1. Errores que hacemos al
aprender Inglés
Autor: Begoña Ruiz Cordero
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2. Presentación del curso
Con el presente curso se pretende explicar en lengua inglesa los errores más
frecuentes que cometemos los españoles al aprender inglés y sus causas. Además,
se incluyen una serie de ejercicios prácticos para su corrección.
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3. 1. Introduction
Most of people agree that making mistakes is a part of learning, others think of
mistake as a problem, but ... what is a mistake? Why do we make them? Can we learn
a language without making mistakes? Do we need a teacher to correct all mistakes
we make? Is it useful?
This paper´s aim is to clarify these questions, analyse mistakes students make when
learning a foreign language, and present different techniques how to correct them.
Moreover, it focuses on the common mistakes Spanish students make when
speaking English. It also discusses the causes of these mistakes.
This paper consists of two parts. The first one is theoretical and it is based on
general information about mistakes and the second part focuses on mistakes
Spanish students make as well as on the causes of these mistakes. This part also
includes exercises and recommendations how to avoid or correct these mistakes.
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4. 2. Definition of mistakes
When we talk about mistakes when learning a second language we talk about an
unconscious derivation when a learner sometimes uses one form and sometimes the
other - he "gets it right" - but sometimes he makes a mistake and uses a wrong
form. (GADUSOVÁ, Z. and HAR?ANSKÁ, J: Methodology of teaching English as a
foreign language, Anthology of Methodological Text, 1994)
In other words a mistake is incorrect language which a native speaker would not
usually produce, that is, sometimes that only learners of the language produce.
There are two sorts of mistakes:
- The mistake that occurs when a speaker uses a correct piece of language
(linguistic form) that does not mean what the speaker wanted to mean.
- The mistake that occurs when the speaker uses a correct linguistic form that
is socially unacceptable - the big problem here being one of politeness.
From a teacher´s opinion of how a mistake fits in with an individual student´s stage
of learning in her class, mistakes can be divided up into different categories:
a) Slips: If the teacher thinks that a student could self correct a mistake.
b) Errors: If a student cannot self correct a mistake in his or her own language,
but the teacher thinks that the class is familiar with the correct form.
c) Attempts: When the teacher knows that the students have not yet learned the
language necessary to express what they want to say.
(EDGE, J: Mistakes and correction, Longman, 1989).
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5. 3. Causes
There are six causes of mistakes but we can join them into four:
Mother tongue interference: One cause of mistake in speaking a foreign language is
the influence of the speaker´s first language. Although children appear to be able to
learn a foreign language quite easily and to reproduce new sounds very effectively,
most older learners experience considerable difficulty. The sound system
(phonology) and the grammar of the first language impose themselves on the new
language and this leads to a "foreign" pronunciation, faculty grammatical patterns
and, occasionally, to the wrong choice of vocabulary. As a result, when people do
not know how to say something in a foreign language, one possibility is to use
words and structure for their own language and try to make them fit into the foreign
language. E.g. a German speaker with a cigarette and no lighter might ask: "have you
fire?" instead of "do you have light?"
2. Overgeneralization: A second cause of mistake is when learners think they
know a rule, but in fact they do not know quite enough. The learner can also make
up a rule that is simply wrong itself. E.g. "he growed up in Canada" or "your room is
more tider than mine"
3. Thirdly, people may say things that they know are not correct because this is
still their best chance of getting their message across. This is another intelligent use
of knowledge about things in order to communicate.
4. Fourthly, mistakes can happen because someone is in a hurry or tired or
thinking about something lese. There are differences between mistakes made by
native speakers and mistakes made by learners, but slips of the tongue or of the
pen are found in everyone´s English.
It´s quite easy to think of possible causes of mistakes that learners make when
speaking a foreign language, but it is very difficult indeed to say in anyone´s case
exactly what causes a particular mistake to occur. (EDGE, J. Mistakes and correction,
Longman 1989; GOWER, R., PHILLIPS, D., WALTERS, S., Teaching Practise Handbook,
Heinemann, 1995)
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6. 4. Correction: who, how, when,...
It´s very important to know that it is more important to correct mistakes that affect
the meaning of several sentences than to correct small grammatical points inside
one sentence. We have to emphasize the communication.
The psychology of correction
Correction has a number of possible psychological effects on students, and what
affects one student badly affects another very positively. (Frustration, satisfaction,
fear, confidence, etc.)
