Abstract:
This paper deals with the concept of "error" in foreign language learning. It presents different definitions .Whereas some define error as “a violation of code” others see it as “a deviation of the norm either grammatical or semantic, committed voluntarily or by negligence. It also discusses the different types of errors as classified by pedagogues and linguists.
In addition to that, it presents the potential sources of errors .The question of error correction and its techniques is equally dealt with.
The paper actually concentrates on the status of error in foreign language learnin/teaching process. It also discusses the results of a research on the errors committed by students of the Faculty of Languages , University of Sudan of Sciences and Technology in the utilization of three past tenses( passé composé, imparfait and plus-que-parfait) as an application of notions described in the theoretical part. It presents the outputs of a test designed to verify the ability of the above mentioned learners in using and understanding the semantics of such tenses.
