2. English Spanish
12 + vowels, 3 5 vowels, 5 diphthongs
diphthongs
•Vowel length is not a distinctive feature so learners may have problems
distinguishing between the English vowels ĭ (as in sit) and ē (as in seat) or
between ĕ (as in bet) and ā (as in bait) Flaitz (2003)
•Not much difference between v and b and the meaning of the word does
not change, which it would in English (vow/bow)
• Spanish speakers may substitute a j for the hard to pronounce y in
yesterday “some learners may not be able to tell the difference between ä
(as in pot), ă (as in hat) and ŭ (as in put)” (Flaitz, 2003, p. 196).
•Diphthongs and most English consonants do not pose problems for
Spanish ELLs.
3. I observed Javier, a twelve-year old student from El
Salvador who has been in the United States for
four years. He is in 5th grade and is at an
Intermediate language learning level.
Javier made few errors in speaking. He said that
some words are the same as Spanish, but “you take
off a letter.” And some words, like his favorite
video game Portal are spelled the same but “you
say them different.”
4. English Spanish
Inflection and Agreement Inflection and Agreement
•Number in nouns, tense/aspect in verbs, and •Nouns for number and gender, but not for
comparison in adjectives possession (which is signaled by placing the
article 'de' between the possessed item and
•English has a number of irregular verbs with the possessor, as in 'la casa de mi madre', 'the
inflections occurring internally (sit/sat) that house of my mother' ”
could frustrate Spanish ELLs.
•far more inflectional categories — and affixes
to mark them — for verbs than does English
•Agreement in subject and verb •Agreement in subject and verb and in gender
with nouns and adjectives
•Spanish ELLs can carry the rule of agreement
in gender over to English morphology and
commit speaking or writing errors until they
5. Adjective Usage Errors
What Javier wrote Correct form Error
Used an adjective form
learn geographic learn geography
instead of the noun
Used the plural instead of the
My moms eyes My mom’s eyes
possessive adjective
Pronoun Errors
What Javier wrote Correct form Error
Incorrectly inserted the
Alligators they use Alligators use
subject pronoun “they” when
there is already a subject in
the sentence
Animals use tools to protect Animals use tools to protect Incorrectly made the object
themself themselves pronoun singular instead of
plural
6. Verb Tense Errors
What Javier wrote Correct form Error
Did not apply rule of adding “ed” to regular verb
orangutan trade food orangutan traded food
to form the past tense
Same as above
He open the door He opened the door
Achy play a trick Achy played a trick Same as above
Same as above
My dad command me My dad commanded me
Same as above
He learn He learned
Same as above
Someone suggest Someone suggested
I learn I learned Same as above
I also learn I also learned Same as above
Incorrectly used the present tense instead of the
She hide She hid
irregular past tense of the verb
Did not use the correct past tense of rip which
She ripe ripped
doubles the final consonant before adding “ed”
Omitted the final “s” for 3rd person singular form
Frog carrie Frog carries
of the verb in present tense
7. English Spanish
•Moving word order changes the meaning of •Word order can be moved without changing
the sentence or creates a grammatically the meaning of the sentence.
incorrect sentence. Example: ”Las chicas son altas.” has the same
Example: “The girls are tall.” cannot be meaning as “Son altas las chicas.” (The girls
changed to “Are tall the girls” because it is not are tall)
a grammatically correct sentence .
•Forbids the use of double negatives. •Requires the use of double negatives
Example: “He doesn’t want no candies.” Example: “Él no desea ningunos dulces.”
incorrect (Spanish translation with double negatives, no
and ningunos ) correct
Spanish ELLs would have a definite
disadvantage with these two aspects of
English grammar.
8. Preposition Usage Errors
What Javier wrote Correct form Error
used the preposition “to” instead of
Clothing is to people to wear Clothing is for people to wear
the correct preposition “for”
Article Usage Errors
What Javier wrote Correct form Error
used the indefinite article “a” instead
A octopus An octopus
of the correct indefinite article “an”
(because the following word begins
with a vowel)
A ability An ability Same as above
used the indefinite article “an” instead
An dolphin A dolphin
of the correct indefinite article “a”
(because the following word begins
with a consonant)
Missing the indefinite article “a”
Has good memory Has a good memory
9. English Spanish
•I forgot the homework. •Se me olvidó la tarea.
Sentence structure indicates the subject is Literal translation: The homework forgot itself
doing the action and the direct object of that (was forgotten) on me.
action is the homework. It reflects the Accidental reflexive construction reflects the
English/American cultural attitude of laid back attitude of the Spanish culture in the
individual responsibility for one’s actions. I am sentence structure. The way it is formed
responsible for forgetting the homework. It is indicates that the action is unintentional and
my fault. relieves the object of blame or fault.
Spanish ELLs might be confused by this
•synonyms construction and this attitude
•antonyms
•polysemy
•homophones
ELLs will need the help of their teacher to
identify and integrate these additional
semantic concepts into their learning.
10. Active v. Passive Voice
Used the active instead of the passive voice
I transport to school I was transported to school
which is needed in this context
11. English Spanish
•alphabetic foundations •alphabetic foundations
•Flaitz (2003) points out that because •more shallow or transparent
Spanish spelling is so close to
pronunciation, English spelling can be •more notable phoneme-grapheme correspondence
difficult for ELLs. (Pérez Cañado, 2005)
12. Spelling Errors
What Javier wrote Correct form Error
Stitches an sews Stitches and sews Left off final letter in and
Arrange some rock and shells Arrange some rocks and shells Left off final letter in rocks
Can go trougt Can go through Misspelled through
Left off final letter in languages
Speak two language Speak two languages
I als I also Left off final letter in also
Left off the final two letters in frog
Poison fr Poison frog
Left off final letter in the
Th keeper The keeper
Left off final letter in then
The when the keeper Then when the keeper
Left off final letter in then
The she Then she
Left off final letter in then
The he Then he
Misspelled receipt
For a trecit For a receipt
13. Work on the many English vowel sounds and
minimal pairs (b,v) in phonology.
Present the lack of inflection for gender, and
fewer inflections for verb formations as
positive aspects of English morphology
Point out the patterns of English syntax in
context in both spoken and written English
14. The teacher should point out the semantics
at the word or sentence level and then
discuss with the class the implications of
semantics in all languages.
Spelling should be integrated with writing,
worked on individually, in pairs, and in small
groups, and taught with rules and strategies
that are repeated and revised (Pérez-Cañado,
2005) .
15. I concluded that Javier’s errors are due more
to the developmental stage of his language
learning than to interference of the L1 on the
development of his interlanguage. Based on
his writing samples, he is doing what is
expected of him in these assignments.
16. Flaitz, J. (2003). Understanding Your
International Students. Ann Arbor: University
of Michigan Press.
Pérez-Cañado, M. L. (2005). English and
Spanish spelling: Are they really different?.
International Reading Association, 522-530.
