This is a summary of S.P.Corder’s chapter ‘Error Analysis’ (reference below) which contains all the basic terminology required for this area. 

Types of Errors

Native speakers may produce errors (readily correctable) especially in conditions of stress, indecision and fatigue. It is logical to expect that non-native speakers may do the same. These are called ‘lapses’ and are of no special importance to the teacher.

Non-native speaker errors may be:

1. Referential errors, e.g. cap instead of hat
2. Register errors, e.g. pick instead of select.
3. Social appropriacy errors, e.g. when they select a wrong greeting form.
4. Textual errors, e.g. when they cannot relate two sentences to convey
   their intended meaning.

Referential and textual errors interfere with understanding.
Social and register errors affect interpersonal relations.
Receptive (comprehension) errors are more difficult to deal with than productive errors.

Significance of Errors

Errors made by a group of learners can be meaningful to the teacher only if the class forms a homogeneous group.

Errors of individuals are important because they help us to understand their linguistic development and may indicate strategies the teacher may adopt.

Analysing Errors

• The process of error analysis may be divided into three stages:
  1. Recognition
  You can’t recognise an error unless you interpret the learner’s intended meaning correctly.
• Some errors are overt , i.e. they are immediately apparent, e.g. he goed
• Some errors are covert; the form may be correct but it does not convert  the learner’s  intended meaning.2. Description
  This implies assigning some kind of linguistic label to the error, e.g. concord, tense, etc.3. Explanation
  Why learners make these errors can only be inferred by speculation. Three  reasons are mentioned:

a. Transfer, i.e. when the learner carries mother tongue habits into the
foreign language
b. Analogy, i.e. when the learner overgeneralises in the foreign language.
c. Teacher induced, when they stem from the teaching process.

Errors are not always systematic; three stages have been noted:

a. Presystematic when they are randonm
b. Systematic, when they are regular
c. Inconsistent, when he can correct himself

Corder, S. P. (1974). Error analysis. In J. B. P. Allen & S. P. Corder (Eds.), The Edinburgh course in applied linguistics (Vol. 3) (pp. 122-131). Oxford University Press.