U.N.A.M.

F.E.S. Acatlán
División de Humanidades

Licenciatura en Enseñanza de Inglés

Examen extraordinario

Comparative Linguistics and Error Analysis

A study in Contrastive Analysis and Error Analysis: Inversion in questions

Preciado Macias Erika

Lic. Humberto Cárdenas Tarrasa

June, 2019
Introduction

The purpose of this project is to present the results obtained through an instrument tool applied to PG5 groups
at FES Acatlán, UNAM in order to take a look into one of the most widely studied aspects of English as L2: the
inversion that is found in wh- questions, as well as providing terms regarding Linguistics, Contrastive Analysis, and
Error Correction to provide the necessary tools to identify the areas of difficulty that the Spanish speakers will
present in English.

Within this text, there are five chapters that will describe, and provide insight in the influence of the Mother
tongue in English learners.

1.1 General Objective

The following project examines the acquisition of subject-verb inversion in English wh-questions by Spanish
speakers; it seeks to shed light on the difficulties that students have to face when learning the wh- question
structure.

1.2 Nature of the Problem

Asking questions in English may cause problems to Spanish speakers, because unlike Spanish, English requires the
word order to be inverted: You are a student (Eres estudiante) becomes Are you a student? (¿Eres estudiante?).
For yes/no questions, an auxiliary verb is needed: You play a musical instrument (Tocas un instrumento musical)
becomes Do you play a musical instrument? (¿Tocas un instrumento musical?) For Spanish speakers this
represents one of the most difficult topics, due to language transfer from student’s L1 to L2. The reason of it is
simple: subject-verb inversion and verb finiteness are independent in Spanish. In fact, the easiest and more
common way of forming yes/no questions in Spanish when speaking is by simply changing the voice intonation,
raising your voice at the end of the statement. When writing you just put question marks before and after the
sentence. Es difícil (It’s difficult) ¿Es difícil? (Is it difficult?).

Chomsky’s universal grammar (UG) is based on the idea that human languages share fundamental features, no
matter how diverse they are. It states that language is innate “To say that language is not innate is to say that
there is no difference between my granddaughter, a rock, and a rabbit. In other words, if you take a rock, a rabbit
and my granddaughter and put them in a community where people are talking English, they’ll all learn English. If
people believe that there is a difference between my granddaughter, a rabbit, and a rock, then they believe that

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language is innate.” (Chomsky 2000:50). This topic also presents certain degree of difficulty, even for native
speakers: “Predictable stages in the acquisition of wh- questions in English include early stages in which the wh-
word appears before the rest of the sentence, which is otherwise left in its normal uninverted form. Only later do
acquirers begin to invert the subject and verb of the sentence”. (Krashen 1987: 15) We will take into account the
branch of linguistics in charge of the grammatical structure of sentences: syntax. The job of syntax is to formulate
the rules to generate an infinite set of sentences from a finite set of rules or principles. Language enables us to
express our thoughts, ideas, and feelings to others and also to understand theirs. The knowledge that the user has of
the language is called mental grammar and it is composed of the competence on the one hand and on the linguistic
performance on the other hand. According to Noam Chomsky competence is the ideal knowledge of a language
system, including a person’s ability to create and understand sentences. Performance is the actual use of the
language in speech and writing. A learner’s performance in a language is an indirect indication of his or her
performance.

Linguistics is the scientific study of this. Language is the institution whereby humans communicate and interact
with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols. (R.A. Hall. 1968. An Essay on
Language. New York). That is to say that linguistics is the objective scientific, humanistic, and philosophical study
of language. Since linguistics is systematic it has consistent rules for form, meaning and use. Linguistics can be
divided into several subfields according to the point of view that is adapted.

FIRST DSTINCTION
General Linguistics
. Studying language in general.
. Supplies the concepts and categories in terms of which particular languages are to be analysed.

Descriptive Linguistics

. Studying particular languages.

. Provides data, which confirm or refute the propositions and theories put forward in general linguistics.

SECOND DISTINCTION
Diachronic (Historical) Linguistics
. Traces the historical development of the language and records the chnges that have taken place in it between
successive points in time.

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. Of particular interest to linguist through the nineteenth century.

Synchronic Linguistics

. Non-historical: presents an account of the language as it is at some particular point in time.

THIRD DISTINCTION

Theoretical Linguistics
. Studies language and languages with a view to constructing a theory of their structure and functions and
without regard to any practical applications that the investigation of language and languages might have.
. Goal: formulation of a satisfactory theory of the structure of language in general .

Applied Linguistics

. Application of the concepts and findings of linguistics to a variety of practical tasks, including language
teaching.
. Concerned with both the general and descriptive branches of the subject.

FOURTH DISTINCTION

Micro Linguistics
. Adopts the narrower view.
. Concerned solely with the structures of the language system in itself and for itself.

.Phonetics
. Phonology
. Morphology
. Syntax
. Semantics
. Pragmatics

Macro Linguistics

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Adopts the broader view concerned with the way languages are acquired, stored in the brain and used for various
functions; interdependence of language and culture; physiological and psychological mechanisms involved in
language behaviour.

• . Sociolinguistics
. Neurolinguistics
• . Psycholinguistics
. Discourse Analysis
. Computational Linguistics
• . Applied Linguistics

Phonetics is the study of human sounds, which are used to differentiate meaning, and those, which don’t serve
this function. It is often used to refer to the pronunciation of a language. It is divided into articulatory phonetics
(emission of sounds), acoustic phonetics (transmission of sounds), and auditive phonetics (reception of sounds).
In order to differentiate meaning we need three terms to start with: Phone, which is the smallest unit of human
sound. It is recognisable, the delimiters used are square brackets: [i:]. Phoneme is the smallest unit of language,
which distinguishes meaning. Slashes are used: /k/. Phonemes in one language are not necessarily phonemes in
another. Ot is possible to distinguish phonemes in the way they are pronounced and in their relative length.
Allophone, refers to the realisation of a phoneme, it is an abstract unit.

Phonology is the study of sound patterns, were ‘sounds’ refers to the auditory effect of articulations made by
vocal apparatus during speech, and ‘patterns”, to abstract structures that correlate to mind how sounds are
organised in particular languages; it tries to discover the psychological patterns and underlying organisation of
sounds shared by native speakers of a certain language. In other words phonology studies how the sounds interact
with each other when they are used in real language; how they combine to form words and those words combine
to form sentences. There is another view of phonology as an aspect of human cognition rather than the external,
physical or social reality, and Edward Sapir pioneered it during the first half of the twentieth century. This known
as ‘Mentalistic phonology’ was formalised as a core discipline of Generative Linguistics by linguists Morris Halle
and Noam Chomsky.

Morphology is the study of internal structure of words. The term is attributed to the German poet, novelist, and
philosopher Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, who coined it in a biological context, it refers to “shape or form”, it is
interpreted as “ study of form”. In linguistics morphology was first used by German linguist August Schleicher in

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1859, it deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed. In order to understand it better we
need to distinguish some terms: morpheme is the smallest linguistic unit with a grammatical function. It may
consist of a word, such as cat, or a meaningful piece of word such as the un of unbelievable. Allophone is

Morphology is divided into two branches: lexical or derivational morphology that studies the way in which new
items of vocabulary can be built up out of combination of elements, and inflectional morphology that studies the
way words vary in their form in order to express grammatical contrast.

Syntax is the study of sentence structure. However, it is important to point out that syntax is not about meaning
and we can use the following Chomsky’s popular sentence to exemplify it: “ Colourless green ideas sleep furiously”
which has no sense, still it is grammatically correct. Syntax refers to the structure of sentences and the rules
governing how words are combined to form sentences. In a native speaker those rules are acquired at a very
young age and internalized. Whether a sentence is grammatically correct or incorrect depends on the order of the
lexical categories (nouns, verbs, adjectives, determiners, prepositions and adverbs).

Semantics is the study of meaning in human language. It is very close to pragmatics, although semantics deals
with literal meaning while pragmatics deals with the intended meaning: the usage of language, and the language
in context. Knowing the meaning of words is not enough to truly understand the meaning of a sentence. Two
sentences with the same words can mean something different:

1. This will destroy you.

2. You will destroy this.

Two sentences with some of the words different can mean the same:

1. This will destroy you

2. You will be destroyed by this

Semantics also studies tense and aspect, which means that different languages use different tense/aspects to
express the same thing. Nowadays there are two ways of approaching semantics: The formal semantics connected
with classical philosophical semantics and refers to logic, and the psychologically oriented semantics or cognitive
semantics which tries to explain semantic phenomena appealing to biological, psychological and cultural issues.

