English in India is taught and learned as a second language. The significance of the ability to speak or write English has notably increased in the 20th century. English has become the de facto standard in India not because it has been approved by any ‘standards’ organization but because it is extensively used by many information and technology industries which are acknowledged as being standard. All learners make errors in the process of learning English. It is inevitable that they make mistakes, however, the question here is, ‘Why do learners continue to make the same mistake even when such mistakes have been repetitively pointed out to them’? Not all mistakes are the same; some are deeply ingrained to be corrected, while other mistakes can be corrected effortlessly. It is imperative to carefully analyze the mistakes learners make in the process of constructing/developing a system of language - English. Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) that the entire BPO industry is trying to find solutions for, is the most difficult to conquer. This is because perception of the sound has to precede articulation. In this respect, this report aims to classify errors committed by Telugu speakers of English so that these help us detect the learning problems at any stage of development. The errors can be categorized as omission, addition, selection and ordering errors in the domain of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Some errors are largely global and hinder communication while others are local and do not prevent the message from being understood because of a minimal infringement in a segment of a sentence. In this report, an attempt is made to categorize errors according to their psycholinguistic sources, and to understand how the... ... middle of paper ... ...s absolutely no sense of rhythm to play the drums. The English they speak can be termed Indian English and is completely acceptable when the listeners are Indians. However, the comprehension is getting affected when the listener is a native speaker of English. Therefore, more than making the learners ‘learn,’ we have to make them ‘unlearn’ the ‘English’ that they unconsciously imbibe. Works Cited Rao, Srinivasa S .2012. To Correct or Not to Correct - Usual and Unusual Errors among Telugu Speakers of English. Language in India . Vol.12 Burt, M, & Kiparsky, C. 1974. Global and local mistakes. In Schumann, J. H., and Stenson, N., (Eds.), New Frontiers in Second Language Learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House. Raimes, A. 1987. Language proficiency, writing ability, and composing strategies: A study of ESL college student writers. Language Learning, 37(3): 539-567.
“Standard English was imposed on children of immigrant parents, then the children were separated from native English speakers, then the children were labeled “inferior” and “ignorant” (Hughes 70) because they could not speak Standard English. In addition to feeling inferior about their second language skills, these students also felt inadequate in regard to speaking their own mother tongues” (qtd in Kanae)
Simon emphases the significance of knowing, and using proper English, as well as keeping it alive. He proposes ways to sharpen the brain, which will result in a greater sense of discipline and memory. Simon also notes that everything we do is done with words, therefore, English is viewed as an essential to everyday life. The accurate use of rhetorical devices in this article are just one of many examples on how good English can help a person on a day to day basis. Despite Simon’s knowledge of proper English, the remainder of Americans must train themselves so that they may also achieve correct usage of the English
The Phenomenology of Error is a passage that is written by Joseph M. Williams. He evaluates through the concept that errors of grammar and usage are puzzling. Many believe that we understand the true meaning behind grammar, but we do not. Without a doubt, William repeatedly questioned what defines error and who decides what an error is. Throughout the passage William attempts to describe how the professionals who create rules for grammatical errors tend to break those rules themselves. William elaborates on how the social problems that exist in our society are neglected greatly because we focus on the issues of grammar to a greater extent. Our disapproval for grammar errors had always been seen as a larger problem. The idea that people take
In “Defending Against the Indefensible” by Neil Postman, he proposes a different way of viewing the English language. He says that our civilization is being manipulated by the ambiguity in English, and students are most easily affected by the school environment. Thus, he proposes seven key ideas that students should remember in order to avoid the dangers and loopholes that twist the original meaning of statements.
Amy Tan, daughter of 2 immigrants form China, and author of “Mother Tongue,” emphasizes that there is no such thing as “Correct English.” In this short story, inspired by her mother, she talks about her personal experience involving her mother’s broken English. Growing up she had to go through some struggles like being a translator for her mother and seeing others judging her because she didn’t speak correctly. Amy Tan is trying to inform readers that there is no such thing as correct English, and that not only her but other non native speakers go through the same struggles as she did. She is trying to persuade those ignorant people that judge those with broken English, that simple English isn’t broken. That just because you come from a different
Researchers have provided different classifications of speech errors. They can be categorized according to the “linguistic units,” such as “phonological feature, phoneme, syllable, morpheme, word phrase, or sentence levels” (Harely, 2001, p. 376). Moreover, speech errors can be classified according to the “mechanisms” of the speech errors (Harely, 2001, p. 376). For example, Carroll (2007) classified eight of the basic types of slips of the tongue according to the error mechanism from the previous psycholinguistic studies. These errors include shift, exchanges, anticipations, perseveration, additions, deletions, substitutions, and blends.
