error analysis: a study of errors committed by isizulu speaking ...

would automatically acquire this variety including its grammatical features.
The results showed that grammatical improvement was not observed either as a
result of formal teaching or as a result of extensive communication in the
language.
Platt, (1989:395) conducted a research on the different values of ‘New
Englishes’ which are not ‘merely fossilised interlanguages but display
creativity’. He says research on ‘New Englishes’ requires a complex paradigm
combining different viewpoints, comparison across varieties and joint project
by speakers of native and indigenised varieties.
2.15 Criticism of error analysis
According to Hobson, (1999:10) error analysis has been criticised, both from
theoretical and methodological point of view. Firstly, in error analysis the
norm is the target language and any deviation from the target is viewed as an
error. However, determining a norm is problematic because it depends on a
variety of factors including the linguistic context, ‘the medium (spoken or
written), the social context (formal or informal), and the relation between
speaker and hearer (symmetrical or asymmetrical)’ (van Els et al., 1984:47,
cited in Hobson, 1999). According to her, deviation from the norm is viewed
negatively, which means that these studies do not acknowledge the creative
processes learners use in building new language. They, therefore, ignore a
large part of the developmental process.
From a methodological point of view, many limitations are discussed in the
literature (Hobson, 1999: 10). Firstly, EA measures production (which may be
fairly restricted), rather than perception (which may be less restricted)
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