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Pragmatics is the study of how people use context and other information in order to understand language. The
most important principle of pragmatics is the cooperative principle, which states that people work together to
advance conversation. According to David Crystal pragmatics is the most important branch of linguistics since it
answers the question “why?” “It the study of the choices you make when you use language, the reasons for those
choices, and the effects that those choices convey”. “Every aspect of language whether is vocabulary, grammar,
pronunciation, spelling, punctuation, whatever it is, when you actually explore it there is a reason for its use.
Pragmatics is the study of those reasons, that’s why is so important; in a word pragmatics allows you to answer
the question “why?”

Since the forties, applied linguistics has developed a rigorous and scientific research concerning the learning of a
second language, resulting overall under the term of Contrastive Linguistics which endeavours to answer some
questions regarding second language learning and acquisition. Benjamin Whorf first used the term CL in 1941 in
an article called Language and Logic. Four years later Charles Fries published Teaching and Learning English as a
Foreign Language. The following models Contrastive Analysis (CA), Error Analysis (EA), and Interlanguage (IL) are
part of CL.

2.1 Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis

A user of a foreign language may make mistakes due to the influence of his/her mother tongue. Whether those
mistakes are made in pronunciation, grammar, or other level of language we call it interference, and we will discuss
about it later on. “Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings and the distribution of their native language
and culture to the foreign language and culture- both productively and when attempting to speak the language
and to act in the culture and receptively when attempting to grasp and understand the language and culture as
practiced by natives.” (1957, in Gass and Selinker 1983, p.1)

Contrastive analysis hypothesis (CAH) is the systematic comparison of two or more languages in all the levels of
the language (semantic, pragmatic, morphologic, syntactic, etc.) with the aim of describing the similarities and
their differences between the mother tongue or L1 and the target language or L2. Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis
(CAH) emerged in the forties, it is called hypothesis because the basic premise it is that CAH is just an assumption,
nothing is guarantee 100%, and we can only predict or hypothesise the difficulties.

The main idea of CA, according to Robert Lado in his book Linguistics Across Cultures (1957), was that it is possible
to identify the areas of difficulty a particular foreign language will present for native speakers of another language
by systematically comparing the two languages and cultures. According to it if a target language is similar to the

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mother tongue then it would be easier to learn, and if there is an enormous difference between them then the
target language will be very difficult to learn. As a bilingual, Lado was aware of the importance of cultural
difference in mastering a foreign language. However, the influence of the structuralism of the time can be seen in
other linguists such as Bloomfield who viewed language as a rule-governed system. This structuralist emphasis
resulted in the audio-lingual language teaching with drill structural patterns. That is how CA became associated
with behaviourist psychology. Behaviourism viewed learning as habit formation made by repeated patterns of
stimulus, response and reinforcement.

The following points summarize the major claims of the CAH:

• Learning a language is a question of habit formation.

• Students of a foreign language transfer the items, categories and structures.
• Interference (or negative transfer) takes place at all levels of linguistic structure (phonological, syntactic,
and semantic) and affects both productive and receptive skills.
• Comparison will reveal both the differences and the similarities between native language and target
language.
• Systematic comparison depends on the availability of scientific descriptions of the two languages
concerned.
• Comparison of whole languages is impossible; we can only compare equivalent sub-systems.
• Similarities between native language and target language will cause no problems, but differences will.
The student’s learning task is in fact the sun of the differences between the two languages.
• On the basis of the differences between two linguistic systemsCA can predict the difficulties that
students will have.
• Difficulties can be arranged in hierarchies based on the extent to which two systems diverge.
• It is the task of linguist to discover the differences and the task of the textbook writer to develop the
appropriate teaching materials.

However, opponents to this theory argue that the principle that all the mistakes of the language learner are due
to the make-up of his/her native language is demonstrably false. They also believe that linguist’s prediction of
mistakes based on a contrastive study is less reliable than the teacher’s prediction based on his/her experience.
CA was also criticised for having mainly concentrated on the comparison of surface structures, using a
behaviouristic theoretical framework.

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2.2 Error Analysis
Error became the central concern in audiolingual approaches. In the late 1950’s and 1960’s the focus shifted
towards interlingual errors rather than intralingual ones. Uriel Weinreich’s (1953) Language in Contact talks about
language interference. “Any speaker of two languages will tend to identify sounds, words, structures and
meanings in one language with corresponding elements in the other language, that is to say, speakers of two or
more languages are engaged in a process of making “interlingual identifications” ”.(Weinreich 1957:7). He was
more interested in the way languages influence each

other when they come in contact, rather than classroom language learners. Then, in 1967 British linguist Pit Corder
re-focused attention on error, in his view, errors are not only inevitable but also a necessary feature of learner
language, without which improvement cannot occur. He coined the term transitional competence to indicate the
essential dynamism and flux of the language learner’s evolving system. Based on Chomsky’s view of first language
acquisition. He suggested that just as for the child acquiring its mother tongue evolves in a more or less fixed
pattern, so the foreign language learner may possess an inbuilt syllabus, which determines the order in which the
language system is acquired. Corder also takes Chomsky’s concepts of competence and performance to draw a
distinction between true errors of competence and errors of performance, or mere mistakes, that is to say the
product of chance circumstances analogous to slips of the tongue in the native language.

Corder elaborated a procedure in Error Analysis comprising five steps:

1. Selection of a corpus of language.

2. Identification of errors in the corpus.
3. Classification of the errors identified.
4. Explanation of the psycholinguistic causes of the errors.
5. Evaluation (error gravity ranking) of errors.

2.3 Interlanguage and Fossilization

Developed by Selinker (1972) in his paper Interlanguage and based on Corder’s Error Analysis Approach
Interlanguage Hypothesis states that the language of foreign language learners is itself a linguistic system
independent of L1 or L2, but it is influenced by them. Interlanguage refers to an intermediate language between

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the native and the target language. Selinker identified five central processes underlying language learner
language:

Language transfer to stress the active role of the learner.

Transfer of training referring to the effects of bad teaching.
Strategies of L2 learning which includes various attempts to simplify the system that the learner is struggling to
master.

Strategies of L2 communication the idea that the learner may trade off formal accuracy against fluent delivery
so as not to lose speaker attention.
Overgeneralisation of L2 rules referring to processes such as extending the “ed” morpheme for forming past
tenses to verbs to which it does not apply.

Selinker stated that under particular circumstances such as stress, anxiety, fatigue, or fear students may
“backside” into early stages of interlanguage. For most learners the interlanguage will stop eventually, reaching a
state where it cannot develop more despite added instruction or input, this state of pause is called fossilisation.

2.4 Comments
All activities and professions benefit from knowing how things work; linguistics is fundamental for language
teaching as much as any symbiotic relation; this can be viewed as a mutualistic relation in which practice and
theory benefit from each other. It is clear that linguistic research contributes to the understanding of teaching
and learning. The mere fact that we will become language teachers implies that we will be using applied linguistics.

Language teaching is much more than just speaking another language; it requires knowing how language works
as a system in order to make informed choices in our teaching. From selecting adequate material for our students,
assessing our student’s performance, to explain linguistic issues.

3.0 Inversion in interrogative form

Inversion occurs both in Spanish and English in wh/ qu questions. In this type of sentences the verb is inverted to
change from declarative to interrogative:
a) You want to run.
b) Where do you want to run?
a) Tú quieres correr.

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b) ¿Quieres correr?
The differences between them have been studied in Generative Grammar and in Spanish L2. A New Reference
Grammar of Modern Spanish (John Butt and Carmen Benjamin, 2000) suggests a set of rules to elaborate
questions when there is a surprise by using intonation. The word order does not change:

Declarative
Ellos van al parque.
They go to the park.

Question
¿Ellos van al parque?
Do they go to the park?

However, the subject may appear at the end of the sentence, even if there are no elements between the verb
and the subject in qu questions:

Declarative
La cita comienza a las 10.
The appointment starts at ten o’clock.
Question
¿Comienza a las 10 la cita?
Does the appointment start at ten o’ clock?