The English language is absolutely insane. With all the tiny rules and idiosyncrasies, mistakes are bound to be made by someone speaking and or writing in the language. These are the tiny rules that could make someone pull their hair out in frustration, the tiny rules that could plunge someone into the infinite realm of insanity. There are people who think that English should be spoken correctly or not at all (generally punishable by genocide). There are people who think that the other group is a sad bunch of nerds who need a life. Which group is correct here? Certainly not the grammar fascists of the Third Reich variety, but the latter just sounds like a bunch of uneducated swine. To answer the question, another question needs to be posed. Is there a correct way to speak?
Interest in speech errors started many decades ago. Historically in the sixteenth century, several writers used it as a source of humor. For example, Henry Peacham in his book complete gentleman (1622) refers to a melancholy gentleman who says "sir, I must go dye a beggar" instead of "I must go buy a dagger ". Speech errors have been under scope since the 8th century, when the Arab linguist Alkisai (1915) wrote his book Errors of the Populace. He was interested in such errors because he believed that such errors may provide insight into how language change. Recently, speech errors have been studied in several fields of linguistics as being a source of the history of linguistic change, a mean for understanding the speech production and to gain insight into psycholinguistics. The scope of those researches is not to find out why the speech errors happen, but how they occur and how the people arrange linguistic structures as they speak. An investigation of such speech errors has been spotted in many researches. As David Crystal (2001) has noted, studies of tongue'...
Sharma, B., 2008. “World Englishes, English as a Lingua Franca, and English Pedagogy”, Journal of NELTA 13 (2), pp. 121-130. Available from
New languages are always overwhelming.English is difficult language to learn, especially if it isn’t practiced often. The english language includes rules that can be frustrating to get a grip of. Many International students face the fear of not being understood or not pronouncing something correct...
Tomasello, M., & Herron, C. (n.d.). Transfer Errors: The Garden Path Technique., Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1989. ERIC - Feedback for Language Transfer Errors: The Garden Path Technique., Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 1989. Retrieved February 8, 2014, from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ400841
‘Mother Tongue’ a story by Amy Tan tries to take us through the different events one should change the manner in which he or she uses language with the listeners. As the speaker, one should use the appropriate language for the right audience so as to avoid circumstances in which language barrier can occur. The language which Tan uses with her mother is quite different from the one she uses with her listeners when engaging in public or official talks. It is quite evident that when Tan was confronting the stock broker who wanted to con her mother she changes her diction which matched a sophisticated language from the one her mother used. Language becomes hectic when one is trying to fit in a language he or she can hardly talk (Diyanni 633-639).
People live in the world of communication. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (Moore, 1997), communication is defined as, “The activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving people information”. The significance of communication can be found within the context of a human existing as a social being. As a human being manages his or her life in the course of the interaction between other members of the entire society, communication is inevitable. Communication occurs through the medium of a language and it is presented in two different forms which are written and spoken (Brown & Yule, 1983: 1-10). The importance of spoken performance of a language is becoming more prominent over the written performance capability. It is because the ability to speak a language reflects a person’s personality, self image, knowledge of the world, ability to reason, skill to express thoughts in real-time (Luoma, 2004: ix). These days, due to the global trend of internationalisation, the ability to communicate in English is needed as an essential skill. Whenever the international exchange happens, the use of spoken English entails. However, it is not always an easy task for people who use English as a second language to be able to speak to the level of a native speaker. They have to perfectly understand the sound system of English, have almost instant access to proper vocabulary and be able to place words together intelligibly without hesitation. Moreover, they also have to perceive what is being said to them and need to be able to respond appropriately to acquire amiable relations or to accomplish their communicative goals (Luoma, 2004: ix). Therefore, non-native English speakers encounter these barriers and they are subject to make mistakes often. In relation to this matter, this essay argues that there are socio-cultural factors as well as linguistic factors that affect non-native speakers’ communication in English. It provides analysis of several different situations when the use of spoken English has generated miscommunication problems in regards to author’s personal experience.
Miller, T. P, & Faigley, L. (1982). College English. National Council of teachers of English, 44(6). Retrieved from http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0010-
Since general learner dictionaries may not provide enough information on semi-fixed expressions, learners' errors in this case are expected to increase, (Hunt, 1997:177). McCarthy (1990 in Hunt, 1997) maintains that when students produce errors like John rescued my life, those dictionaries' entries often do not state clearly that it is preferable to say or write John saved my life, to prevent learners from committing this error. However, it may be unreasonable to expect general learners' dictionaries to cover comprehensively many learners' errors. Such information may be better placed in specialized learners' dictionaries which focus on common errors for a special language group such as with Japanese learners or Arab learners. This would be effective especially when the error is due to literal translation. On the other hand, if certain learners' errors such as rescued my l...