Evans_u05a1.

doc – Data Analysis Journal

Robin Evans

Part I – Background Information for Rodrigo Zamalloa

My English Language Learner’s name is Rodrigo Zamalloa. He is eighteen years old and
is from Arequipa, Peru. He is presently a Rotary Exchange Student in 12th grade at
Tunkhannock, High School. Rodrigo has been here since August and will be returning to Peru in
June where he will begin his University studies. He plans to study Mechanical Engineering for
five years there and then return to the US and seek employment. Rodrigo has 2 brothers aged
seven and 23. His father is a businessman and his mother is a business manager.

Rodrigo has been studying English since age five. English instruction was 3 hours per
day from Monday to Friday in the early grades. In the higher grades, it was reduced to 2 hours
for 5 days per week. English was used primarily by teacher and students in the classroom except
during grammatical lessons. The approach was mostly a grammatical approach but some reading
and translation was also done as early as the 6th grade.

I asked him what frustrates him about English and he said that collective nouns like all,
everybody, etc. always confuse him. He says that he is always mixing up English prepositions
such as in, on, and at. (Understandably, because in Spanish, en can mean all three) Lastly, he
says that the words so and that are easily confused (In Spanish, tan can mean both). As I
interview Rodrigo, I can understand why he is making the mistakes he is making. Mostly, it is
negative transference of Spanish into English. In addition, he has only been here for a few
months, so his Spanish accent is very strong, and he is making many pronunciation errors.

Part II – Data Chart of Language Errors

1. Errors in Grammar and Form
Student Error
A. Ordinal Number Errors
My friend is going to visit June thirteen.
I leave August fifteen.
Correct English Form
My friend is going to visit on June thirteenth.
I leave on August fifteenth.

B. Past Tense Errors

He speak to me yesterday.
He graduate last year.
He selled hats.
I didn’t wanted to do it.
I take my books home after school.
He spoke to me yesterday.
He graduated last year.
He sold hats.
I didn’t want to do it.
I took my books home after school.
C. Preposition Errors
I go of vacations. I go on vacation.
It depends of the school. It depends on the school.
I will live on my grandparents’ house. I will live in my grandparents’ house

D. 3rd Person Present Tense Errors

He sell it. He sells it.
He get the knife and stick it to you. ` He gets the knife and sticks it to you.

E. Errors with do vs. make

I have to make a test. I have to take a test.
I like doing my own money. I like making my own money.
My friends will make me a date. My friends will up-date me.

F. Misc. Errors
Who is her? Who is she?
There are 90 persons in the class. There are 90 people in the class.
I grow-up myself. I grew up.
It is the birthday of my grandmother. It is my grandmother’s birthday.
You can’t do nothing. You can’t do anything.
All the state; all the country…. The whole state; the whole country…
When I had nine years… When I was nine years old…
After I win enough money… After I earn enough money…

2. Word Order Errors

You see all the time strikes in the street. You see strikes in the street all the time.
I don’t miss too much the beach. I don’t miss the beach too much.
What I am to do? What am I to do?