In this example, the subject la cita, appears before the verb, comenzar. In the second the subject la cita, appears
after the verb comenzar, and after a las diez.
Generative Grammar suggests that in non-auxiliary questions (Spanish), the verb moves using ¿qué? :
María compra pan
¿Qué compra María?

When Spanish speakers are introduced to inversions in interrogative questions in English as L2, they tend to use
the auxiliary verb without changing the order. In CEI PG5 students were asked to rewrite a sentence as a
question, only 4 out of 14 students could convert the sentence efficiently:

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She could play the piano when she was a child
Correct: Could she play the piano when she was a child? (4 students)
Other answers:
• When she could play the piano?
• When can you played the piano?
• She played the piano since child.
• She was able to play the piano when she was a child.
• What was something that she could learn?
• Did she played the piano when she was a child?
• Could play she the piano when she was a child?
• When she was a child she could play the piano?
• When she was a child she could play the piano.
• Could play she the piano when she was a child?
• She was a child she could play the piano?

One of the challenges in second language acquisition in particular is learning how to mentally represent the
grammatical structure of a target language. In this small study we find evidence of syntactic transfer from L1
Spanish to L2 English, even among very proficient learners of English.

3.1 Inversion in Spanish

In Spanish, same as in English, the common word order in a sentence implies that the main verb follows the
subject. For example:

[S] [V]
El niño corre en el parque.
The boy runs in the park.

Word order in Spanish is much more flexible than in English:

Corre el niño en el parque. (verb + subject + rest of sentence)

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En el parque corre el niño. (rest of the sentence + verb + subject)
Corre en el parque el niño. (verb+ rest of the sentence+ verb)
Some of the most common cases in which inversion can be found are:
Changing Word Order in Questions and Exclamations
When a question begins with an interrogative word, also known as question word, a verb comes next to it,
followed by a noun. This is also common in English.
• ¿Dónde pueden encontrar información los alumnos?
• Where can students find information?

When an interrogative word begins an exclamation, the subject also follows the verb:
• ¡Cuántos errores cometió él!
• What a lot of mistakes he made!

Changing Word Order Because of Adverbs

As a general rule, Spanish adverbs are placed near the word they modify depending on how the adverb is used,
it can be placed (before or after). For example:;“Possibly, Olivia will postpone her trip” has three possible
placements of the adverb:

• Olivia posiblemente retrasará su viaje.

• Olivia retrasará posiblemente su viaje.

• Posiblemente, Olivia retrasará su viaje.

Verbs of Existence Often Go First

The verbs haber and existir can be used to indicate that something exists. The subject usually follows them:
• Existen muchos lobos con piel de oveja. (There are a lot of wolves that wear sheepskins.)
• Solo hay vacío. (There is only emptiness.)

To Indicate Who Is Speaking

In English, you can use “Calm down”, his mother said” or “Calm down”, said his mother. However, the former is
more common, while in Spanish, the latter is nearly always used “Tranquilízate, dijo su madre”.

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Using Verbs Such as gustar
Gustar, faltar, encantar, doler, and molestar are some of the verbs in which the order of the sentence is: indirect
object + some of the aforementioned verbs + subject:

• Me gusta ese libro. (I like that book.)

• Me encanta esa canción. (I love that song.)

Using Word Order to Emphasis

It is not common in Spanish to place a verb before its subject noun. When done, it is usually to emphasise. Here
the speaker may be placing emphasis on the listening.
• De repente, me escuchó mi madre.
• Suddenly, my mother listened to me.

3.2 Inversion in English

Inversion is the reversal of the normal word order in a sentence or phrase. There are two types of inversion:
1. Subject-verb inversion, where the subject and the main verb switch positions and the word order becomes
verb + subject:
On the top of the hill stood an old oak three.

2. Subject-auxiliary inversion, where the subject and the auxiliary switch positions and the word order becomes
auxiliary + subject (+verb):
Hardly had I arrived home when my phone rang.
When does the bus leave?
You’re hungry, aren’t you?

Inversion happens when we reverse the normal word order of a structure, most commonly the subject-verb
word order. For example, a statement has the subject (s) before the verb (v), but to make question word order,
we invert the subject and the verb, with an auxiliary (aux) or modal verb (m) before the subject (s):

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[S] [V]
She sings.
[AUX] [S] [V]
Does she sing?
[S] [AUX] [V]
They are working

[AUX] [S] [V]

Are they working?

[S] [M] [V]

Joe can swim.

[M] [S] [V]

Can Joe swim?

The most common type of inversion is Question Order. Inversion also happens in other situations such as
negative adverbs. In formal styles, when we use an adverb with negative meaning (never, seldom, rarely,
scarcely, and hardly) in front position for emphasis, we invert the subject (s) and auxiliary (aux) modal verb:
[AUX] [S]
Never have we witnessed such cruel behaviour by one child to another. (or We never witnessed…)

Expressions beginning with not

The subject and verb are also inverted after not+ a prepositional phrase or a clause in initial position:

• Not for a moment did I think I would be offered the job, so I was amazed when I got it.
• Not till I got home did I realise my wallet was missing.

Here and there

Inversion can happen after here, and after there when it is as n adverb of place. After here and there, we can
use a main verb without an auxiliary verb or modal verb:
• Here comes the bus!

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 • Here’s your coffee.
• I opened the door and there stood Victoria, all covered in mud.
• He looked out and there was Alex, walking along in arm with Susan.

Subject- verb inversion after place adverbials

In this type of inversion, the subject and the main verb switch positions, so the verb comes before the subject.
When an adverb or an adverbial expression of place comes in the initial position the subject and verb are
inverted:

• Down the hill rolled the children.

• Round the corner was a nice café.

This is a rhetorical device used mainly in formal and literary styles; however, it may also occur in everyday
conversations:
• Here comes the bus
• There goes Sally.
• Here’s my number.

But if the subject is a personal pronoun, there is no inversion:

• Here it comes.
• There she goes.
• Here it is.

Subject- verb inversion in direct speech

In direct speech, if the quotation precedes the reporting verb, the subject and the reporting verb can be
inverted:

“I’m so sorry”, Maria said/ said Maria.

If the subject is long, usually there is inversion;

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“Good morning”, said the stranger in the black jacket.

But if the subject is a personal pronoun, there is no inversion:

“Good morning”, he said.

Subject-verb inversion in news headlines

In news headlines, if the reporting verb is in the final position, the subject and the reporting verb may be
inverted:

“HOW COULD HE HAVE BEEN LEFT SO LONG?”-ASKS FAMILY OF MAN FOUND DEAD ON CHAIR IN A&E

4. The Field Work

All of the previous research is put into practice in this chapter, it contains the necessary processes and measures
required in order to collect the corpus for the selection, location, description, and classification of the subject-
verb inversion errors that were found in the assessment tool, as well as the observation of these results. It
contextualizes the population chosen for this project, from general to particular, starting with information of the
institution where they attend their English course to the course modality and particular level the population
attends. Afterwards, the description of the instrument developed for the corpus collection: the analysis of each
item, along with the analysis of the answers, both correct and incorrect. This section also includes data collected
through a survey for statistical purposes, such as age, years studying English, and reasons why they decided to
study English. Finally, there is there the analysis of the corpus itself that includes the answers of each item, their
interpretation, and their categorized errors according to the error taxonomies suggested by Error Analysis Theory
(Dulay et. Al. 1982).

1. Linguistic Category: language component or linguistic constituent affected by the error. It consists of a) Skeleton
of English clauses, containing missing or misordered parts; b) the auxiliary system: c) passive sentences; d)
temporal conjunctions; e) sentential components, and f) psychological predicates.

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2. Surface Strategy: errors are classified as a) omission; b) additions (double markings, regularization and simple
additions); c) misformation, and d) misordering.

3. Comparative Taxonomy: errors are related to L1, classified as a) developmental errors, concerned with errors
children make; b) interlingual errors, coming from equivalents in L1; c) ambiguous errors, which can be considered
both the previous ones or none; and d) “grab bag category”, for errors not covered by this taxonomy.

4. Communicative Effect: regarding the effect errors can have on the listener or reader. The errors are classified
as local and global.

