<P> In applied linguistics, an error is a deviation from accepted rules of a language made by a learner of a second language . Such errors result from the learner's lack of knowledge of correct rules of the target language . A significant distinction is generally made between errors and mistakes which are not treated the same from a linguistic viewpoint . The study of learners' errors was the main area of investigation by linguists in the history of second - language acquisition research . </P> <P> H. Douglas Brown has defined linguistic errors as "a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner ." He cites an example Does John can sing? where a preceding do auxiliary verb has been used as an error . </P> <P> In linguistics, it is considered important to distinguish errors from mistakes . A distinction is always made between errors and mistakes where the former is defined as resulting from a learner's lack of proper grammatical knowledge, whilst the latter as a failure to utilize a known system correctly . Brown terms these mistakes as performance errors . Mistakes of this kind are frequently made by both native speakers and second language learners . However, native speakers are generally able to correct themselves quickly . Such mistakes include slips of the tongue and random ungrammatical formations . On the other hand, errors are systematic in that they occur repeatedly and are not recognizable by the learner . They are a part of the learner's interlanguage, and the learner does not generally consider them as errors . They are errors only from the perspective of teachers and others who are aware that the learner has deviated from a grammatical norm . That is, mistakes can be self - corrected with or without being pointed out to the speaker but errors cannot be self - corrected . </P> <P> S. Pit Corder was probably the first to point out and discuss the importance of errors learners make in course of their learning a second language . Soon after, the study and analysis of learners' errors took a prominent place in applied linguistics . Brown suggests that the process of second language learning is not very different from learning a first language, and the feedback a L2 learner gets upon making errors benefits him in developing the L2 knowledge . </P>

What is the difference between error and mistakes
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