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ANTICIPATING STUDENTS’ PROBLEMS. ACCOMPLISHING OBJECTIVES

UNIT 1: Anticipating students’ problems

1. The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis

Build a strong rapport… “Variety is the key”.

Adults acquire new languages with more difficulty than children. While young children –regardless of their native language– can pick up English simply by regular, prolonged exposure to it, adult speakers of other languages can acquire fluency in English only through conscious effort and training. Linguistic researchers continue to debate the best ways to teach English to adults, and some of their theories are more widely accepted and used in teaching than other theories.

Contrastive analysis is the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities. In linguistics applied to language learning, we always contrast L2 and L1 in order to anticipate students’ problems.

The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis states that the errors a language learner will make in a second language can be predicted from the structures of the learner’s native language. Teachers of English as a second language should, therefore, understand the structures of students’ native languages and use this information to identify potentially problematic structures when planning lessons.

Individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture, both productively when attempting to speak the language and respectively when attempting to grasp and understand the language as practised by natives. In the comparison between native and foreign language lies the key to ease or difficulty in foreign language learning.

The contrastive analysis hypothesis has swept the field like a tidal wave, although its strong version – that it can predict most of the errors a learner will make while learning a second language – is being toned down to the claim that it can account for a great number of errors that L2 learners have actually made. Though its impact on foreign language teaching has been felt by almost all concerned, the contrastive analysis claim still remains a hypothesis.

One criticism of the contrastive analysis hypothesis is the case of intralingual errors. These are the types of errors whose source comes from within the target language. For example, overgeneralizing a rule such as the plural‘s’ and saying ‘mens’ instead of ‘men’. This type of error is the one that shows how often the target language is used by the learner. This will lead to some errors, but overall the regular use of the target language will facilitate learning. Most of the time applying the rule of adding an ‘
s’ to form the plural will work.

1.1 Differences between English and Spanish

Grammar – Verb/Tense: Although Spanish is a much more heavily inflected language than English, there are many aspects of verb grammar that are similar. The major problem for the Spanish learner is that there is no one-to-one correspondence in the use of the tenses. So, for example, a Spanish learner might incorrectly use a simple tense instead of a progressive or a future one: She has a shower instead of She’s having a shower; I help you after school instead of I’ll help you after school. Problematic for beginners is the formation of interrogatives or negatives in English. The absence of an auxiliary in such structures in Spanish may cause learners to say: Why you say that? / Who he saw? / Do you saw him? / I no see him. / I not saw him.

Grammar – Other: Spanish word order is generally Subject-Verb-Object, like English. However, Spanish allows more flexibility than English, and generally places at the end of the sentence words that are to be emphasized. This may result in non-standard

syntax when Spanish learners speak or write English.

There are numerous other minor differences in the two languages that may result in negative transfer. Here are a few examples. The way that things are done in Spanish can be inferred from the mistake in English:

Do you have sister?

It’s not easy learn English.

Where’s my pencil? Have you seen him?

I am more tall than my brother.

Was snowing when I got up.

She took off the glasses.

1.2 Differences between English and German

Grammar – Verb/Tense: There is a significant lack of correspondence between the tenses used in English to convey a particular meaning and those used in German. For example, German does not have a continuous tense form, so it is common to hear sentences such as I can’t come now; I eat my dinner; or conversely He is riding his bike to school every day.

Another example of the lack of correspondence is the use of the present simple in German where English uses the future with will. This leads to mistakes such as: I tell him when I see him.

A further common problem for Germans is choosing the correct tense to talk about the past. Typically spoken German uses the present perfect to talk about past events: Dann habe ich ein Bier getrunken. The same tense is used in English produces the incorrect: Then I have drunk a beer.

1.3 Differences between English and Arabic

Grammar – Verb/Tense: Arabic has no verb to be in the present tense, and no auxiliary do. Furthermore, there is a single present tense in Arabic, as compared to English, which has the simple and continuous forms. These differences result in errors such as She good teacher, When you come to Germany?, I flying to Egypt tomorrow or Where he going?

Arabic does not make the distinction between actions completed in the past with and without a connection to the present. This leads to failure to use the present perfect tense, as in I finished my work. Can you check it?

There are no modal verbs in Arabic. This, for example, leads to: From the possible that I am late. (I may be late.) Another common mistake is to infer that an auxiliary is needed and make mistakes such as: Do I must do that?

Grammar – Other: The indefinite article does not exist in Arabic, leading to its omission when English requires it. There is a definite article but its use is not identical with the use of the definite article in English. In particular, Arab learners have problems with genitive constructions such as the boy’s dog. In Arabic this would be expressed as Dog the boy, which is how such constructions may be conveyed into English.

Adjectives in Arabic follow the noun they qualify. This leads Arab beginners to making word order mistakes in written or spoken English.