In addition to these taxonomies, the source of errors named “Intralingual Transfer” (Brown: 1994) is divided into
seven categories: 1. False analogy: the learner incorrectly thinks an item behaves like another one already known.
2. Misanalysis: an unfounded hypothesis being tested. 3. Incomplete rule application: the learner doesn’t apply
all the necessary rules to an item. 4. Exploiting redundancy: more words than necessary are used. 5. Overlooking
co-occurrence restrictions: the learner doesn’t know fixed expressions, such as collocations. 6. Hypercorrection:
learners overmonitoring their L2 output. 7. Overgeneralization: overuse of one form and underuse of others.

4.1 Description of the Program

The institution from which the population and sample for this project were taken is The National Autonomous
University of Mexico, Spanish Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), is a government-financed
coeducational institution of higher education, founded in 1551. UNAM is ranked joint 122nd in the world rankings,
and fourth in the Latin America rankings, making it the highest –ranked university in Mexico. In 2007, UNAM’s
main campus became one of Mexico’s 31 UNESCO Heritage Sites. Founded 40 years ago, the Faculty of Superior
Studies Acatlán (FES Acatlán) is an UNAM’s dependence.

Located in the North of Mexico City, FES Acatlán is an alternative for students in the metropolitan area. It is the
only Government University that offers Language Teaching studies. The Centre of Language Teaching, Spanish
Centro de Enseñanza de Idiomas (CEI) is part of UNAM’s educational system and the largest language school in
Latin America, it offers courses on Náuatl, Otomi, Russian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, French, Turkish,

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Japanese, Chinese, Arab, Dutch, Latin, Greek, Polish, Korean, Finnish, Swedish, and of course, English. Their
courses are divided into two modalities PG (Global Plan), which includes the four abilities of language: speaking,
reading, listening, and writing, as well as Reading Comprehension (CL) in which the student develops strategies to
understand texts in another language.
The above-mentioned project has been carried out in two PG5 English courses, it is necessary to describe, in
further detail, the PG modality in this institution.
Preceding the PG modality, there are two starter levels, nine PG levels, and a series of advanced courses. Each
level has a total of 50 hours divided into two lessons per week of two hours each.
There is no official syllabus for English courses. However, the grammar points are taken from the books they work
with, which are National Geographic’s books: Life. Life is a six-level series full of images meant to transform the
learning experience into a journey through the world. It has a competency-based syllabus. The following is the
syllabus used for PG 5 students:

LIFE 3 (National Geographic) Units 7 to 12

Unit 7: prepositions of place and movement, present perfect.

Unit 8: defining relative clauses, zero and first conditional.
Unit 9: present passive voice by + agent, past passive voice.
Unit 10: past perfect, subject and object questions, ed/ing adjectives.
Unit 11: used to, reported speech.
Unit 12: any, every, no, some, and, thing, where, one, body, second conditional, will/might.

4.2 The Instrument and its Application

This section deals with all the fieldwork made for this project, as well as the results and their analysis, including
the instrument developed for the detection of errors, which is described item by item. It consists of fifteen items;
five multiple questions, and ten open questions. It also contains a brief survey with relevant information of the
students, such as age, occupation; time spent learning English, hobbies, and motivations.

19
4.2.1 The Instrument
The grammar point chosen was inversion in questions; the test is divided into two sections, the first consists of
five multiple choices; the second part contains fifteen open questions in which students were asked to rewrite
ten sentences as questions, changing the word order and the form of the verb if necessary.

Section I
The first section of the instrument is a five-item multiple-choice exercise, with three possible answers each. There
is only one correct answer out of three; the other two are distractors, in which the tense and the word order are
incorrect.

Item 1: Lucy! Are you ready for your invitation at Olivia’s? You have sandwiches for the picnic, a huge bag of crisps
to share, a lot of cool water, fruit; ( ) some soda or some juice?
The expected answer is letter c “do you want”, which has the verb “do” in present simple, followed by the personal
pronoun “you” and the main verb “want” in infinitive. Letter “c” is the only acceptable answer; the other two
answers are wrong and are only used as distractors: a) did you wanted has the main verb in simple past, which
breaks the rule of not having the auxiliary verb and the main verb both in past tense. b) Have you want contains
an incorrect auxiliary verb.

Item 2: ( ) out with her dad when her mom realized she had left her sun hat behind.
The expected answer in this item is letter b “Hardly had Lucy gone”, which has the proper tense and syntactic
order: negative adverb + auxiliary verb + substantive + main verb in past participle. The other two answers a)
Hardly have Lucy been, and c) Lucy have hardly gone have wrong word order and the main verb is not correctly
conjugated.

Item 3: ( ) stay in the sun without a hat and glasses.

The expected answer in this item is letter c “Never should little girls”, which has the structure: adverb of frequency
+ modal verb+ substantive. The other two answers a) Never little girls should, and b) Should never little girls have
wrong word order.

20
Item 4: ( ) the hat, than she called on her husband’s cell phone.
The expected answer in this item is letter b “No sooner did mom see”, which has the proper tense and syntactic
structure: adverb + auxiliary verb in simple past + substantive + main verb in simple present. The other two
answers a) No sooner mom saw, and c) Mom no soon saw; have wrong conjugation, along with an incorrect word
order.

Item 5: ( ) her hat but she had also forgotten her sun glasses and sun lotion.
The expected answer in this item is letter c “Not only had Lucy left”, which has the proper tense and syntactic
order: Negative+ past simple+ substantive + verb in simple past. The other two answers a) Not also had Lucy left,
and b) Lucy haven’t also left, containing wrong word order and conjugation.

Section II

The second section of the instrument is a ten-sentence transformation exercise, in which students are asked to
rewrite the affirmative sentences as questions, changing the word order and the form of the verb in some cases.
Since the main focus on this project is the word order that lies in changing the sentences into questions, tense
errors were not taken into consideration. For such purpose it would be necessary to conduct a specific research
of verb tenses.

Item 6: Laura knows how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently.
The expected answer in this item is “Does Laura know how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently?”
which requires the use of the auxiliary verb “do” in present simple and “does” in third person singular. The
auxiliary verb should be followed by the main verb of the sentence in (know) in bare infinitive. Other accepted
answers include the wrong form of the verb (knows) “Does Laura knows how to serve her customers effectively
and efficiently?” since this project is looking for errors in the word order of the questions, not errors in verb tenses.

Item 7: Albert was accused of cheating.

The expected answer in this item is “Was Albert accused of cheating?” which requires the inversion of the simple
past verb “is” followed by the verb in simple past “accused”. Other accepted answers include the wrong form of
the verb “Was Albert accuse of cheating?” as we already mentioned above, this project is looking for errors in the
word order of the questions and not errors in verb tenses.

21
Item 8: You can understand why I’m upset.
The expected answer in this item is “Can you understand why I’m upset?” which requires the inversion of the
modal verb “can” followed by the personal pronoun “you” and the main verb “understand” in simple present.
Other acceptable answer will be “Do you understand why I’m upset?”

Item 9: Darlene chose the most expensive items on the menu.

The expected answer in this item is “Did Darlene choose the most expensive items on the menu?” which requires
the use of the auxiliary verb “do” in simple past. The auxiliary verb should be followed by the main verb of the
sentence in (choose) in bare infinitive. Other accepted answers include the wrong form of the verb (chose/chosen)
“Did Darlene chose the most expensive items on the menu?” since this project is looking for errors in the word
order of the questions, not errors in verb tenses.

Item 10: All the managers were taught how to use the new software.
The expected answer in this item is “Were all the managers taught how to use the new software?” which requires
the inversion of the verb “is” in simple past, followed by the substantive, and the verb “teach” in past simple.

Item 11: Basketball is Marcela’s favourite sport.

The expected answer in this item is “Is Marcela’s favourite sport?” which requires the inversion of the verb “to
be” in third person, present simple, followed by the substantive and the complement. Other accepted answer is
“Which is Marcela’s favourite sport?”

Item 12: The repairs to the car cost more than the car was worth.
The expected answer in this item is “Did the repairs to the car cost more than the car was worth?” which requires
the use of the auxiliary verb “do” in simple past.

Item 13: My computer was old and very slow.

The expected answer in this item is “Was my/ your computer old and very slow?” which requires the inversion of
the verb “to be” in simple past followed by the subject.

Item 14: She could play the piano when she was a child.

