According to
Oladeji(1997), Inter-language refers to a systematic development of learner
language reflecting a mental system of L2 knowledge. It involves the
construction of a system of abstract linguistic rules by the learner. Such
inter-lingual transfer is demonstrated in the types of errors committed by learners
at either a phonological, morphological, grammatical, lexical or semantic level
with the learner transferring such elements from the source language into the
target language. When it comes to adult foreign language learning, which is the
focus of this study, it has been suggested that an adult foreign language
learner encounters competition between the new concepts with which he is
confronted and the existing concepts from the L1. This can lead to
restructurings in the L1 and in the L2 (Dewaele, 2002;137) These restructurings
are considered to be errors. It is important to draw the distinction between a
mistake and an error when it comes to foreign language teaching and learning
because the two are not interchangeable.
The Dictionary
of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics (1992) describes mistakes in
writing or speaking as being due to lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness,
or some other aspects of performance. These can be self-corrected when the
speaker becomes aware of them. On the other hand, an error implies using a
linguistic item in a way that a fluent or native speaker regards as
demonstrating faulty or incomplete learning. In other words, an error occurs
because the learner does not know what is correct, and therefore there can be no
self-correction in this case, whereas there can be self-correction in the case
of a mistake. In error analysis, these errors are not regarded as the result of
persistent old habits. They should rather be seen as signs that the learner is
going through a process of internalization and investigation of the new
language’s system. Inter-lingual errors may occur at different levels such as
transfer of phonological, morphological, grammatical and lexico-semantic
elements of the native language into the target language.
Unfortunately,
it has been observed that errors in the foreign language classroom, especially
in our socio-cultural context, are frowned upon and sanctioned without taking
into consideration the fact that it is a natural process of the language learning
process and that the errors made by students could actually guide the teacher
to prepare students to adequately cope with their difficulties. According to
Dada (1999, p.202) “L2 speakers spend a lot of time and effort struggling with
language difficulties yet L2 courses do not generally prepare students to cope
with performance problems”. For this reason, it is necessary to study the
errors made by students which can serve in (i) identifying strategies used by
language learners (ii) identifying the causes of learners’ errors (iii)
obtaining information on common difficulties in language learning to aid in
teaching or in developing teaching materials
Atoyebi (2009 p.216). We
posit that it is only when a foreign language teacher understands the causes
and reasons for the errors made by the learner that he or she can effectively
teach the students to avoid such errors or remedy their linguistic
inadequacies. It is for this reason that it is necessary to undertake error
analysis as it enables researchers to focus on the errors made by a foreign
language learner with emphasis on the significance of these errors for teaching
and learning.
Learning
French in a multilingual African context
Most of the
research available in the field considered situations of bilingualism in which
a learner is learning a foreign language in a western context in which there is
just one source language and one target language. Even in cases where there is
mention of multilingualism, the learner is still dealing with languages for
which the learner has developed meta-language. However, when it comes to
learning English or French which may either have the status of a second
language or a foreign language taught in school, the approach is different.
Usually, the language is learnt in an exo-glotic context and usually, the
learner does not get exposed to the language outside the classroom. As Adewale
(2008) explains, French is not used as a means of communication once the
students get outside the classroom. Also, a majority of students learning
French in the Nigerian context have not acquired the linguistic fundamentals,
either in the indigenous languages or in English before they begin to learn
French. Adepoju (1997 p.52) hypothesizes that difficulties in learning the French
language in a multilingual, non-francophone community may be due to three main
reasons:
i
i. Mixing up internalized structures, especially as the
students usually turn to their first language or the English language to
conceptualize grammatical and lexical structures in French.
ii
ii. The languages already acquired become a source of
blockage for the students, mainly because the students have not mastered these
languages especially when it comes to the written aspect.
iii
iii. The third hypothesis is that one of the causes of
transfer errors discovered in the production of students is due to the
differences in structure at the level of phonetic/phonology, morphsyntax and
lexis and semantics.
We tend to
lean towards his third hypothesis for this paper, based on the observation that
the students we observed had a mastery over the English language and also that
the transfers we observed all seemed to be based on the structure of the
English language.
