Lesson 7

Contrastive Analysis
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this lesson, you should be able to:
1.

List the features that are difficult for Malaysian learners of English to master

2.

Write three examples and sources of both negative and positive transfers

3.

Write the purpose of Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) as explained by

Brown

4.

List the shortcomings of a hierarchy of difficulty that was developed by

Stockwell, Bowen and Martin (1965)

5.

Differentiate between mistakes and errors

6.

Describe and provide relevant examples for each of the stages of learner
language development

Introduction
The
Contrastive
Analysis
Hypothesis
(CAH)
The historical
progression of
SLA

Contrastive
Analysis

Error analysis
and Learner
Language
Development
Stages of
Learner
Language
Development
INTRODUCTION

ME speaker:

I have tree cats at home.

Native speaker:

Tree cats?

The above conversation is an excerpt from a conversation between a native

speaker of English and a Malaysian English speaker. The native speaker asks
the question because he has never heard the existence of tree cats. The
native speaker would not have been perplexed if the ME speaker had said
three instead of tree.
The above situation indicates that proper pronunciation is one of the
problems that Malaysians face when communicating in English. The situation
2

also shows that there are features that are difficult to learn by learners of the
language. Most Malaysians, for instance, have problems pronouncing three
properly because is not one of the sounds that are available in Malay. To
pronounce the word, they simply replace // with [t]. Similarly, the same
speaker does not have any problem saying tree since /t/ is a common sound
among Malaysians.
According to Brown (2007), contrastive analysis is the study of differences
between two languages. It was hypothesized that the features that are
similar between the languages would cause no difficulties for learners to
master while the features that are different or absent would be the most
difficult for learners to learn and master. In the case of Malaysians,
pronouncing // properly is one of the most challenging tasks since the sound
is absent in Malay.

Discuss the other features that could be difficult for Malaysian learners of
English to master and list them in the spaces here:
1

____________________________________________________________________
_

____________________________________________________________________
_

____________________________________________________________________

Language Transfer

Learners do not learn language in a vacuum. It is normal for learners of a

Second Language (SL) to rely on the knowledge available at their disposal. In
other words, it is normal for learners to relate to their First Language (FL) to
help them learn the Second Language. Sometimes, the knowledge and
performance in the First Language help to perform in the Second Language.
At other times, however, the knowledge and performance related to the First
Language do not help the learners to be accurate in learning and producing
3

the Second Language. The former is called positive transfer while the
latter is known as negative transfer.

We often hear Malay learners of the English Language, for example, say
This one is more better than that one. Where do you think the source of
the mistake is? Think of their First Language. When you direct translate the
example to Malay, you may get the following utterance:

Yang ini lebih baik dari yang itu.

Based on the above example, we can say that the direct translation made
based on their knowledge of the sentence structure of their First Language is
the source of the error they have made when performing in the Second
Language. This is one example of negative transfer.

The utterance shown at the beginning of this chapter I have tree cats is
another example of negative transfer. In this case, the absence of // in the
First Language causes the learners to use /t/ in the place of //, resulting in
the inaccurate pronunciation for the word three.

Now, reflect on your experience teaching your students English or your own
experience using or learning the target language yourselves. Then, write
THREE (3) examples of negative transfer in the space provided. You
should also provide the sources of the mistakes.

Examples

Sources

According to Brown (2010), we are always attracted to the negative effects

our First Language causes on the Second or Target Language we are
learning. This should not be happening because our First Language can also
be a source of correct performance in a Second Language. When the Malay
learners said This is more better than that one, the learners were able to
utter the sentence in the target language correctly according to the sentence
structure in Malay. This is one example of positive transfer.

Except for the adjective phrase more better that is redundant, the
sentence, in general, conforms to the basic sentence structure of the English
Language.

complement

Pron

Adj P

prep

det

This

is

more better

than

that

N
one.

Based on the above structure, we can definitely produce the same or another
sentence that is both grammatical and syntactical. For example:

This is better than that one.

Abby is happier than my sister.

Pron

AdjP

prep

det

This

is

better

than

that

one

Abby

is

happier

than

my

sister

This shows that our First Language can be a source of accurate performance
in a Second Language.
Now, reflect on your experience teaching your students English or your own
experience using or learning the target language yourselves. Then, write
THREE (3) examples of positive transfer in the space provided. You should
also provide the sources of the mistakes.

Examples

Sources

What was the purpose of Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) as

explained by Brown (2007)? Read Brown page 248 to find the answer
THE CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS HYPOTHESIS
and then write it in the following spaces:
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
8
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

THE HISTORICAL PROGRESSION OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (SLA)

The focus was on the contrasts between the

native and the target language.
The focus was on the effect of the first
language on the second language.

Contrastive
analysis

The focus was on the concept of

interlanguage or learner language.
Error analysis

Stockwell, Bowen and Martin (1965), developed a method of prediction

called a hierarchy of difficulty by which a teacher or linguist could
make a prediction of the relative difficulty of a given aspect of the
target language. The prediction, however, was later found to have
blatant shortcomings. Read Brown pages 251 until 254 and list the
shortcomings in the spaces provided:

The focus was on the effect on acquisition of

input, interaction, feedback, awareness, and
error treatment.

Learner
language
development

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
__

_________________________________________________________________
9

_________________________________________________________________
__

ERROR ANALYSIS AND LEARNER LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

According to Brown (2007), learning a language, regardless of the first or the

second, involves making mistakes. In fact, children of native speakers of a
language make countless of mistakes when they use the language and
gradually learn to produce acceptable speech as they receive feedback on
those mistakes. This shows that making mistakes or errors should not be
perceived negatively as they may contain a lot of useful information that
could help linguists to understand how a person acquires a language.

What are the differences between mistakes and errors? Under which
circumstances mistakes and errors are made? Provide two examples of
mistakes and errors.
10

Mistakes

Errors

Features

Features

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

Possible reasons

Possible reasons

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

Examples

Examples

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

11

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

______________________________

THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ERRORS AND MISTAKES

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Image taken from http://durratul-ain.blogspot.com

STAGES OF LEARNER LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Read Brown pages 266 until 268 and complete the following diagram to
describe the progression and errors that learners make when they try to
13

produce the language that they learn. The stages, according to Brown
(2007), were inspired by a model by Corder (1973).

Stages

Descriptions / Examples

Presystemat
ic
Emergent
Systematic
Stabilization
/
Postsystema
tic
DISCUSSION
Describe your language error treatment style. Do you overcorrect
or undercorrect? Do you use 14
any of the forms of feedback
described by Brown? If so, which ones and how effective do you
think they were in stimulating repair or self-correction?
You may discuss all these in I-Class.

Learning Outcomes:
Now I am able to:
7.

List the features that are difficult for Malaysian learners of English to master

8.

Write three examples and sources of both negative and positive transfers

9.

Write the purpose of Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) as explained by

Brown

10.

List the shortcomings of a hierarchy of difficulty that was developed by

Stockwell, Bowen and Martin (1965)

11.

Differentiate between mistakes and errors

12.

Describe and provide relevant examples for each of the stages of learner
language development

15