22
The expected answer in this item is “Could she play the piano when she was a child?” which requires the inversion
of the modal verb “could” followed by the personal pronoun, and the main verb “play” in infinitive.

Item 15: Never have I heard such a strange story.

The expected answer in this item is “Have I ever heard such a strange story?” which requires the inversion of the
auxiliary verb “have” followed by the pronoun, and the verb “hear” in past simple.
The survey section of the instrument asks for statistic-driven data, such as:
• Age
• Occupation
• Years studying English
• Institutions where they studied English
• Reasons why they decided to study English
• Hobbies
The survey avoids asking for the participant’s name, in order to maintain anonymity. Although the question
was not set, all the participants are UNAM’s internal community.

4.2.2 Corpus Collection

The corpus was collected at the FES Acatlán Language Teaching Centre (CEI) during the first two weeks of May
2018, on Wednesday the 2nd and Thursday the 10th. The participants were two groups of PG5, the first one
consisting of seven teen (17) students and the second one consisting of eight teen (18) students. For the first
group the sample was taken five minutes before the class would be finished at 1: 55 pm. Students were pretty
anxious, it was clear that they didn’t expect such a task. However, they answered all the questions, it seems that
the good relationship between professor and group was enough motivation for them to stay in the classroom
after class. The second sample was taken 15 minutes before the class was finished, they all looked relaxed and
confident. However, the circumstances didn’t seem to make a big difference, the results were very similar in both
groups.

23
 STUDENTS`AGES
C1
C2
3%
3%3% C3
3%
34% C4
17% C5
I1
3%
I2
7%
27% I3
I4
I5

The graph shows their ages range from 16 to 26. As expected from a sample taken from a place such as FES Acatlán
in which the vast majority belong to the community, students are in their early 20’s.
The next graph shows their occupation, 94% of them are internal community, while only the 3% are already
working, and external community, the other 3% are in High School (CCH).

OCCUPATION

3%3%

Student at FES Acatlan

High School student

94% Employee

The following graph shows the amount of time they have been studying English. It was found that all of them
have been studying English for at least 2 years. Furthermore, most of them (49%) have been studying the
language for longer than 10 years.

24
 YEARS STUDYING ENGLISH
15 years 19 years 2 years
6% 3%
14%
14 years
11%
3 years
12 years
11%
3%

11 years
6% 5 years
6%
6 years
6%
10 years
20% 7 years
9 years 8%
6%

Regarding the institutions in which the students have studied English, a total of seven institutions were counted.
The majority of the participants (83%) claim to have studied at UNAM’S CEI. It comes as no surprise, since PG5 is
an intermediate level, most of the students start with PG1.

INSTITUTIONS

3%3% CEI FES Acatlán

3%3%
3% Centro Escolar del Tepeyac
2%
Interlingua
New York Institute
Colegio Francés
Harmon Hall
83%
The Anglo

As for the reasons why students chose English language, the graph shows that student’s biggest motivation is
academic (69%) since they need a certification in English as a requirement for accreditation. Apart from it,

25
students think that English will be useful in their future professions. While 31% said that they study English
because they enjoy it.

MOTIVATION

The plesure of
learning a
language
31%
Requirement / The plesure of learning a language
accreditation Requirement / accreditation
69%

4.3 Error Analysis

This section presents the results of the instrument, their analysis and classification according to two different
taxonomies. The second part of the instrument, the open questions, provided a varied number of answers, only
those relevant for this research have been selected, for other errors might become subject of further research in
a different instrument.

4.3.1 Error Detection and Location

The following is an account of the errors found in the corpus, as well as their analysis. Correct answers will be
listed in graphs as “C” for correct, “I” for incorrect and “N” for no answer, if students leave the blank space. For
means of practicality, the answers to open questions (section 2) have been categorized according to the grammar
structures used and their coherence with the item itself.

In order to save space and reduce redundancy, only the item numbers will be mentioned, due to the fact that
their content can be found in section 4.2.1, as well as in Appendix 1.

Section 1
As a reminder to readers, this is a multiple-choice section, which leaves no room for doubt; there can be only
one right answer.

26
Item 1
For this item, one correct answer and two incorrect answers were found; all the participants answered this item.
• C: Do you want? (94%)
• I1: Did you wanted? (6%)
• I2: Have you want? (0%)
Most of the students had the right answer, only a minority had wrong answer, it seems that one of the
distractors was too obvious to be chosen. As seen in the following graph.

ITEM 1

3%

C1
I1
97%

Item 2
For this item, one correct answer and two incorrect answers were found. Some participants did not answer this
item.

• C: Hardly had Lucy gone (26%)

• I1: Hardly have Lucy been (6%)
• I2: Lucy have hardly gone (65%)
• N: No answer (3%)

27
 ITEM 2

3%
26%
C
6% I1
65% 12
N

Item 3
For this item, one correct answer and two incorrect answers were found. All the participants answered this item.
• C: Never should little girls (11%)
• I1: Never little girls should (60%)
• I2: Should never little girls (29%)

ITEM 3

C
I2 11%
29%
C
I1
I1
60% I2

Item 4
For this item, one correct answer and two incorrect answers were found. All the participants answered this item.
• C: No sooner did mom see (11%)

28
 • I1: No sooner mom saw (72%)
• I2: Mom no soon saw (17%)

ITEM 4

I2 C
17% 11%
C
I1
I1 I2
72%

Item 5
For this item, one correct answer and two incorrect answers were found. All the participants answered this item.
• C: Not only had Lucy left (37%)
• I1: Not also had Lucy left (6%)
• I2: Lucy haven’t also left (57%)

ITEM 5

37%
C
57%
I1
6% I2

Section 2
The instructions of this section were to rewrite ten sentences as questions. Due to the nature of such exercise,
the results were highly varied. The answers have been grouped into categories according to their similarities.

29
Item 6
For this item, 2 types of correct answers and 12 types of incorrect answers were found.

• C1: Does Laura know how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently? (44%)
• C2: Does Laura knows how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently? (17%)
• I1: Does know Laura how to serve her customers? (3%)
• I2: Did Laura knows how to serve her she customers. (3%)
• I3: Are she know how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently? (3%)
• I4: Why Laura is a good seller? (3%)
• I5: How do Laura knows to serve her customers? (3%)
• I6: How Laura knows to serve her customers? (6%)
• I7: Knows Laura how to serve effectively? (3%)
• I8: Her customers are an effectively and efficiently same? (3%)
• I9: Laura effectively and efficiently serve her customers. (3%)
• I10: Laura has known how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently. (3%)
• I11: Do you know some ability of Laura? (3%)
• I12: Effectively and efficiently is how Laura knows to serve her customers. (3%)

30
 ITEM 6

I10 I11 I12

I9 3%
I8 3% 3%
3%
I7 3%
3%
I6
6% C1
I5 44%
3%
I4
3%
I3
3% I2
3% I1
3%
C2
17%

C1 C2 I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 I8 I9 I10 I11 I12

Item 7
For this item, 1 correct answer and 9 types of incorrect answers were found.
• C: Was Albert accused of cheating? (68%)
• I1: Did Albert was accused of cheating? (8%)
• I2: Why Albert was accused? (3%)
• I3: What was accused Albert? (3%)

31
 • I4: Cheating, that was was Albert accused. (3%)
• I5: Albert is accused of cheating. (3%)
• I6: Albert cheated. (3%)
• I7: Cheating was made for Albert. (3%)
• I8: What did Albert accuse? (3%)
• I9: What was the accusation of charge for Albert? (3%)

ITEM 7

C
i1
3%3%3%
3%3% i2
3%
3% i3
3%
8% i4

68% i5
i6
i7
i8
i9

Item 8
For this item, 3 correct answers and 6 incorrect answers were found.
• C1: Can you understand why I am upset? (77%)
• C2: Do you understand why I am upset? (2%)
• C3: Did you understand why I’m upset? (3%)
• I1: I’m upset and you can understand why. (3%)
• I2: I’m upset, you can understand the reason? (3%)
• I3: Why you can understand my upset? (3%)
• I4: You understand why I’m upset. (3%)
• I5: How do you understand me why I’m upset? (3%)
• I6: You could understand why I’m upset. (3%)

32
 ITEM 8

3%
3% 3%
3%
3%
3% C1
3%
2% C2
C3
I1
I2
I3
77%
I4
I5
I6

Item 9
For this item, 3 correct answers and 7 incorrect answers were found.

