The Islamization of Error & Contrastive Analysis : 2013-03-31

Introduction

Instant messaging is a set of communication technologies used for text-based communication between two or more participants over the Internet or other types of network. It happens in real-time and allows effective and efficient communication, allowing immediate receipt of acknowledgment or reply. Since it is synchronous, people tend to make language errors in their written texts. Some common errors made in real-time text messaging are:

1.Global Errors – more serious errors

e.g.: incorrect verb tense, verb incorrectly formed, unclear message, incorrect or missing connector, incorrect sentence structure, etc.

2. Local Errors – less serious errors

e.g.: incorrect subject-verb agreement, missing article, wrong word choice including prepositions, problem with singular or plural form, etc.

3. Other Errors – errors commonly made by native speakers

e.g.: capitalization, coherence, comma splice, dangling modifier, fragment, lower case, punctuation, etc.

One of the factors of why people use their languages differently with different people is because of social distance. Social distance describes the distance between different groups of society which includes age, social class, race/ethnicity, race, etc. The frequency of language errors made can also be influenced by social distance.

Literature Review

Error analysis is one of the branches of linguistics which studies the types and causes of language errors in second language acquisition. According to Corder (1967), error analysis is an alternative to contrastive analysis, an approach influenced by behaviorism through which applied linguists sought to use the formal distinctions between the learners’ first and second languages to predict errors. A key result of error analysis has been that many learner errors are created by learners making faulty inferences about the rules of the new language.

One of the areas covered in Error and Contrastive Analysis is social distance. Social distance describes the distance between different groups of society which includes social class, race/ethnicity, gender, age, etc. In error and contrastive analysis studies, social distance refers to the cognitive and affective proximity of two cultures that come into contact within an individual. There have been quite a number of studies in the past which explore on how social distance affects the number of errors in the language usage of a learner. According to Carroll (2013), social distance is created when over-formalized language is used by the speakers. This study has been conducted in China where the students are taught using formal English in their class. The findings of this research shows that even though the students try to get close to the people they mingle with, the over-formalized English language use seems to be the obstacle that creates the social distance between them. Another study has been conducted on this matter by Hauptseminar (n.d.), in which social distance is found to be created because of the usage of address forms that include a title and a last name for examples Mr, Mrs, Sir, Dr, etc.

Terms of address are linguistic forms that are used in addressing others to attract their attention or for referring to them in the course of a conversation. “Address forms, as Murphy (1988) has elegantly put it, are socially driven phenomena. In other words, linguistic forms that are used to address others can mirror the complex social relations of individuals in a speech community (Paulston 1976; Trudgill 1983; Chaika 1982 as cited by Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz, n.d.)” Hence, it has been proved that the way of how we address others affect our social distance with them and the more formal we are with people, the higher social distance we have with them.

Research Design

Methodology:

All the data were collected from both WhatsApp groups consisting of different group members. Then, the data were being analysed by the errors that were being made by different person in each of the group using the theory of social distance and ESL Grading Symbols.

ESL Grading Symbols

Global Errors – more serious errors

(These errors usually impede understanding.)

SYMBOL	EXPLANATION
vt	incorrect verb tense
vf	verb incorrectly formed
modal	incorrect use or formation of a modal
cond	incorrect use or formation of a conditional sentence
ss	incorrect sentence structure
wo	incorrect or awkward word order
conn	incorrect or missing connector
pass	incorrect formation or use of passive voice
unclear	unclear message

Local Errors – less serious errors

(These errors, while distracting, most often do not impede understanding.)

SYMBOL	EXPLANATION
sv	incorrect subject-verb agreement
art	incorrect or missing article
num	problem with the singular or plural of a noun
wc	wrong word choice, including prepositions
wf	wrong word form
nonidiom	nonidiomatic (not expressed this way in English)

Other Errors

(These errors are commonly made by native speakers.)

SYMBOL	EXPLANATION
cap	capitalization – capital letter needed
coh	coherence – one idea do not lead to the next
cs	comma splice – two independent clauses joined by a comma
dm	dangling modifier – phrase or clause with no word(s) to modify in a sentence
frag	fragment – incomplete sentence
lc	lower case – word(s) incorrectly capitalized
p	punctuation – punctuation incorrect or missing
pro ref pro agree	pronounce reference/agreement – pronoun reference unclear or agreement incorrect
ro	run-on – two independent clauses joined with no punctuation
sp	spelling error – word incorrectly spelled

Sampling:

There were 1 professor and 9 students’ committee of Islamic World Film Festival involved in the first group of WhatsApp conversation. While, for the second group of WhatsApp conversation, there were only 5 students’ committee involved in the conversation.