Talking about confidence, it´s obvious that it is a keyword; on one hand, some
students gain confidence from being allowed to express themselves without being
picked up for every mistake and, on the other, some gain confidence from knowing
very strictly the limits of what is right or wrong. The one thing that can bring these
two seemingly opposed groups together is technique. (GOWER, R., PHILLIPS, D.,
WALTERS, S., Teaching Practise Handbook, Heinemann, 1995; BARTRAM, M. and
WALTON, R. Correction, Language Teaching Publication 1991)
Who corrects?
There are different types of correction:
Self-correction: when the teacher gives the students the chance to correct
themselves. Sometimes they need some assistance from the teacher in knowing
where the mistake is and what kind of mistake it is before they can self-correct. A
student-student correction: when the student cannot get it right, it is probable s/he
doesn´t know how to; in this case another student can help out. This has some
advantages such as involving all the students in the correction process, making the
learning more cooperative, etc. Teacher correction: when the teacher corrects.
How do you correct?
The ability to correct "sensitively, efficiently and effectively" is a skill that takes time
to perfect. One of the most important things is to maintain a cooperative working
atmosphere. In this process, the main stages are: the student must know when
something is not accurate, where the error is, and what kind if error it is.
When do you correct?
In general, it depends on the aim of the activity. It is a good idea to tell students the
purpose of the activity: whether the emphasis is on the accuracy or fluency, to what
extent the teacher is going to correct them, how the teacher is going to provide
feedback, etc.
Are errors always bad?
Positive aspects to be considered:
- At least the students are trying
- By making errors, learners are testing out their ideas about the language;
making errors is a part of the learning process!
- By noting the errors that the students make, the teacher can see what needs
focusing on in future lessons
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8. 5. Ortographic mistakes
1. "The people is"
In Spanish, the Spaniards make concordance between the noun and the verb. The
noun "people" is used in singular in Spanish so this is why they use the verb in
singular.
In general, this kind of mistakes can be caused by the influence of the first
language´s structure. They also try to apply a rule of English "noun + verb" which is
not correct because the verb is not making English concordance.
To correct this problem, this exercise can be suggested in order to practise "people
+ verb in plural" or "person + verb in singular". After having done this exercise, the
student will be able to acquire the rule.
Exercise: filling the gaps using the correct form of the verb
There is a house in the country where people _____________ (to be) very happy.
One person _________ (to be) sitting on the floor.
Three people _________ (to eat) tomatoes in my house.
I go to a club where people _________ (to play) tennis.
People in Slovakia _________ (to speak) Slovak.
2. "The car red"
The Spaniards always put the adjective after the noun. This is why they make this
mistake in English where this rule doesn´t apply. We can say that this mistake is
caused by the mother tongue interference. But sometimes the student hasn´t
acquired the rule and s/he uses this structure because it´s the best chance of
getting his/her message across. Several exercises can be used in order to correct
this problem. We can also use tapes as a good resource to help the students to place
the adjective in a correct way.
Exercise: Make sentences using these words
- car/father/has/my/a/red
- I/wonderful/live/a/house/in
- wears/blue/my brother/T-shirt/a
- men/black/use/umbrellas
- music/I/modern/listen to
¿You went to England?
The Spaniards always use two question marks when asking (one at the beginning
and the other one at the end) and they don´t use auxiliaries when asking. This is
why they make these mistakes - because of the mother tongue interference. At the
same time the Spaniards don´t use auxiliaries when answering because they don´t
have them in Spanish and they usually answer using the same verb as the one used
in the question. E.g. "do you go to London? Yes, I go."
To correct these problems, the following exercises should be done:
a) Join these sentences with an appropriate answer.
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9. Do you like vegetables? Yes, I do.
Does your father smoke? No, I don´t.
Do you practice sports? Yes, he/ she does.
Do your friends like chocolate? No, he/she doesn´t.
Does your mother work?
b) Complete the sentences with the correct auxiliary according to the answer.
_________you need help? No, I don´t.
_________ your sister go to the cinema? No, she doesn´t.
_________ they need some fruits? Yes, they do.
__________ he like swimming? Yes, he does.
__________ you smoke cigarettes? No, I don´t.
c) Put short answers in the blanks.
Do you like tennis? No, ____________.
Does your mother play the guitar? Yes, ____________.
Do your family sing in Christmas? Yes, ____________.
Do you go shopping on Sunday? No, ______________.