Methodology
The sample for
our study belongs to set of students who have had their training in the English
language and who are very comfortable using this language as a means of
communication. Considering the fact that only the best get to enter the
college, these students can be considered part of the elite for whom English
plays a more important role than any indigenous language they may speak as far
as their academic life is concerned.
A total of 90
first and second year students (18 to 35 years on the average) of the French
department of the three colleges were recorded with their permission during an
oral examination session in which they were asked to describe an image or form
a dialogue (in pairs) from the image(s). Their productions were then
transcribed. It is these errors that we analyze grouping them into various
types of errors and discussing possible ways in which the foreign language
teacher can use these errors to his advantage. In this article, we do not use
phonetic transcriptions as our focus is more on structural observations. We
transcribe the individual words as close to the sound as possible. We then analyze these productions
using the classifications of student errors developed by Dada (Atoyebi 1997
p.68).
He groups the errors produced by learners into four
categories namely:
i
i. omission of some required element;
ii
ii. addition of some unnecessary or incorrect element;
iii
iii. selection of an incorrect element; and
iv
iv. misordering of the elements.
Subsequently, (2003 .p.69) includes the morphology, syntax
and lexicon as sub-areas of his four categories of errors linguistically
speaking. In our paper, we combine the four categories and sub-categories in
our description of the errors observed in the production of our students.
Syntactic
interference
This type of error is demonstrated by the learner on the
syntactic structure of the Source Language and thus the learner repeats this
structure in the Target Language. The two main types observed in the production
of the students were syntactic errors denoting the addition or omission of an
element.
1.
Deux
femmes différentes qui sont parler au téléphone
2.
(Deux
femmes différentes qui parlent au
téléphone)
‘Two different
women who are speaking on the telephone’
In example 1,
the student adds sontto parler probably because in English the
auxiliary to beis included in the conjugation of the verb in the present
continuous tense. In French, the auxiliary is not used for this tense, which
shares the same form as the simple present tense. Parlent could be
translated speakor are speaking, meaning that there is no need to
introduce the auxiliary in French.
3.
La
première femme est contente parce qu’elle est rit
(La première femme est contente parce qu’elle rit)
‘The first woman is happy because she is laughing.’
Example 2 demonstrates addition and misordering. It can also
be considered a case of transliteration since the learner seems to have done a
word-for-word .translation from English. As in the case of example one,
the conjugated form ritmeans is
laughing. There is therefore no need to introduce the conjugated auxiliary estas this will mean *she is laughing.
3. Elle n’estpas rit (Elle ne rit pas).
‘She is not laughing.’
In example 3,
we observe the addition of the auxiliary êtreas well as a
probable case of transliteration since the verb in French has been placed at
the end of the sentence as is the case in English during negation. Normally in
French, the verb is surrounded by the negation markers ne and pas. While in
English, there is just one marker not and it precedes the verb.
…parce que les femmes sont toujours travaillent
(parce que les
femmes travaillent toujours).
‘… because women are always working.’
Example 4
presents a double scenario of the introduction of the auxiliary verb être as well as transliteration. This is because in French, the
adverb toujours will be in final position but in English it precedes the
verb. It is observed that the learner places it before the verb just as it
occurs in English.
Il y a une réunion sur lundi
4.
(Il y
a une réunion lundi)
There is a
meeting on Monday
Example 5
demonstrates the introduction of the French preposition sur which is the translation of the English preposition ‘on’.
Most likely because in English the preposition appears before the day of the
week, the learner has transposed this to the French language where there is no
preposition before the day of the week.
In certain contexts, there will be the definite article le/les.
Most of the
errors observed for addition concern the auxiliary verb être. This is because in English, this auxiliary appears in
constructions of the present continuous tense even though it does not appear in
French. Moreover, the errors that are linked to the prepositions is also
because in English ‘on’ appears before mentioning the day of the week in
similar constructions.
ii) Omission
These involve the absence of certain items in the
construction that should normally be present. The omission errors observed were
basically the absence of prepositions or some verbs in French where these are
supposed to be present as can be observed from the sentences in brackets. It is
to be noted that in the English equivalents, these lexical items would normally
be absent.
On demande Ø l’homme le prix \
(On demande à l’homme le prix).
‘They ask the man
the price.’
