TOPIC 4

THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE

A. Error and Error Analysis

There are some reasons for focusing an error

1. To know the cause of learners’ error

2. It’s useful for teacher to know what errors learners make.

3. Making errors may help learners to learn.

The steps to analyze an erroe:

1. Identifying error

2. Describing error

3. Explaining error

4. Error evaluation

B. Developmental Patterns

The early stages of L2 acquisition

In such sircumtances, some L2 learners, particularly if they are children,

undergo a silent period. That is they make no attempt to say anything to begin
with. The silent period may serve as a preparation for subsequent production.
Some learners talk to themselves in L2 even when the decline to talk to another
people.

C. Variability in Learners’ Language

1. Linguistics context

A Linguistic Context is the context defined purely in terms of what follows or

what precedes a particular segment undergoing sound change. In other words, a
linguistic context will not take into account the social, situational aspects, or the
psychological aspects. A linguistic change ( for e.g. a sound change ) is explained
solely in linguistic terms, without explaining why a sound change is taking place,
or what prompts the change. But such changes do take place, irrespective of the
speaker’s social standing, or educational status, or the psychological state of mind.

2. Situational Context

Situational context describes the reason why something is occurring

and the appropriate behavior and actions associated with the situation. It is
one of the types of context that influence communication. Context is the
situation, circumstances, or specific setting in which an event occurs.

Typically used in regards to communication, the situational context

of speech influences what is considered socially appropriate and how the
message is received. The situational context is defined by the event itself;
you communicate differently in different settings. Think about how you talk
in class, at a party, playing sports, and at a funeral. You use differing types
and styles of communication in all of these settings. Imagine if a person
used the same type of speech they did while playing an intense sports game
at a funeral. This would not be appropriate at all. The situational context of
these settings and scenarios both lead to differing types of communication.

3. Psycholinguistics context

Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the

interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects.It also
studies psychological and neurobiological factors that enable humans to
acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. The discipline is mainly
concerned with the mechanisms in which languages are processed and
represented in the brain.Initial forays into psycholinguistics were largely
philosophical or educational schools of thought, due mainly to their location
in departments other than applied sciences (e.g., cohesive data on how the
human brain functioned)