• C1: Did Darlene choose the most expensive items on the menu? (51%)
• C2: Did Darlene chose the most expensive items on the menu? (8%)
• C3: Does Darlene chose the most expensive items on the menu? (20%)
• I1: The most expensive items were chosen by Darlene. (3%)

33
 • I2: What type of items does Darlene chose? (3%)
• I3: What items do Darlene chose? (3%)
• I4: Most expensive items on the menu were chosen by Darlene. (3%)
• I5: The most expensive items have chose for Darlene. (3%)
• I6: The most expensive items on the menu Darlene chose. (3%)
• I7: Was Darlene chosed expensive items on the restaurant?? (3%)

ITEM 9

3% 3% 3%
3% C1
3%
3% C2
3%
C3
51% I1
20% I2
I3
I4
8%
I5
I6
I7

Item 10
For this item, 3 correct answers and 13 incorrect answers were found.
• C1: Were all the managers taught how to use the new software? (40%)
• C2: Were all the managers teach how to use the software? (6%)
• C3: Were all the managers teaching how to use the software? (3%)
• I1: Did all managers think how to use the software? (3%)
• I2: Did all the managers teach how to use the new software? (3%)

34
• I3: All the managers teached how to use the new software? (3%)
• I4: Does the managers know how to use the new software? (6%)
• I5: How were the managers taught to use the new software? (3%)
• I6: All the managers know how to use the new software. (3%)
• I7: The new software have taught to all the managers. (3%)
• I8: How the managers can use the new software? (3%)
• I9: Did all managers were taught how to use the new software? (11%)
• I10: Does the managers know how to use the new software? (3%)
• I11: The managers were taught how to use the new software? (3%)
• I12: Have all the managers. (3%)
• I13: Managers taught how to use the software? (3%)
• N: (3%)

35
 ITEM 10

C1
C2
C3
I12 I13 N
I11 3% 3% I1
I103% 3%
3% I2
I9 C1 I3
11% 40%
I4
I8
I7
3% I5
I6
3% I6
3%I5
3% I4 I7
6% I3 I2 I1 C3 C2
I8
3% 3% 3% 3% 6%
I9
I10
I11
I12
I13
N

Item 11
For this item, 3 right answers and 5 wrong answers were found.
• C1: Is basketball Marcela’s favourite sport? (68%)
• C2: What is Marcela’s favourite sport? (4%)
• C3: Which is Marcela’s favourite sport? (3%)
• I1: The favourite sport of Marcela is basketball. (3%)
• I2: Marcela likes basketball. (3%)
• I3: Marcela loves the basketball? (3%)
• I4: Does basketball is Marcela’s favourite sport? (13%)
• I5: The Marcela’s favourite sport is basketball. (3%)

36
 ITEM 11

3%
13%
C1
3%
C2
3%
3% C3
3%
4% I1
68% I2
I3
I4
I5

Item 12
For tis item, 2 correct answers, 9 incorrect answers were found. Some students didn’t answer the item.
• C1: Did the repairs to the car cost more than the car was worth? (26%)
• C2: Do the repairs to the car cost more than the car was worth? (26%)
• I1: What’s more expensive? The repairs to the car or the car worth? (3%)
• I2: What’s cost more, the repairs or the car? (5%)
• I3: How many will cost repairs the car? (3%)
• I4: The car’s repair costs more that the car was worth? (8%)
• I5: Why cost more repairs the car than the car worth? (3%)
• I6: Was the repair to the car cost more than the car was worth? (3%)

37
• I7: The cost of the repairs are more than the car worth. (3%)
• I8: Repair the car is more expensive than the car? (6%)
• I9: How many costs the repairs of the car. (3%)
• N: (11%)

ITEM 12

N C1
I9 11% C1 C2
I8 3% 26% I1
I76%
I2
I6
3%
I5
3% I3
3%
I4 I4
8% I5
I3 C2
3% I2 I1 26% I6
5%
3% I7
I8
I9
N

Item 13
For this item 3 right answers and 9 wrong answers were found.
• C1: Was my /your computer old and very slow? (63%)
• C2: Was very old and slow my computer? (5%)
• C3: Was old and very slow my computer? (3%)

38
 • I1: My computer is old and slow. (3%)
• I2: Why your computer don’t work good? (5%)
• I3: Did my computer was slow? (3%)
• I4: Old and very slow was my computer. (3%)
• I5: How was your ancient computer? (3%)
• I6: How was your computer? (3%)
• I7: How long its your computer life? (3%)
• I8: My computer was old and very slow. (3%)
• I9: My computer used to be old and very slow. (3%)

ITEM 13

3% 3% 3% C1
3%
3% C2
3%
6% I1
I2
5%
I3
3% 63% I4
5%
I5
I6
I7
I8
I9

Item 14

39
For this item, 1 correct and 12 incorrect answers were found.
C1: Could she play the piano when she was a child? (43%)
C2: Did she play the piano when she was a child? 2
I1: She was able to play the piano when she was a child.
I2: When she was a child, did she could play the piano? 3
I3: Does she could play the piano when she was a child? 2
I4: When can you played the piano?
I5: What could she play when she was a child?
I6: What was something that she could learn?
I7. When she was a child, she could play the piano. 2
I8: Was she could play the piano?
I9: She played the piano since child.
I10: When she could play the piano?
I11: Does she could play a piano when she was a child?
I12: When she was a child she could play the piano?
I13: When does she could play?
I14: Was she a child she could play the piano?

40
 ITEM 14

C1
C2
I1
3% 3% 3%
3% I2
3%
3% I3
3%
43% I4
6%
3% I5
3% I6
3%
I7
6%
I8
9% 3% 6%
I9
I10
I11
I12
I13
I14

Item 15
In this item, 5 correct answers and 8 incorrect answers were found.
• C1: Have I ever heard such a strange story? (28%)
• C2: Have you ever heard such a strange story? (23%)
• C3: Have I never heard such a strange story? (5%)
• C4: Have I ever hear such a strange story? (3%)
• C5: Have you never heard such a strange story? (14%)
• I1: I never heard and have such a strange story. (3%)
• I2: Have I never heard such a strange story. (3%)
• I3: I didn’t heard such a strange story? (3%)

41
• I4: Did I heard such a strange story? (3%)
• I5: Did you have hear a story like this? (3%)
• I6: Do you ever heard a story like this? (3%)
• I7: I have never heard such a strange story. (3%)
• I8: Never have I heard such a strange story? (3%)
• N: (6%)

ITEM 15

C1
C2
3% 6% C3
3%
3% 28%
3% C4
3%
3% C5
3% I1
I2
14%
I3
3% 23% I4
5%
I5
I6
I7
I8
N

42
4.3.2 Error Description
The following is an outline of each error found in the instrument. It is important to remember that the errors
chosen for this research are mainly syntactic. Below is a list of the errors pertaining such topic:

Item 1:
I1: Did you wanted? E1
Item 2:
I2: Lucy have hardly gone. E2
Item 3:
I1: Never little girls should. E5
Item 4:
I2: Mom no soon saw. E2
Item 5:
I2: Lucy haven’t also left. E4
Item 6:
I8: Knows Laura how to serve effectively? E3
Item 7:
I1: Did Albert was accused of cheating? E1
Item 8:
I3: Why you can understand my upset? E4
Item 9:
I3: What items do Darlene chose? E4
Item 10:
I9: Did all managers were taught how to use the new software? E1
I11: The managers were taught how to use the new software? E5
Item 11:
I3: Marcela loves the basketball? E5
I4: Does basketball is Marcela’s favourite sport? E5
Item 12:
I4: The car’s repair costs more than the car was worth? E5
I5: Why cost more repairs the car than the car worth? E4
I8 Repair the car is more expensive than the car? E3

43
Item 13:
I2: Why your computer don’t work good? E4
I3: Did my computer was slow? E6

Item 14:
I10: When she could play the piano? E4
I12: When she was a child she could play the piano? E5

Item 15:
I3: I didn’t heard such a strange story? E1
I8: Never have I heard such a strange story? E5

4.3.3. Error Classification

The errors will now be classified according to the afore mentioned taxonomies.
• Error 1 (Did + subject + auxiliary verb in simple past + verb in past simple + complement ?)
According to the Surface Strategy taxonomy, this error can be considered an addition: more specifically a double
marking, since both of the verbs are conjugated, instead of only the auxiliary verb. As for the Comparative
taxonomy, this error can be considered an interlingual error, since interrogative sentences in Spanish do not
require auxiliaries. As for the Communicative Effect taxonomy, this is a local error, since is a verb inflection
error.