In example
six, the student omits the preposition à. In French,
the verb demanderis accompanied
by the preposition à if it means to
‘ask somebody’. However, in English, there is no
preposition.
7. Il
Øbesoin des stylos et des cahiers
(Il
abesion des stylos et des cahiers).
‘Heneeds
pens and exercise books.’
There is an
omission of the auxiliary verb avoir in the example
7 since in English it is possible to conjugate need without using an auxiliary.
However, there is the less-used equivalent ‘He has need of,’ which
includes the auxiliary avoir,and which is
syntactically closer to the French equivalent.
Un
homme entre Øle bus
(Un
homme entre dansle bus).
‘A man
enters the bus.’
In example
(8), the learner omits the preposition dans which
usually follows the verb entrer. It is to be observed that in English, the equivalent verb ‘enter’
does not need to be followed by the preposition ‘in/into.’ The general
observation from the examples of the omission errors is that the learners
borrowed from the English structure and did not include words that are expected
to be present in French, basically because they are not present in English.
Misordering
In the error
of misordering, the elements are structurally misarranged. These errors also
demonstrate a dependence on the English language since the words are misordered
based on the English structure. The following are some examples.
3.Elle n’est pas rit
(Elle ne Ø rit pas).
‘She is not laughing.
Even though we have already seen example 3 as a case of
addition of the auxiliary être, this example
also presents an example of misordering. This is because the structural
arrangement of the negation particles is patterned after the English structure
of negation making it awkward and quite clumsy in French. The verb is in the
final position as is the case in English.
.…parce que les femmes sont toujours
travaillent
(…parce que
les femmestravaillent toujours).
‘… because the
women are always working.’
In example 4,
we observeda misordering of the adverb and the verb. In the correct form in French, travaillentcomes before toujours (…parce
que les femmestravaillent toujours). However, in the correct form in English, it is the reverse
with ‘always’coming before ‘working’(… because the women are
always working).
9. Elle
veut savoir ce qu'ils ont besoin de
(Elle
veut savoir ce dont ils ont besoin).
‘She wants
to know what they need/have need of.’
Example (9) could be interpreted in three
ways: The learner knows the expression avoir besoin de and therefore
kept this form in the sentence without undertaking the necessary
transformations using dont. It is also
possible that the learner does not know how to use dontin such a case. Thirdly, the student could be relying on the
English expression ‘have need of ’and transposing that structure onto
the French sentence –
(Elle veut savoir ce qu'ils ont besoin de).
10. Je
vais pour un romantique dîner
(Je
vais pour un dîner romantique).
‘I am going for a romantic
dinner.’
Example 10 is
a classic example of the challenges English language learners face with the
position of adjectives in French. Whereas in English the adjective always
precedes the noun, in French, it can either precede or follow it. And so, ‘romantic
dinner’ has been transposed into French to produce romantique dîner.
For the cases of misordering, it is once again based on the
structure of the English language and is expressed usually by transliteration
where the learner does a word-for-word substitution from the English language
to the French language
Morphological errors
These are errors that are linked to the form of a word or
expression
iii) Lack of
contraction
11. À le
restaurant (Au restaurant).
‘At the restaurant.’
12. À le client (Au client).
‘To the client.’
We did not observe much by way of morphological errors in the
productions of the students. The main challenge observed was the lack of
contraction of the preposition + article in French and it is written out just
like in English. This could also be due to trying to give a literal translation
or just ignorance of the syntactic system of dealing with preposition + article
in French.
Lexical errors
Errors based on the lexicon are usually either due to the
fact that the learner does not know the right word to use and therefore fills
the ‘gap’ with a word from L1 or uses a similar sounding word in L1 in a way
that it is usually not used in L2. Some examples are presented below with the
correct French rendition in parenthesis:
False
cognates
13.
Je n’ai pas
l’intention de célébrer mon anniversaire.
(Je n’ai pas
l’intention de fêter mon anniversaire).
‘I don’t intend to celebrate my birthday.’
14. Une vielle femme achète les végétales
. (Une vielle
femme achète les légumes).
‘An old woman is
buying the vegetables.
15. Le professeur introduit elle pour la classe.
(Le professeur la
présente à la classe).