Arabic requires the inclusion of the pronoun in relative clauses, unlike English, in which the pronoun is omitted. This results in mistakes like: Where is the pen which I gave it to you yesterday?

1.4 Differences between English and Chinese

Grammar – Verb/Tense: There is no verb conjugation in Chinese. The tenses are normally expressed through the context of what is said. There is a single word in Chinese that means run. If you want to use the present tense, you simply say ´I run´ and in order to express the past you would say ´yesterday I run´. In the same way the future is expressed as ´Tomorrow I run´. One of the most difficult parts of the English language for native Chinese speakers is conjugation because there are so many tenses in English. The present simple tense is not always used as the typical default when using English but they may end up mixing up tenses when speaking.

Grammar – other: There is no difference made in Chinese between singular and plural forms for nouns; again, context is used to show this. An example is if someone said “one car” in Chinese then it becomes singular and in following with this example “many car” makes it plural. So when speaking the learner will usually forget to use the plural form when necessary.

Phonology: Chinese learners have many difficulties in this area and can be made worse with intonation problems. Chinese is a tone language. It uses the pitch (highness or lowness) of a phoneme sound to convey meaning. In English, on the other hand, changes in pitch are used to emphasize or express emotion, not to give a different word meaning to the sound, and learners may find this difficult to replicate.

When looking at vowel sounds, English has more than Chinese, which may make it difficult for learners to hear the differences in their sounds for some words. A typical problem is that Chinese learners tend not to hear the difference between L and R. This would lead them to say things such as “right” instead of “light” or “race” as “lace”.

2. Interlanguage

So, a detailed study of interlanguage could help us understand the learners’ problems better and try to provide timely help to them, so that they achieve competence in the language they are trying to learn.

A quick review on interlanguage:

While learning a second language, learners build up a system for themselves which is different in some ways from their first language and second language systems. This system has been given various names, but the most widely used term is that suggested by Selinker (1974). He calls this interlanguage, to emphasize the structurally intermediate status of the learner’s language system between his mother tongue and his target language.

In language learning, learner’s errors are caused by several different processes. These include:

a. Borrowing patterns from the mother tongue (language transfer)

b. Extending patterns from the target language (overgeneralization)

c. Expressing meanings using the words and grammar which are already known (simplification)

Since our concepts and ideas are largely structured by our first language, the learners’ first language has a lot of influence over them. Hence they could be said to view the second language through their first language and arrive at a system which is midway between their first and second language.

Why pay attention to interlanguage? It helps us understand students’ errors and mistakes in order to help them in their learning process. We can guide students to correctness whenever we detect an error that comes from the attempt to say more than really acquired.

3. Error analysis

In second language acquisition, error analysis studies the types and causes of language errors. Errors are classified according to:

1. Modality (i.e., level of proficiency in speaking, writing, reading, listening)
2. Linguistic level (i.e., pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, style)
3. Form (e.g., omission, insertion, substitution)
4. Type (systematic errors/errors in competence vs. occasional errors/errors in performance)
5. Cause (e.g., interference, interlanguage)

Most common errors of Spanish learners of English

Most of the errors that occur when speaking L2 have to deal with pronunciation and grammar, and not with spelling; since spelling is usually identified with writing. But this doesn’t mean that pronunciation errors are not due to spelling; some of them being product of the learner reading a word and using their native tongue pronunciation code, instead of the TL code, to enounce it. Here you must take into consideration that even if spelling is associated to writing; they’re not exactly the same thing. Some people can spell perfectly and write terribly and others the other way around.

Often teachers try to improve written skills of learners by sending them written assignments when they still are not able to write a coherent text in English. A close analysis to the most common errors reveals a phenomenon. Errors are directly related to the level of English proficiency and not to knowing or not knowing how to write separate words. The more the learner progresses in the acquisition of the English language, the more accurate his written skills are. By improving speaking skills (pronunciation and vocabulary correctness along with grammar accuracy) they indirectly but firmly improve their potential writing skills.

In your teaching practice you will detect many common errors in Spanish learners. Here is a brief list of the most common ones.

Regarding morphology:

1. Omitting the –s of 3rd person singular of verbs, e.g. She speak English. He play tennis.
2. Confusing he and she. Spanish people often confuse these pronouns.
3. Wrong article usage
4. Wrong singular/plural usage. E.g. The people are crazy. There are many mens.

Regarding pronunciation:

1. Pronunciation of initial S + Consonant: start, stop, stadium, split, etc.
2. V/B sounds are pronounced the same
3. J/G sounds are hard to pronounce
4. H sound is pronounce too guttural
5. Past simple of regular verbs: e.g. walked pronounced as “wolkid”.
6. Pronunciation of silent L in could, would, should
7. Same pronunciation of long and short i: sheet/shit, feet / fit.
8. Pronunciation of final T in connected speech
9. Stress and intonation. Since there are no specific rules for stress in English, Spanish learners have to learn the words with their stress. Intonation patterns are also different.

