Transcript CORRECTNESS AND CORRECTION

ACCURACY AND
CORRECTING MISTAKES
Penny Ur
ETAS 2010
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This talk:
A. How important is it for our students to be
accurate in their language use?
B. What is ‘accurate’ or ‘correct’ usage’?
C. Does error correction help?
D. What kinds of corrective feedback are
more/less effective?
E. What are learner preferences?
F. Summary and conclusions
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A. How important is it for our
students to be accurate in their
language use?
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What do you think?
Would you agree or disagree with the
following statements?
1. It’s not important for students to spell
English words correctly, as long as their
meaning is clear.
2. It’s not important for students to use
correct grammar, as long as they are
getting their message across.
And why / why not?
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Accuracy is important
because…
…From the point of view of the
hearer/reader, inaccuracy, even if it
doesn’t affect meaning, is
• distracting, ‘jarring’
• ‘discourteous’
• may lower respect for the
speaker/writer
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And because…
… from the point of view of the
speaker/writer, inaccuracy may
• lower self-confidence
• lower self-respect as a language
user
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And because…
…from the point of view of the
teacher, professionalism means
teaching the language as best we can.
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B. What is ‘accurate’ or
‘correct’ usage?
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Would you correct it?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
She ain’t here.
He come.
We spent a fortnight away.
The people which …
Frontal teaching
I am waiting here for hours.
They preponed the meeting
It was a ‘red line’.
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Local usage (1)
1. She ain’t here.
2.
3. We spent a fortnight away.
4.
5.
6.
7. They preponed the meeting
8.
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Local usage (2)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Frontal teaching
6.
7.
8. It was a red line.
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‘Local variants’, not errors
Thus, what NS English teachers employed
in NNS countries tend to label as language
‘errors’ might not really be errors, but simply
examples of ‘authentic’ or ‘real’ language
use rooted in the social and cultural
framework of their learners.
Tan, 2005: 129
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Learner errors / variants
1.
2. He come.
3.
4. The people which …
5.
6. I am waiting here for hours.
7.
8.
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‘Learner variety’, not errors
‘Despite the accumulating evidence against IL
[interlanguage] theory, the literature on teaching English still
regularly contains advice for teachers in both outer and
expanding circles on how to reduce IL errors and how to
reverse fossilization … there is still little if any awareness
among TESOL practitioners and SLA researchers that
learners may be producing forms characteristic of their own
variety of English, which reflect the sociolinguistic reality of
their English use, whatever their circle, far better than either
British or American norms are able to do’.
Jenkins, 2006: 168
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‘Variants, not errors’
A popular approach today is that which sees
forms such as she go as legitimate ‘variants’
among ELF speakers, not as ‘incorrect’.
‘Correct’ has become a politically incorrect
term.
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Which would you correct?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
She ain’t here.
He come.
We spent a fortnight away.
The people which …
Frontal teaching
I am waiting here for hours.
They preponed the meeting
It was a red line.
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I would correct them all.
…because I am a teacher.
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‘Any kind of teaching is based on a kind of
prescription, and it would be simply
disingenuous, and also rather silly, to deny
this’
Seidlhofer, 2006: 45
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Why should we relate to these
usages as incorrect?
1. Students have a right to be taught the
most useful, acceptable and important
forms used for ELF worldwide.
2. I don’t have time to teach everything:
need to decide on priorities.
3. Students want unambiguous guidance.
4. We need a clear basis for classroom
teaching, materials design and tests.
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So …
Encourage awareness of and respect for
different varieties of English.
But these may not be acceptable for the
students’ own emergent language
production.
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But what are ‘correct’ forms?
Most of these are obvious.
For some, we guess, based on our own
intuitions as fully competent speakers
Grammars? Dictionaries?
In the future: a ‘wiki’?
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Conclusion (1)
There is such a thing as ‘correct’ and
‘incorrect’, ‘acceptable’ and ‘unacceptable’
usage in the context of English as a lingua
franca.
Where learners use incorrect or
unacceptable forms, we should probably
correct them.
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C. Does error correction help?
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The case against:
Truscott (1999, 1996, 2006): correction does
not work:
• Teachers correct inconsistently, sometimes
wrongly
• Students are sometimes hurt by being corrected
• Students may not take corrections seriously
• Correction may interfere with fluency
• Learners do not learn from the correction
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Some responses
Chandler, 2004
Ferris, 1999
Ferris, 2004
Lyster, Lightbown, Spada, 1999
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Teachers correct inconsistently,
sometimes wrongly.
i.e. Teachers are incompetent.
But:
Inconsistency is not a disaster.
Teachers on the whole tend to correct
correctly!
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Students are hurt by being
corrected.
There is considerable evidence that
students feel that correction is part of the
‘rules of the game’
The ability to correct respectfully and
supportively is a part of professional
competence.
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Students may not understand or
take corrections seriously.