‘The teacher introduces herto the class.’
The examples
(13), (14) and (15) demonstrate what is called faux
amis in
French (false cognates). The learner uses célébrer,végétalesand introduire because they sound like ‘celebrate’ and ‘vegetables’
and ‘introduce’ even though they do not mean the same thing in French.
16. Mais TOLA est peur
(Mais TOLA a peur).
But TOLA is
afraid.
Example (16)is
another example of the wrong use of
vocabulary based on a direct translation from English to French. The learner
uses the verb ‘to be’instead of the verb ‘to have’because that is
what is used in English. Indeed, in English, the expression is ‘to be afraid,’while
in French, the expression used means to ‘have fear.’
Insertion of
L1
17 . La
maîtresse l’introduceà les enfants dans la classe
(La maîtresse la présenteaux enfants
dans la classe).
‘The mistress
introducesher to the children in the class.’
In the example
above, the student inserts the English word ‘introduce’possibly because
he or she does not know the alternative in French. Even in the case where there
is a similar sounding word in French introduire, it does not
mean ‘to introduce someone to someone else.’It is used in contexts where
it means ‘to make enter,’for example ‘He introduced the key into the
door.’In French, the right word to use for introducing someone is présenter.
18. Elles checkentles heures que les enfants vont de la
maison (Elles vérifientl’heure que les enfants quittent la maison).
‘They checkthe time that the children leave (from) the
house.’
Example
18seems to be a clear case of lack of vocabulary as the student reproduces an
English word to fill a lexical gap.
19. Son chef est son mari et les customers, ses enfants.
(Son chef est son
mari et les clients ses enfants).
‘Her chief is her husband and her customersher
children.’
Transliteration
20. J’espere que tu vas venir encore
(J’espère que tu
vas revenir/ J’espère que tu reviendras).
‘I hope that you will come again.’
21. Et parce que dece problème...
(Et à cause dece
problème…).
‘And because of this problem...’
(20)and (21)demonstrate another structural error where a
direct translation seems to be made on a word-for-word basis from English to
French. However, unlike the case of simple misordering, these errors are not
only grammatical but also lexical as some words are usedin the wrong context
like parce que in 21. In such situations, the teacher needs to explain the
different contexts in which words from similar semantic fields can be used. For
example, à cause de/parce que.
Learners may
be taught for example that parce que cannot be
followed by de while à cause deis a fixed
expression. Secondly, in the example of (20), the teacher can explain how the
French express doing something again by
affixation (re + venir = revenir) while the
English choose to use ‘again.’
We observe
that with the errors that have to do with the insertion of the L1, the learner
fills a lexical gap with a word from English to make their sentence complete.
These words are not introduced by a speaker who is bilingually competent but by
a learner who clearly lacks vocabulary in the target language and is
introducing vocabulary from the Source Language as a stop-gap measure. They are
actually errors that are due to lack of vocabulary/expressions and in this
case, the learner falls, once again, on the English language to fill in the
gap. What is noteworthy is that in all the scripts that we analyzed, we did not
find evidence of the learners using a local language where they had a gap. All
the stop-gap vocabulary was from the English language.
The
relevance of the errors and Perspectives for teaching
For the
language teacher, especially one who speaks the source language of the
learners, the errors described above are very instructive. They give some
insight into the cognitive processes underlying the learning process and in
most cases the teacher, if he speaks the same source language, will perfectly
understand what the learner wants to communicate and this in spite of the
errors.What can the language teacher and the developer of language course
content derive from these errors? It is obvious that students do not commit
these errors because they want to. Seeing that these errors seem to occur on a
large scale and are usually of the types discussed above, it is suggested that
provision is made for such errors in developing course content and also in
course delivery.
Language
teachers should take time out to sensitize their learners to these possible
errors and provide strategies for helping learners to cope with potentially
difficult-to-master elements that are due mainly to L1 interference. With the
error of addition, we infer from the production of the learners that they have
copied the structure from the English language, where the verb “to be” is used
as an auxiliary in the present continuous tense. It is therefore quite
difficult for the learner to imagine, without being taught, that this is not
the case in the French language. It is important to note that in the French
language, the same sentence structure can either have a habitual meaning or a
present continuous interpretation without the use of an auxiliary verb.