Regarding syntax:

1. Using wrong prepositions, e.g. ‘depends of’ instead of ‘depends on’
2. Word order of adjectives, e.g. ‘apple green’ instead of ‘green apple’
3. Tense formation. Using present simple instead of present perfect, e.g. I live in Spain for five years, instead of I’ve lived / been living in Spain for 5 years.
4. Wrong use of auxiliaries in questions. Wrong use of inversion.

Regarding lexicon:

1. False friends of same root, e.g. grades / marks, assist / attend, etc.
2. Preference of using one word verbs from latin roots rather than phrasal verbs. Enter=come in

4. Importance for English teaching

Teachers and learners of English as well as syllabus designers and materials producers have much to gain from the studies of Error Analysis and Interlanguage.

Error Analysis helps the teachers to assess whatever they have taught and whatever the learners have learnt and make plans for the future. If teachers understand that learners cannot achieve native speaker’s competence automatically they would be ready to accept the varieties of language which their learners produce. These varieties may be different from the well-formed utterances found in the course book drill or dialogue. But a close study of the learners’ English will provide “the sort of data on which realistic predictions about learning and teaching can be based”. (Richards and Sempson 1974). When teachers realize that learners have to pass through various stages to achieve competence they would set more realistic goals for particular learning situations.

If the teachers know the nature of the learners’ system to be transitional they would be on the lookout for items which are fossilized. They would be able to help the learners improve their competence and bring it as close to native competence as possible. Even if they do not have the time to carry out systematic analyses, the mere awareness of these concepts would influence their thinking. They might at least make a mental note of the errors that recur over long periods of time and treat them appropriately as part of their class work.

UNIT 2: Accomplishing objectives

1. Assessment procedures and evaluation

Why do we say “assess students” and not “evaluate students”? Is it the same?

1.1 Evaluation versus assessment

Evaluation is a broader term than assessment. It refers to the systematic use of standards to determine how significant is something in a working scheme. Essentially, it parts from objectives to analyze what was accomplished and how. When evaluation takes place one assesses objectives, enabling reflection and assisting in decision-making while identifying areas of opportunity for improvement.

Assessment, on the other hand, is much more specific and in an education scenario refers to the documenting of knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs in some measurable way.

Imagine that you want your students to learn how to use the present simple tense to express routines, so you design an activity to do so. Your objective would be that they learn what you’re trying to teach, but you don’t really know up to what extent the activity satisfies your students’ learning needs. You carefully plan and think about how every part of the activity will affect students’ knowledge, but maybe they will need more practice, or some other type of practice, or those visual stimuli that you’re using aren’t good enough, or the TL verbs are not the best. For you to know if the material worked you assess your students’ knowledge through written and oral tests which were carefully planned according to how their knowledge should have been affected. It turns out some students mastered the use of the present simple tense to express routines and some didn’t, so you ask yourself why. After analyzing evidence on what specifically happened, you decide next time around you’ll try an activity in which context lends to meaning, using more and more accurate visual stimuli, and they’ll be forced to produce sentences in a conversation. In such a way, assessing student’s knowledge is but a tool to evaluate materials’ effectiveness and make decisions on how to improve conditions so learning is enhanced.

The graph that follows shows a representation of the fact that assessment is a component of evaluation, aside from mentioning several assessment tools and some dimensions that might be evaluated in a working scheme:

1.2 Some types of assessment

Assessment may be carried out using the different tools mentioned in the previous graph -tests, checklists, teacher observation rubrics or grids, etc.-, but their contribution to learning depends on when and how they are used. In this section we’ll refer to different types of assessment.

Make sure you think about in which conditions it would be best to choose one type or another, since that’ll be part of the class’s debate.

a.               Formative assessment and Summative assessment

Formative assessmentis an ongoing process of gathering information on how much the student has learned and his/her strengths and weaknesses. This information the teacher can use for their course planning and the actual feedback they give learners. Formative tests are designed to help the teacher plan a program in the future. After administering the test, the teacher will know exactly which areas to concentrate on and will be able to target students’ weak points. Formative tests can also be used to show whether a student has achieved the necessary degree of proficiency to successfully complete a new course of study, or perhaps to start a new job. Aside from tests, formative assessment might include tasks such as discussions, applications of skills, projects, interviews and any quick check that allow teachers and students to confirm achievement, note progress, and set next steps in learning.

