ABSTRACT
Making errors is unavoidable for second language learners. Learner errors indicate how much the learner has learnt, provide evidence of how learners acquire a second language, and can act as a device the learner uses to discover the rules of the target language. Many researchers have attempted to investigate second language acquisition through the analysis of learner errors. Although many of the error-analysis (EA) studies were carried out in the 1970s, it has continued with a desire to improve pedagogy and with the rise of learning demand for non-European languages, such as Korean. In fact, EA research in Korean as a second language started in the mid-1980s, and with its heyday in the 1990s and 2000s, it has widened its scope, reflecting the diversified learner base from English and Japanese speakers to Chinese and South-East Asian language speakers, and most recently to Eurasian learners. This chapter provides a general critique of core issues, such as data sampling and identification, description, and explanation of errors, as well as key findings from EA studies in Korean. It then offers a discussion of pedagogical implications and makes suggestions for future developments of EA in Korean.
