Ace Your 2026 NBPTS English as a New Language Test – Unleash Your Teaching Superpowers!

Overgeneralization happens when a learner takes a rule they’ve learned and applies it to all similar forms, even when some cases are exceptions. In English, for example, the regular past tense rule is to add -ed to verbs. A learner might say “goed” for “went” or “runned” for “ran” because they’re extending the rule to irregular verbs. The same idea shows up with plural forms or other word forms, like producing “mouses” instead of “mice” after learning that many nouns take an -s or -es. This pattern of applying a familiar rule too broadly signals that the learner is internalizing structure and testing how it works, which is a normal step in language development. With guided practice and exposure to the correct, irregular forms, the learner gradually adopts the right forms and uses exceptions appropriately.