Transcript That’s right! The place of accuracy and correction in the

ACCURACY AND
CORRECTING
MISTAKES
Penny Ur
2006
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A. How important is it to be
accurate?
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What do you think?
1. 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 pronounce like a
native speaker, as long as they are easily
comprehensible.
3. It’s not important for students to use correct
grammar, as long as they are getting their
message across
If you answered ‘disagree’ to any of the above – can
you say why?
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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
– ‘uncomfortable’
– 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-respect as a language
user
–lower prestige in eyes of others
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And because…
…from the point of view of the
teacher, professionalism means
teaching the language as best we can,
not compromising on careless or
unacceptable usage.
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B. Achieving accuracy
(Prevention is better than
cure)
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Research indicates that to achieve
accuracy, learners need...
communicative language use
+
some explicit rule-learning
+
practice
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There are various theories about
how accuracy is achieved
1. Rule-based practice (traditional, e.g.
Murphy, 1985)
2. The Input Hypothesis (Krashen, 1982)
3. ‘Consciousness raising’ (Ellis, 2001)
4. Task-based learning (Skehan, 1996)
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Probably the optimal answer is a
combination of these models:
• Communicative tasks, with ‘time out’ for
focus on form, including practice exercises
• Rule explanation, leading into both
‘mechanical’ and communicative practice
But also time for:
• Communication on its own
• Focus on form on its own
• Language play (songs, chants, rhymes…)10
C. CORRECTION: WHEN
PREVENTION HASN’T WORKED!
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Various issues:
1.Does it help?
2.What different kinds of correction
are there? And which is the most
effective?
3.What are learners’ preferences?
4.When should we NOT correct?
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1. Does it help?
Truscott (1999, 1996) claims that correction
in both oral and written work 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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But …
– teacher intuitions
– learners themselves claim it does help
(Harmer, 2005)
– there is some empirical evidence in
support of the hypothesis that learners do
learn from being corrected (Doughty and
Varela, 1998)
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2. What different kinds of
correction are there?
And which is the most
effective?
Which type of correction, on the whole,
leads to better uptake? (Lyster and Ranta,
1997; Lyster, 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
corrective feedback + some negotiation.
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Further thoughts
Within communicative interaction, we try to
make our corrections unobtrusive because we
don’t want to disturb the ‘flow’ – so we use quick
‘recasts’, and don’t demand self-correction
But many of these may not be perceived as
corrections, or even noticed, so may be a waste of
time!
If we correct, we need to make sure ‘uptake’
has occurred, even if this slows things down a bit.
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What are learners’ preferences?
When I make a mistake in oral work I think Very Good Not
it's very good / good / not very good / bad Good
Very
if the teacher...
Good
... doesn't correct me at all.
Bad
… 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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What are learners’ preferences?
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
Very
Good
Bad
…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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Main points:
• Learners want to be corrected.
• Learners feel corrective feedback is valuable
(Harmer, 2005).
• Learners prefer explicit correction (but maybe
not adults and more advanced learners,
Harmer, 2005).
• Learners understand the value of repeating /
rewriting the correct form.
• Learners do not, on the whole, like to be
corrected by peers.
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When should we NOT correct?
Perhaps we should not correct when a
learner is focusing on communicating?
Because:
– non-communicative, inauthentic!
– not appropriate to the aims of the task.
– distracting, disturbing
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But…
– Some evidence that learners want to be
corrected at the moment they make the
mistake (Harmer, 2005)
– We need to balance the benefit against the
damage: which is more important:
• preserving the fluent process and communicative
nature of the interaction?
or
• providing corrective feedback where it is needed to
help learners improve their accuracy?
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No easy answer to this one!
But it is clear that:
– there is no absolute ‘rule’ about when not to
correct
– our decision will involve a lot of different
considerations specific to the learner
•
•
•
•
the importance of encouraging fluency
the importance of encouraging accuracy
the confidence and self-image of the learner
the sheer number of mistakes
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D. Summary and
conclusions
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Accuracy-oriented as well as
communicative teaching of language
We need to do all we can to make sure that as students
are learning new language they learn it correctly; so we
should provide opportunities for students to:
learn rules
talk about the language (language awareness), including
contrast with L1
practise accurate as well as meaningful production
… as well as lots of communicative work:
exposure to (correct) spoken and written language
communicative speaking and writing tasks
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Effective corrective feedback
If after all this learners are still making mistakes,
corrective feedback can help improve accuracy.
Corrective feedback may be provided during
communicative tasks.
But ‘recasts’ on their own are probably
ineffective.
The most effective corrective feedback occurs
when learners actively participate in negotiation of
the correction, to make sure that there is uptake.
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