• Error 2 (Subject + auxiliary verb + negative adverb + main verb in past participle)
According to the Surface Strategy taxonomy, this error can be considered a misordering, since several
morphemes are placed incorrectly. As for the Comparative taxonomy, this error can be considered as
developmental errors, since the lack or order is proper of a learner. As for the Communicative Effect taxonomy,
this error can be considered as global error, wrong order specifically.

• Error 3 (Verb in third person + subject + complement +?)

According to the Surface Strategy taxonomy, this error can be considered as Omission, since the auxiliary verb is
missing. As for the Comparative Taxonomy, this error can be considered as interlingual error, since Spanish has

44
no auxiliary verbs in questions. As for Communicative Effect taxonomy, this can be seen as a global error,
missing cues to obligatory syntactic rules.
• Error 4 (“Wh” word + subject + can + verb + complement +?)
According to the Surface Strategy taxonomy, this error is categorised as misordering or omission, since the
auxiliary verb can be misplaced or not present. As for the Comparative taxonomy, it is categorised as possible
interlingual error, a case of false analogy.

• Error 5 (Subject + verb in simple past +complement +? )

According to the Surface Strategy taxonomy, this error is categorised as omission, since there are no auxiliary
verbs. As for the Comparative taxonomy, it is categorised as Interlingual errors, since it is similar in structure to a
question in Spanish.

45
Appendix 1

I. Choose the correct answer

1.- Lucy! Are you ready for your invitation at Olivia’s? You have sandwiches for the picnic, a huge

bag of crisps to share, a lot of cool water, fruit; ( ) some soda or some juice?

a) did you wanted

b) have you want

c) do you want

2.-( ) out with her dad when her mom realized she had left her sun hat behind.

a) Hardly have Lucy been

b) Hardly had Lucy gone

c) Lucy have hardly gone

3.-( ) stay in the sun without a hat and glasses.

a) Never little girls should

b) Should never little girls

c) Never should little girls

4.- ( ) the hat, than she called on her husband’s cell phone.

a) No sooner mom saw

b) No sooner did mom see

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c) Mom no soon saw

5.- ( ) her hat but she had also forgotten her sun glasses and sun lotion.

a) Not also had Lucy left

b) Lucy haven’t also left

c) Not only had Lucy left

I. Rewrite the following sentences as a question, changing the word order and the form of the verb if
necessary

1.- Laura knows how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently.
.....................................................................................................................................................................

2.- Albert was accused of cheating.

........................................................................................................................................................................

3.- You can understand why I’m upset.

.....................................................................................................................................................................

4.- Darlene chose the most expensive items on the menu.

..................................................................................................................................................................

5.- All the managers were taught how to use the new software.
.....................................................................................................................................................................

6. Basketball is Marcela’s favourite sport.

........................................................................................................................................................................

7. The repairs to the car cost more than the car was worth.
........................................................................................................................................................................

8. My computer was old and very slow.

........................................................................................................................................................................

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9. She could play the piano when she was a child.

.........................................................................................................................................................

10. Never have I heard such a strange story.

.........................................................................................................................................................

ANSWEY KEY

Part I
1. c

2. b 3. c 4. b 5. c

Part II

1. Does Laura know how to serve her customers effectively and efficiently?
2. Was Albert accused of cheating?
3. Can you understand why I’m upset?
4. Did Darlene choose the most expensive items on the menu?
5. Were all the managers taught how to use the new software?
6. Is basketball Marcela’s favourite sport? / Which is Marcela’s favourite sport?
7. Did the repairs to the car cost more than the car was worth?
8. Was my/your computer old and very slow?
9. Could she play the piano when she was a child.
10. Have I ever heard such a strange story?

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Proposal
This chapter deals with didactic proposal, whose design is based on the analysis of errors done in the previous
chapter. It first introduces the methodological foundations for the activities, offering a brief description of the
methods compiled by Diane Larsen-Freeman, followed by a selection of different aspects of the methods, and a
description of the designed four activities made for a one-hour class.
The class is intended for the prevention and correction of the errors detected and analyzed in chapter 4.

Material design
The activities designed mainly for the prevention of the errors analyzed by this research are based, for the most
part, on the different methods presented by Diane Larsen-Freeman (1986) and complemented by error prevention
strategies, developed from the error analysis done in the previous chapter—in conjunction with other disciplines.
Larsen-Freeman compiled nine different approaches to the teaching-learning process, each containing a
distinctive treatment of the process from a particular perspective:
• Grammar-translation. It mostly deals with reading comprehension, while the learning of production and
vocabulary is secondary. This approach is teacher-centered.
• Direct Method. It focuses on communication, with the exclusive use of the L2. It is highly interactive, but
still teacher-centered.
• Audio-Lingual Method. Derived from behaviorism, which means the L2 is a set of habits to acquire. It
mainly consists of drills and the overlearning of structures.
• Silent Way. In it, students are guided to discover the structure of the L2 by themselves. The role of the
teacher is that of a facilitator. Focused on intonation and pronunciation.
• Suggestopedia. In this method, the main focuses for learning are the affective features of the learning
process. Its goal is the creation of an environment that proves most effective to enhance learning.
• Community Language Learning. This approach is aimed at adults, who are granted the power of
choosing the topic they want to learn. The teacher adopts the role of a counselor.
• Total Physical Response. Mainly aimed at children and beginners, this method is ideal for teaching
vocabulary through commands and modeling by the teacher.
• Natural Approach. The main goal of this approach is communication. Incorrect structures are secondary.
Though it, it is intended that students learn the language similarly to how they acquired their L1.

49
 • Communicative Language Teaching. The main goal of this approach is effective communication, focusing
mainly on the function and use of structures, being then heavily semantics-based.

As the population’s level is B1 and it consists mostly of young adults, the most suitable approaches should be the
communication-focused one, since they can already communicate in English without major difficulties. However,
such approaches favor communicative skills over grammar: their sole use might be a factor that contributes to
fossilization, as seemingly minor errors might be difficult to correct in advanced stages if they are overlooked
enough. On the other hand, the grammar-focused methods hereby presented might be too rigid. Therefore, it has
been concluded that it would be convenient to aboard the error with a combination of different approaches,
focusing on grammar—since the error in question is syntax-related—but also taking functions and communicative
aspects of the language into account.
The compilation of activities designed for this project (see Appendix 3) are expected to cover a one-hour class,
with the main focus of the class being the awareness and identification of errors by students, in order for them to
comprehend why a sentence is incorrect, so as to prevent the production of errors.
The class consists of four (4) activities. The first activity, or warm-up, is intended for students to produce written
sentences. In it, the students are to be given the images and make questions about them, which they will share.
Then, peer correction will be enhanced. It should be noted that the teacher will only monitor solving questions,
but they will not yet explain why the answers and corrections may be accurate or not.
The second activity is directly aimed at error identification by students. In it, a set of 20 cards, each containing an
interrogative sentence with the auxiliary verb “do”, will be posted on the board. Ten of these sentences will be
incorrect, containing errors such as “did she made”, “does he went”, “does she draws”, etc. The task will be for
the students to categorize all the sentences into “correct” or “incorrect”, according to their criteria. Following this,
they will explain why they think the sentences put into “incorrect” are erroneous. Again, the teacher will only
determine whether the sentences are correctly categorized but will not give explanations.
The third activity consists of the grammar foundation. The teacher will write a set of rules for interrogative
sentences with the auxiliary verb “do”. Once the rules are written and questions are solved, the teacher will once
again point at each sentence and ask students to explain the incorrectness they found. This time, they will have
the information in front of them. Ideally, it will be easier for them to explain the errors. This may lead to students
re-categorizing sentences that were miscategorized during the previous activity.
For the fourth and final activity, students will be asked to write, in their notebooks, the correction for each of the
incorrect sentences. Once finished, students will be asked to write a short story in which they will use two of the

50
now corrected sentences, along with three questions of their own. They will share their texts with each other and
make self and peer correction.
As shown above, the designed class takes elements from communication-based approaches, such as the elicitation
of spoken and written language from students; and it also takes aspects from grammar-based methods, as
syntactic structure is the main focus of the class.