Instrumentation:

Asynchronous CMC was being used in this research is one of the smartphone application which was WhatsApp. Two different conversations of two different groups were being recorded and analysed.

Findings and Discussion:

Participants make the most error in Other Errors category.The reasons might be because the students are already familiar with the use of English in the campus (majority BENL students) and the lecturer is an English lecturer. The students tend to use over-formalized use of language when speaking with the lecturer hence, commit less error in their language. This shows that, from the students’ perspective, they tend to have a high social distance with the lecturer because of the differences in their status. The lecturer tends to speak more informal with the students hence, commit more errors in her language use than the students. This shows that she views her social distance with the students as low and is inclined towards a closer relationship.

Conclusion:

The most common type of errors made by the students as well as the lecturer is not the serious type of errors. They are less serious and commonly made by native speakers.The higher social distance, the lower errors made.

Nevertheless, in the context of instant messaging such as WhatsApp, the errors detected in the language usage are not really regarded as actual errors. Factors such as space, speed, and time affect the errors in the language use in synchronous communication.

References

Carroll, K. (2013). Language and Social Distance. Retrieved on April 1^st, 2013 from http://ken-carroll.com/2008/05/17/language-and-social-distance/

Hauptseminar. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ifla.uni-stuttgart.de/institut/mitarbeiter/jilka/teaching/ Pragmatics/p7_politeness.pdf

Mohammad Hossein Keshavarz. (n.d.). The Role of Social Context, Intimacy, and Distance in the Choice of Forms of Address. Retrieved on April 1^st, 2013 from http://www.iranianlinguistics.org/papers/Keshavarz.pdf