Much of our teaching may not be
understood or taken seriously…
(instructing, explaining, questioning,
activating)
…So we should not teach?
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Correction may interfere with
fluency.
The procedures based on ‘Focus on form’ (Long
and Robinson, 1998) use precisely this kind of
‘interference’.
There is some evidence that learners want to be
corrected when they make the mistake.
But we need to know when to interrupt and
when not.
Again: a question of professional competence.
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Learners do not learn from the
correction.
A key issue.
Research evidence is controversial and
sometimes contradictory: on the whole
tentatively in favor.
Learning from correction in any case is
gradual and partial, not immediate and
complete
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Conclusion (2)
The effectiveness of corrective feedback
is variable; may only work partially and
gradually.
But if there’s anything that is even less
effective than correcting…
…It is not correcting.
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D. What kinds of error correction
are more/less effective?
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Research
Lyster, R. & Ranta, L., 1997
Lyster, R., 1998
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Types of
correction:
Frequency of
use:
Uptake:
Recast
55%
18%
Elicitation
14%
46%
Clarification
request
11%
28%
Metalinguistic
feedback
8%
45%
Explicit
correction
7%
36%
Repetition
5%
31%
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RESULTS
Simple ‘recast’ was most often used,
but least ‘uptake’!
Recasts may not be perceived as
correction at all!
The best results are gained from explicit
corrective feedback + some active
processing.
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The correction-during-communication
paradox
If we correct during communicative work
unobtrusively so as not to harm
communication – the correction may be
ineffective.
If we correct more effectively using explicit
feedback and ‘processing’ – we may
damage the communicative value of the
activity.
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What’s the answer?
Professional teaching judgement, taking into
account:
• The overall goals of the course
• How crucial / important the error is
• The frequency of the error
• The level of the student
• The personality of the student
• The motivation of the class overall to learn
• The excitement level of the activity
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Conclusion (3)
For optimum effectiveness, corrective
feedback should
a) be explicit
b) involve some measure of active
negotiation
It may or may not be effective to correct
during (oral) communication; this depends
on a number of pedagogical considerations.
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E. What are learner
preferences?
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A questionnaire-based survey
Population: over 1,000 children learning
English in State schools in Israel.
Ages: 10 - 17
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Learners’ preferences in oral correction
When I make a mistake in oral work I
think it's very good / good / not very
good / bad if the teacher...
Very
Good
Good
Not Bad
Very
Good
... doesn't correct me at all.
… tells me there's a mistake, but doesn't tell
me what it is, so I have to correct myself.
..tells me a mistake and also tells me what
the correct form should be.
…tells me there's a mistake, tells me the
correct form, and makes me repeat it.
…tells me there's a mistake, and gets
another student to correct me.
…corrects my mistake and also explains
why it was wrong.
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Learners’ preferences in written correction
When I make a mistake in written
work I think it's very good / good /
not very good / bad if the teacher...
Very Good
Good
Not Bad
Very
Good
…doesn't correct me at all.
…indicates there's a mistake, but doesn't
tell me what it is.
…indicates there's a mistake, and gives me
a hint what kind of mistake it is.
Indicates there's a mistake and writes what
the correct form should be.
Corrects me in any of the ways indicated
above, and doesn't make me rewrite.
Corrects me in any of the ways indicated
above, and makes me rewrite.
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Oral mistakes
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
yes
no
…corrects
…tells me
…tells me
..tells me a
… tells me
.. doesn't
my mistake
there's a
there's a
mistake and
there's a correct me at
and also
mistake, and mistake, tells also tells me mistake, but
all.
explains w hy gets another
me the
w hat the
doesn't tell
it w as
student to correct form, correct form me w hat it is,
w rong.
correct me.
and makes
should be.
so I have to
me repeat it.
correct
myself.
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Written mistakes
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
yes
no
Corrects me Corrects me
Indicates
…indicates
…indicates
…doesn't
in any of the in any of the
there's a
there's a
there's a
correct me at
w ays
w ays
mistake and mistake, and mistake, but
all.
indicated
indicated
w rites w hat gives me a
doesn't tell
above, and
above, and the correct
hint w hat me w hat it is.
makes me doesn't make form should
kind of
rew rite.
me rew rite.
be.
mistake it is.
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Conclusions (4)
School-age learners want to be corrected.
They feel corrective feedback is valuable
They prefer explicit correction
They understand the value of repeating /
rewriting the correct form.
They do not, on the whole, like to be
corrected by their peers.
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SUMMARY
• It is helpful to distinguish between ‘correct’
and ‘incorrect’ forms rather than ‘variants’.
• It is on the whole helpful to provide
corrective feedback.
• The most effective corrective feedback is
explicit and involves some ‘negotiation’.
• Learners want to be corrected, and prefer
explicit teacher feedback.
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Thank you for listening!
[email protected]
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