Conclusions
Interrogative sentences are a crucial element of communication in any language. And while incorrect uses of tense
or other components may not always interfere with effective communication in daily social situations, the
importance of correctness does not diminish by that fact. Rather, it should be kept in mind that a proper use of
language not only makes the communicative process flow naturally, but it also affects—positively—the
perspective other people may have on a speaker.
The characteristics of a population also play an important role in the creation of material, as their level of mental
development is to be kept in mind at all times. Their learning needs, if possible, should be also taken into account.
Since the population chosen for this project consists mainly of young adults, the activities were designed according
to their cognitive abilities.

51
Bibliography

Baker, C.L. (1995). English Syntax. Massachusetts, United States of America: MIT Press.

Boysson-Bardies, B. (1999). How Language Comes to Children: From Birth to Two Years. Massachusetts: MIT
Press.

British Council. (2008). “Second Language Acquisitions (SLA)” (Web Document). Retrieved from
th
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/second-language- acquisition-sla (February 29 , 2017).

Brown, D. (1980). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentince Hall.

Cook and Newson. Chomsky’s Universal Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
Krashen, Steve. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition: Hertfordshire, Prentice Hall
International. 1987
Santos Gargallo, Isabel. Análisis contrastivo, análisis de errores e interlingua en el marco de la lingüística
contrastiva. Madrid: Síntesis, S.A. 2009.
Lennon, Paul. Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis, Interlanguage. http://wwwhomes.uni-
bielefeld.de/sgramley/CA-ErrorAnalysis-Interlang-Lennon.pdf
Aarts, Flor. The Contrastive Analysis Debate: Problems and Solutions.
https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/10900/1/04_Aarts.pdf

Resources:
Do, Monica, Kaiser, Elsi, Zubizarreta, Luisa .Spanish Speaker’s Acquisition of English Subject Verb Inversion
http://www.lingref.com/cpp/gasla/13/paper3274.pdf

Spanish Grammar Rules

http://spanish.yourdictionary.com/spanish-language/spanish-grammar/spanish-grammar-rules.html

Rutz, Erica. El fenómeno de la inversion y las preguntas qu en español y en ingles

https://langlit.uni.edu/sites/default/files/rutz.2013.langwrit_0.pdf

Oraciones interrogativas

52
https://espanol.lingolia.com/es/gramatica/estructura-de-la-oracion/oraciones-interrogativas

Erichsen, Gerald. Keep Spanish Adverbs Close to Its Modifier

https://www.thoughtco.com/keep-adverbs-close-what-they-modify-3078169

53
 PG5 B1 FES Interrogative 1 hour
Acatlán sentences (approximately)

Class Objective: By the end of the class, B1 students will be able to produce (write) interrogative sentences with
the correct use of the auxiliary verb “do”.

Introduction
Given the students’ level (B1), they have already developed the ability to ask questions in English. The class is
aimed at the awareness on some errors that can be made while producing interrogative sentences, as well as the
prevention and correction of these errors.
Activity 1: Warm-up (timing, 15 minutes approx.)
Objective
Given a set of images, students will create interrogative sentences related to these images. Errors will be
allowed for the purpose of the next activity.
Introduction
As mentioned before, students are already able to create interrogative sentences. They may not know, however,
what some rules about them are or when to use certain particles.
Materials
-Images printed on paper
-Whiteboard
-Markers
Development
1. The teacher will stand in front of the group and ask them to form teams of 3 (if the number of students
is even, there will be one pair).
2. Each team will be provided with one image. They will be instructed to ask each other at least 5 questions
about the image (i.e. if it is an image of a businessman walking on a crowded street, they can ask
questions such as “where does he work”?). They will write their questions down.
3. After everyone has finished, one person from each team will paste their image on the board and write
next to it one of the questions they made.
4. Students will be encouraged to go to the board and correct those sentences that they think are
incorrect.

54
 5. The teacher will check whether the sentences written are correct, and whether the corrections made
are accurate.

Activity 2 (timing: 15 minutes approx.)

Objective
Given a set of cards containing interrogative sentences, the students will identify as many errors in them as
possible. They are not expected to identify them all.
Introduction
On the previous activity, students produced interrogative sentences and made peer corrections.
Materials
-Set of cards
Development
1. The teacher will paste on the board a set of cards which contain an interrogative sentence each. Half of
the sentences will be incorrect—they will contain errors such as “did she made your sandwich today?”,
“why he wrote that angry letter?”, “does she draws in her free time?”, “Does he went to the museum?”
etc. Then, the teacher will divide the board into two sections—“correct” and “incorrect”.
2. The students will be asked to paste the cards into the section in which they think it belongs.
3. After this, the teacher will point at each of the sentences pasted in the “incorrect” section and ask
students why they think it is incorrect.
4. The teacher will monitor these answers, either confirming or disproving them (but not explaining why).

Activity 3 (timing: 10 minutes approx.)

Objective
Given an explanation and assessment on the use of the auxiliary “do” for interrogative sentences, students will
identify the errors in a set of sentences.
Introduction
Students now have actively practiced correction of errors in interrogative sentences. This time, they will view
the grammar rules behind the “incorrectness” of the sentences as seen on the previous activities and practice
once again, now with conscious knowledge about what the errors consist of.
Materials
-Whiteboard
-Markers
-Set of cards

55
Development
1. The teacher will clear the board without misordering the categorized sentences and will write
“questions with auxiliaries”. Below, they will write a series of rules:
• In interrogative sentences with auxiliaries, the auxiliary verb “do” is required when a question can only
be answered with “yes” or “no”.
• This verb should represent a tense (do, does, did).
• In that case, the main verb of the sentence should never be modified.
• When a question includes a ‘wh’ word (what, when, where, how, who, why), the auxiliary verb “do”
must follow in an appropriate form (as shown above).
2. After solving any doubts and questions that may arise, the teacher will point at each sentence again and
ask the group if, now that they know the rules, they still think the sentence is incorrect and why. The
categorization will probably change.
3. The students will be asked to take note of the incorrect sentences that are there now in the final
categorization.

Activity 4: Wrap-up (timing: 20 minutes approx).

Objective
Given a set of now corrected interrogative sentences, students will write a short story in which these sentences
are included. Two syntax errors will be allowed.
Introduction
Following the revision of the rules for interrogative sentences with auxiliaries, students consciously corrected a
set of erroneous sentences. They will now use these corrections to produce a written story.
Materials
-Set of cards
-Notebooks and pens/pencils
Development
1. After students have taken notes of the incorrect sentences on the board, they will be asked to write
them, in the correct form, on their notebooks.
2. The teacher will quickly check each sentence (i.e. teacher points at one sentence, the group tells the
correct form).

56
3. Once all the sentences are verified, the teacher will introduce the activity: they will write a two
paragraph story (about anything they choose) using at least two of the now corrected questions, along
with three questions of their authorship.
4. After everyone (or the majority) has finished, the students will be asked to exchange their stories with
each other and correct the mistakes they find—if there are any.
5. The teacher will be monitoring during this, answering and solving doubts and questions during and at
the end of the activity.

57
Ask at least five questions about the picture below.
1) _____________________________________________________________________
2) _____________________________________________________________________
3) _____________________________________________________________________
4)_____________________________________________________________________
5)_____________________________________________________________________

58
Ask at least five questions about the picture below.
1) _____________________________________________________________________
2) _____________________________________________________________________
3) _____________________________________________________________________
4) _____________________________________________________________________
5)______________________________________________________________________

59
Ask at least five questions about the picture below.
1) _____________________________________________________________________
2) _____________________________________________________________________
3) _____________________________________________________________________
4) _____________________________________________________________________
5)______________________________________________________________________

60
Ask at least five questions about the picture below.
1) _____________________________________________________________________
2) _____________________________________________________________________
3) _____________________________________________________________________
4) _____________________________________________________________________
5)______________________________________________________________________

61
Ask at least five questions about the picture below.
1) _____________________________________________________________________
2) _____________________________________________________________________
3) _____________________________________________________________________
4) _____________________________________________________________________
5)______________________________________________________________________

No se encontraron entradas de tabla de contenido.

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