3. Pronunciation Errors

Word Student Pronunciation Error Correct English Pronunciation

read /riːd/ /red/
the /dɘ/ /ðɘ/
stick /stiːk/ /stɪːk/
vacations /beɪˈkeɪʃʌns/ /veɪˈkeɪʃʌnz/
it /iːt/ /ɪt/
her /heəʳ/ /hɛːʳ/
years /jeəʳrs/ /jɪəʳz/
beach /biːʃ/ /biːtʃ/
III. Summary of Error Patterns
1. Errors in grammar and form – The first error I noticed is the lack of ordinal numbers
when Rodrigo was referring to dates. He referred to June thirteen and August fifteen
instead of thirteenth and fifteenth. The reason is because in Spanish, ordinal numbers are
usually only used with numbers first through tenth. For dates, the cardinal numbers are
always used except for the first of the month. Example: Hoy es el trece de junio, literally
translated: Today is the thirteen of June. Therefore, the negative of Spanish into English
caused the error. Another one of the major problems for the Spanish learner is the correct
formation of the past tense in English. Many past tense verbs in English are formed by
adding –ed. However there are also many irregularities which must be memorized. If the
student has not learned them, he may simply generalize and add –ed, such as: He selled
hats. Rodrigo’s lack of mastery of the past tense also caused him to simply use the
present tense: He speak to me yesterday, He graduate last year, and I take my books
home after school. In English, we have the option to use did + verb, or use the past tense
of the verb. Rodrigo used both as in I didn’t wanted to do it. Rodrigo was familiar with
the English auxiliary did, however he used it in conjunction with wanted, therefore he
overcompensated. Prepositions are also a big problem for ELLs who have a Spanish L1.
In Spanish, there are many idioms where prepositions take many different translations.
Normally the preposition de means of in English except for certain idioms. For example,
In Spanish, Voy de vacaciones translates as I go on vacation. Therefore, Rodrigo
translated de as the English word of which is its literal translation. Another error was in
Depende de la escuela meaning It depends on the school. Of course Rodrigo translated
them I go of vacation and It depends of the school. Another preposition error is the
Spanish en which can be translated into English as either in or on. Hence the mistake, I
will live on my grandparent’s house. Another one of the most common errors is the third
person singular form of the present tense. In English, this form is the only form that ends
with an s. (I sing, you sing, he sings, we sing, you sing, they sing.) ELLs, whose L1 is
Spanish, typically forget to place this -s on these verbs. Rodrigo failed to use the –s with:
he sell…, he get…, and he stick… Another very common error for Hispanic students is
the difference between do and make. In Spanish, there is only one verb, hacer, which can
mean either. Therefore, students need to learn in what situations to use do and what
situations to use make. Some errors made by Rodrigo were, I have to make a test and I
like doing my own money. An additional error was, My friends will make me a date. (My
friends will up-date me). I can only surmise that this stems from some kind of idiom in
Spanish with a literal translation of He makes(gets) me updated. Finally, other
miscellaneous errors included: Who is her? This error most likely comes from a misuse
of pronouns/case. In this case, he used a direct object pronoun for a subject pronoun.
Another error was: There are 90 persons in the class. In Spanish, the word personas
would be used for people when identifying them individually in a group setting. He was
translating literally and unfamiliar with the collective use of people. Another error, I
grow-up myself is very understandable because in Spanish, a verb is reflexive if the
action is being done and received by the subject. In this instance, the subject is not
growing something like tomatoes; He is growing up, hence the reflexive pronoun in
English, myself. Expression of possession is also different. Apostrophes used for
expressing possession do not exist in Spanish, so possession must be expressed by using
the word of. Something is the possession of someone: It is the birthday of my
grandmother. Another common error is the use of negative expressions. In Spanish
 double negatives are commonly used. The Spanish structure would include the word not
+ verb + negation word. No puedes hacer nada translates as You can do nothing or You
cannot do anything. Rodrigo translated both negatives; you can’t do nothing, which is
incorrect in English. Another error he made was with the word whole. In Spanish, the
word todo can translate as all, or the whole + noun. Rodrigo had not learned rules
designating which to use in a given situation, therefore he stated, All the state; all the
country… instead of The whole state; the whole country… One of the most common
errors between Spanish and English is expressing age. Age is expressed in Spanish using
the verb tener + the number of years. Tener literally means to have, so he expressed,
When I had nine years… instead of When I was nine years old… Lastly, the verb ganar in
Spanish means either to win or to earn. Rodrigo had not mastered the difference in
English, hence: After I win enough money I will return to the US.

2. Word order errors – The first word order error he made was due to negative transfer from
Spanish to English. In Spanish, the phrase all the time and other types of adverb phrases,
normally precede the direct object, hence You see all the time strikes in the street instead
of You see strikes in the street all the time. Another one of the same type of error was, I
don’t miss too much the beach instead of I don’t miss the beach too much. Lastly, the
word order error: What I am to do? Most likely this results from the fact that in Spanish,
subject pronouns are typically omitted and expressed just by a verb ending. Since we do
not do this in English, this student was unaware of the location of placement in the
question and said: What I am to do? instead of What am I to do?

3. Pronunciation Errors - Since this student is eighteen years old, most or all of his errors
were due to interference from his L1, Spanish. First of all, Spanish uses the Latin
alphabet. There is the additional letter ñ and students may make mistakes with the
English vowels a, e, i. Also, the consonants h, j, r, have different names in Spanish so
they cause. The phonological system of Spanish is different especially with vowel sounds
and sentence stress. This keeps students from acquiring a native-English-speaker accent.
Spanish has 5 vowels and 5 diphthongs. English has 12 vowel sounds and 8 diphthongs
and the length of the vowel sound is important. Spanish students learning may have a
problem pronouncing or recognizing the English vowel sounds. The ones that we saw in
my interview with Rodrigo were: it/iːt/, her/heəʳ/, years/jeəʳrs/, and stick/stiːk/.
English consonants are not as big of a problem but some which we found were:
vacations/beɪˈkeɪʃʌns/, years/jeəʳrs/, and beach/biːʃ/.