Does your friend eat vegetables? No, ______________.
2. "I am constipated" instead of "I have a cold"
In this case they use "constipated" meaning "having a cold" because the word in
Spanish referring to "have a cold" is similar: constipado.
To solve this problem students just have to memorize the meaning of the word.
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10. 6. Phonetic mistakes
Most of the phonetic mistakes are caused for two reasons ¨C either because some
sounds don¡¯t exist in Spanish or because they pronounce every word in the same
way as it¡¯s written.
The following sounds do not occur or are pronounced differently in Spanish:
a). /b-/v/. The Spaniards don¡¯t make differences between the voiced sound /b/
and voiceless /v/ because in Spanish they pronounce both as voiceless. E.g. very,
button ¨C the same sound in Spanish language.
To correct the problem with /b/ and /v/, students can do the following exercises.
Before that, the teacher has to explain that one of them is ¡°bilabial¡±(b) and the
other one is ¡°labiodental¡± (v).
Listen to the teacher and repeat these words:
Vacation button vomit basket
Very cover problem verb
Listen to the tape and put a tick to the word you hear:
Vine__ Labial___ Job___ Very_____ Blue___ Liberal___
Bad____ Very____ Ball___ Van______ Vocal___ Brother____
Watch and listen to the film and write down same words with the sound /b/ and /v/.
b). /¡Ò /-/s/. The Spaniards don¡¯t have the sound /s / and it is a little bit difficult
for them to pronounce words with this sound. To differentiate /s/ and /¡Ò /
students can do this exercise.
Listen to the teacher and repeat these words:
Shower vacation shock
Graduation shoes question
Listen to the tape and put a tick on the word you hear:
Question___ vacation ___ special___ science ____
Shock__---_ space ____condition____ some____
c). /dz/ - /h/ The Spaniards don¡¯t have these sounds in their mother tongue. For
them it¡¯s very difficult to produce these sounds. E.g. just, luggage /dz/, history,
honey /h/.
To produce the sound /dz/ in a correct way the following exercises can be done.
Listen to the teacher and repeat these words:
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11. Just sandwich job jog
Luggage pigeon percentage cage
Listen to the tape and put a tick on the word you hear:
Just ____ jump ____ garage ____ pyjama _____ cabbage ____ jumper ___
Watch and listen to the film and write down some words with the sound /dz/.
2. The Spanish pronounce every word in the same way as it¡¯s written. E.g.women
¨C they say /women/ instead of /wimin/.Bird ¨C they say /bi:d/ instead of /b3: d/.
Table ¨C they say /table/ instead of /teibl/.
To correct this reading/pronunciation problems, this exercise can be done:
Listen to the tape and choose the appropriate form:
Woman- /wimin/-/w¦Ôman/.
Layer- /leja /-/lajer/.
Philosophy- /filosafi/- /pilosopi/
Bird- /bi:d/-/b3:d/.
Moreover, they also tend to pronounce an e before the s at the beginning of the
words starting with s to make easier their pronunciation. E.g. Spanish-espanish.
Small-esmall. Spell-espell.
To correct this problem these exercise can be done:
Listen and repeat these words:
Spain Slovak Spell Spoon
Ski Sweater Spanish Small
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12. 7. Conclusion
To conclude, everyone can agree with me that making mistakes is a part of learning.
Obviously, both the teacher and the student would rather they didn´t make
mistakes but we can say that it´s nearly impossible to learn a foreign language
without making them.
To sum up, students have to realize that mistakes are necessary, acceptable, and
will be corrected in a non-judgmental, supportive and effective way.
However, students have to accept mistakes as a part of learning process as well as
try to avoid them in future situations.
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13. 8. Bibliography
BARTRAM, M and WALTON, R: Correction (Language Teaching Publications, 1991)
ISBN: 09067 17914.
EDGE, J: Mistakes and Correction (Longman, 1989) ISBN:05827 46264.
GADUSOVÁ, Z and HAR?ANSKÁ, J: Methodology of Teaching English as a Foreign
Language (Anthology of Methodological Text, 1994).
GOWER, R, PHILLIPS, D and WALTERS, S: Teaching Practice Handbook (Heinemann,
1995) ISBN: 04352 40595.
HUBBARD, P, TONES, H, THORNTON, B and WHEELER, R: A Training Course for TEFL
(Oxford University Press, 1983) ISBN: 01943 27108.
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