Reflection #5

CAH is the concept that interference of L1 with L2 is the principal barrier to SLA. According to CAH, an analysis of the contrasts between the two languages can alert linguists and language teachers to the kind of L1 interference a student might experience.

I believe error analysis could be a valuable tool for teachers of second languages. Personally, I have used this technique in emergent reading in English. Error analysis yields a variety of useful information. For instance, suppose I am working with a student on rhyming. I might ask, “What rhymes with ‘cat’?” The student might reply, “Dog.” Through error analysis, I know that the student is providing an associative word rather than a rhyming word. With another student, I might ask, “What rhymes with ‘box’?” The student might reply, “Ball.” Through error analysis, I know that the student is attending the beginning sound of the word. While I know that rhyming is still an area to work on, I have discovered that the student can attend to beginning sounds. Further assessment on beginning sounds is, of course, necessary. But, in both of these cases, error analysis provides a form of ongoing student assessment.