an see for oneself because one cannot (either literally or figuratively) ôhearö them but must have them pointed out. Fluency in a language can in fact be defined as the ability to catch oneÆs own mistakes and know how to correct them.
Errors û defined as the type of systematic mistake made by a person not using her or his native language û may be divided into a number of different categories, as Ellis (1985, p. 28) notes. These errors fall into the following types: interference errors, or errors that reflect the native language structure; errors produced when a speaker follows a general rule that should not be followed in a particular circumstance; random errors, which occur when a speaker does not know the appropriate pattern in a second language and simply guesses at what might be the correct form, and unique errors, mistakes that do not seem to result from interference from the native language or the misapplication of a pattern in the new language. These last may most closely approximate the mistakes that native speakers make; they may be simple ômistakesö rather than ôerrorsö.
Error analysis is a useful tool for both teachers and researchers as it helps teachers see the frequency of different types of errors as well as helping them
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