Appendix

1) Raw Data

2) Table of Analysis

No.	Sentence	Global Error	Local Error	Others	No Error
1	Prof. Faridah: Can I see fatin			/
2	or izura or whoever doing the guidelines?			/
3	I need more than just the guideline on short film. Can we meet before 10 am tmrw? 9.30?				/
4	Izura: Yeah sure. Thatd be okay.			/
5	I’ll see you tomorrow 9.30am insya-Allah				/
6	Fatin BENL PR: Salam Prof, I’m sorry but i’m not the one who is doing the guideline..			/
7	Prof. Faridah: Who took the guidelines yesterday?				/
8	Izura: Fadzil and Amira
9	Prof. Faridah: I got an email for iysfc sf judging.			/
10	Can amira or fadzil see me?			/
11	So the emailed version is not from them?			/
12	Patutlah lain. U dont’t confuse me ok.		/
13	But I got list of awards		/
14	From atikah			/
15	Is she from the same comm?
16	Izura: Atikah is the APM
17	Prof. Faridah: Say tht again. APM tu apa?
18	Fatin BENL PR: Prof, if you’re talking about the email to mr.hasnul regarding the judging criteria, it’s with me			/
19	Prof. Faridah: I need all the judging sheets by 9.30 tmrw cos			/
20	need to shw them to			/
21	dr bsha			/
22	ay 10			/
23	No.you have a copy of tht judging sheet			/
24	Fatin BENL PR: APM is assistant programme manager.				/
25	Prof. Faridah: A couple was supposed to type balik wht dr aishah and I did semlm			/
26	Fatin BENL PR: I think the judging sheet is with atikah			/
27	Prof. Faridah: I need those..judging sheets for film.animation and short film				/
28	Atikah sent me sheet for iysfc shj			/
29	I am supposed to receive on on animation, another on feature and a version of it for short film.			/
30	I have not worked on doco.			/
31	eaiting for			/
32	my fren to email			/
33	me the criteris			/
34	We are working both for		/
35	iysfc and iwff on this judging thing			/
36	Fatin BENL PR: Sorry but i don’t have the judging sheet			/
37	Prof. Faridah: Ok.someone does
38	Leng STABAZ : Prof				/
39	Mira has sent u the email				/
40	The judging criteria				/
41	She said				/
42	She has told u				/
43	This morning				/
44	Prof. Faridah: Good news.my harapan wants us at their pitch session besok between 1130 and 1230.sapa punya contact ni.i can go with u guys.kita pitch.			/
45	Fatin BENL PR: It was in your list prof. But i cnt go tomorrow. I have another program			/
46	Prof. Faridah: A student must go.i want u to experience making ur own money for ur event
47	Azura HS: I wish I can come with u but I hv class trip trow to Media Prima		/
48	Shafeena Azli: May I know where is the pitch session prof?				/
49	We’ll sort out who’s available & roger here as soon as possible
50	Prof. Faridah: Sapa punya contact tu? The ceo is very xcited but we need to prepare quite a bit. 2 printed proposals, one powerpoint presentation and have to bring our own laptop.			/
51	i want you to do it but I will train how		/
52	to speak good english			/
53	and wht to say	/
54	can we do the prep today? It’s march 22 which is friday.i thot tmrw			/
55	Hazim: Is it on 1130-1230		/
56	on friday? Where?			/
57	Fatin BENL PR: Prof, I got the contact from the list of companies you gave me.				/
58	I have the printed proposals, by the way.	/
59	Kiko BEN: Prof is it on Thursday or Friday?				/
60	If it’s on Friday, i’ll come along with you			/
61	Prof. Faridah: R u free now atikah? We need to do the powerpoint.			/
62	for this trip I take 2 students to do the presentation:	/
63	atikah and raug.			/
64	you will do the presentation.i will train you how to present.we have 3 days to do this: today and tmrw.			/
65	whn can you come today?		/
66	2 days not 3		/
67	Kiko BEN: Alright! I can come now. My class canceled.	/
68	Prof. Faridah: Ok.fatin is also helping out			/
69	Maxis said no to sponsoring us. hmm…	/
70	maybe thse using maxis no			/
71	Prof. Faridah: Atikah and rauf, u have 7 mins to be at cerdas. wal asr			/
72	Tadi I nmpk jln jam menuju dsara			/
73	Amira BEN: Good luck!				/
74	Raouf BENL: Salam prof. I just got to know that iwa’s mother has the specialty in SPSS. Maybe we can ask help from her mom?	/
75	Izura: Izura Raouf, not Iwa. -.-`				/
76	Raouf BENL: Oh sorry, Izura. (emoticons)				/
77	Prof. Faridah : Ok let me talk to dr saodah first.			/
78	she has the software and we’ll do the questionnaire, you guys cari respondents and we run results on spss.if she wants money,			/
79	we go to izura’s mom for free service	/
80	(emoticon) will beep bck				/
81	Ok good news alhamdulillah.usm hantar 14 entries.weiii…uia must work harder!			/
82	Shafeena Azli: No biggie
83	Mlm kang saya akan anta updated version. Sapa2 u can leave behind today’s list. So i check back tmrw insya Allah	/		/
84	Azura HS: Email received
85	Shafeena Azli: I’ll just updated through webmail iwff and highlight mana yg da anta			/
86	Azura HS: Noted! Thanks babe				/
87	Shafeena Azli: Tadahal!				/
88	Oh yg ipta tu mana yg i ckp da email pastu i ada highlight email tu. Meaning u’ve sent the invitation through email.			/
89	Paham x? -.- ke ayat aku berbelit ni				/
90	Amira BEN: Ape2				/
91	Izura: Mira				/
92	Amira BEN: Owh2				/
93	Izura: U ada ambil duit dkt cerdas ke?				/
94	Nadiah Norhan: Siapa yg azura dh call				/
95	Pening kejap				/
96	Ping				/
97	Ping				/
98	Shafeena Azli: Tu je yg di listkan oleh zura				/
99	Azura HS: Segi, kptm, ploy tech			/
100	Shafeena Azli: Others am not sure			/
101	Azura HS: Sikit je				/
102	Cause yest dah nak habis ofc hour				/
103	Sorry				/
104	Amira BEN: Duit ape?				/
105	Izura: So, yg kptm ni kena call balik?				/
106	Azura HS: So Iwa, I baru baca whatsapp				/
107	Nope				/
108	He belum pass the invitation letter to his superior				/
109	Nanti I tanya dia balik				/
110	Nadiah Norhan: I dh call				/
111	And dh mntk email				/
112	And so i dh email				/
113	Izura: Alrightttt				/
114	Shafeena Azli: Anak2 kuuuu				/
115	Kerja arini bagaimana				/
116	Azura HS: Yes mummy			/
117	Izura: I duduk like an hour je				/
118	Azura HS : Sorry I tak pergi cerdas sbb flu teruk gila sampai muka pun bengkak				/
119	Sorry				/
120	Izura: Got quiz and consultation		/
121	Shafeena Azli: Ergh flu is bad				/
122	Azura HS: Esok I free at 3.30pm				/
123	Shafeena Azli: Tak mengapa iwa. Kita pelan2 kayuh janji kerja jalan.				/