Therefore, an example such as:
Je mange
Can mean
‘I eat’ or
‘I am eating.’
The learner,
who is not aware of this difference and who usually thinks of what he or she
wants to say in English before translating into French, will therefore borrow
the Pro Aux structure from the English language to construct his or her
sentences in French. In the second example of addition, we see that the learner
adds a preposition like in English although no preposition occurs in French. We
propose that the teacher who observes such errors (wrongful addition of an
auxiliary) should be able to undertake a contrastive analysis with the students
to enable them understand the differences in conjugation in the present tense
and the present continuous tense in English and the equivalent expressions in
French.
The learners
should be able to undertake lots of structural exercises in French to enable
them to grasp the fact that the equivalent of the present continuous tense in
English is expressed without an auxiliary in French. When it comes to lexical
errors, especially errors with false cognates, the teacher can produce a list
of words in English that sound like words in French and assign the students in
groups or as individuals to go and search for the differences in meaning
between the English and French equivalents. This will help the students also
take ownership of their learning process and is likely to have a longer-lasting
impact than just repeatedly marking them wrong without making any effort to
remedy the situation.
A suggestion
for dealing with the insertion of the L1 by the learner is to give the students
more exercises in translation or to involve them in conscious vocabulary
building where students are taught to make use of dictionaries (both hard and
soft copies), expression and vocabulary books, etc. to build a solid vocabulary
base in various thematic areas for example the home, shopping, cooking,
introducing oneself, etc.
The teacher
can remedy morphological error of lack of contraction (e.g. à le restaurant instead of au restaurant) not just by
having a grammar lesson to explain the contraction process but also by
providing communication scenarios or exercises in which the learners will have
to use these forms to such an extent that the learners get used to these forms
and assimilate them till it becomes an unconscious gesture.
When it comes
to errors of omission, the French language teacher has to help the students
learn expressions in the language instead of individual words so that the
learner understands that certain words go together even if that is not the case
in the English language. For example, in the case of (6), the learner has to
learn that demander is usually
followed by the preposition à, thus giving
us the expression demander à quelqu’un as opposed to
‘ask somebody.’The teacher
can also teach the students, in the case of the error in (7), that in French
the expression avoir besoin de is more or
less equivalent to the English ‘have need of’since in French you cannot
just ‘need something’ but you ‘have need of something.’
Lastly, the
teacher needs to explain to the learner that in an example like (8), entrer, as a verb movement is always followed by the directional
preposition dans. This will
enable him explain to the students. It is important for the teacher to explain
not just grammatical rules but the concepts behind the rules to make learning
easier for the learners, especially where there is a conflict with the concept
from the source language.
When tackling the
error of misordering, especially for a foreign language teacher who speaks the
same Source Language as the learners, the teacher can undertake a contrastive
analysis with the students and also expose them to the language in use by
discussing the perceived differences in the structure of French and English
such as the position of adjectives, etc.
Conclusion
What do these
findings mean for the foreign language teacher? Firstly, we will say that it
calls for another look at student errors knowing that they are not always due
to negligence on the part of the student. Many times, these so-called errors
actually point to creativity on the part of the learner –be it morphological,
syntactic, or even discursive. They actually point to the learner making an effort
to manage language problems and difficulties which Banjo (2000 p.257) describes
as a salient part in L2 communication. It is also important for a
teacher to make an effort to incorporate these communication strategies into
their teaching and learning objectives. These findings are also a useful tool
for devising or designing more adequate methodologies for the classroom and new
and improved teaching materials.
An
understanding of these errors, based on the Source Language, can also help the
teacher offer remedial teaching, explaining the source of these errors so that
students are aware of them and pay particular attention to them. Indeed,
interference and transfers are a normal part of second or foreign language
learning. It does not need to be a source of frustration for the teacher but
rather a window through which the teacher can observe the gaps that need to be
filled. Learners will master the target language as they gradually internalize
the syntactic structures of the target language and learn to think in that
language. If such errors are well handled, they can actually lead to rapid
progress by the learners as they master the intricacies of the target language
and learn to distinguish the differences and/or similarities between the Source
language and the Target Language.
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