Summative assessmentsums up attainment at the end of the course with a grade and although a lot of it is norm-referenced (placement of students in ranking in relation to their peers) and fixed-point, summative assessments should allow students to demonstrate their abilities to apply knowledge and skill in complex situations (e.g. including performance tasks, projects and portfolios as part of the final grade). The most common form of summative test is that administered at school, regional or national level at the end of an academic year, or at the end of a student’s course of study. While the class teacher or the head of department will probably have prepared the internal school tests, the national examinations will be based on a local or regional syllabus and are very unlikely to have been designed by teachers working in the classroom.

The specifying of abilities regarding specific proficiency levels would appear to be most relevant to summative assessment. However, feedback from a summative assessment can also be diagnostic, and so formative.

Formative and summative assessments may be carried out in different ways. As was stated before, most summative assessment is fixed-point, but can also be continuous, which is how formative assessment is normally fulfilled. Then, summative assessment is assessment by others while formative assessment might also have other objectives, like making students aware of their of their knowledge and learning process, for which cases it might include some self-assessment. Let’s see what each of these modalities mean.

b.              Continuous assessment and Fixed-point assessment

Continuous assessmentis assessment of class performances, pieces of work and projects throughout the course. In this type of assessment the final grade reflects the whole course/year/semester.

Fixed-point assessmentis when grades are awarded and decisions made on the basis of an examination or other assessment which takes place on a particular day, usually the end of the course or before the beginning of a course. What has happened beforehand is irrelevant; it is what the person can do now that is decisive.

Assessment is often seen as something outside the course, which takes place at fixed points in order to make decisions, but continuous assessment implies assessment which is integrated into the course and which contributes in some cumulative way to the assessment at the end of the course. Apart from marking homework and occasional or regular short achievement tests to reinforce learning, continuous assessment may take the form of checklists/grids completed by teachers and/or learners, assessment in a series of focused tasks, formal assessment of coursework, and the establishment of a portfolio of samples of work.

c.               Assessment by others and Self-assessment

Assessment by others implies judgments by the teacher or examiner (e.g. peers).

Self-assessment implies judgments about your own proficiency.

Learners can be involved in many assessment techniques. Research suggests that if ‘high stakes’ are not involved (e.g. whether or not you will be accepted for a course), self-assessment can be an effective complement to tests and teacher assessment. Accuracy in self-assessment is increased when assessment refers to clear descriptors defining standards of proficiency and when it is related to a specific experience. This experience may itself even be a test activity. It is also probably made more accurate when learners receive some training.

1.3 Characteristics of good assessment and grading systems

There might be many conditions that make one type of assessment more relevant and/or useful than another, so what must a teacher or a group of teachers in a school/academy consider when designing an assessment system?

* Complete assessment systems must be integrated with curriculum and instruction and should incorporate the concept of assessment of, for, and as learning.

Assessment of learning refers to summative assessments; whether the students acquired or didn’t acquire knowledge. Even though summative assessment refers to how grades are added to award a final PASS or FAIL at the end of the course, individual progress can be determined and monitored by multiple, in-depth measures such as combinations of assessment tasks administered throughout the school year. When using tasks and tests to grade, think about the following characteristics:

1. Grades should be relevant to major course objectives. When preparing your grading system for a course, begin with a list of your objectives for the course, assign relative weights to the objectives in terms of their importance and make sure the items you are including as part of the grade (e.g. exams, papers, projects) reflect the objectives and are weighted to reflect the importance of the objectives they are measuring.
2. Grades should reflect the extent to which students have learned the course materials. Items such as effort, attendance, or frequency of participation, although contributing factors to student learning, do not actually have recognized meaning in the acquisition of knowledge.
3. The grading process should be impartial and compare each student to the same criteria. E.g. if extra credit or opportunities to retake exams or rewrite assignments are given, the offer should be made to the whole class.
4. Grades should be based on sufficient data to permit you to make valid evaluations of student achievement. It is rarely justifiable to base students’ grades solely on their performance on one or two exams, since they would provide an inadequate sampling of course content and objectives. Also, an off-day could lower a student’s grade and be an inaccurate reflection of how much he/she has learned. Generally speaking,, the greater the number and variety of items used to determine grades, the more valid and reliable the grades will be.
5. The basis for the grading should be statistically sound. If you say that an exam is worth 15% of the total grade, use a procedure for combining scores that ensures that this will be the case.

Assessment for learning is formative assessment, direct feedback to students and teachers about whether students understand and can apply skills and knowledge. It occurs at a point where additional instruction or learning activities can be identified and used to address learning weaknesses and/or next steps.

It is important to understand that some assessments function as both summative and formative assessments. During a project, for example, a student should receive continuous feedback on progress and needs while the final project evaluation is summative. The general idea is that the consequences of assessment must benefit student’s learning. Considering this, communication about assessment should be regular and clear. Educators must communicate, in ordinary language, the purposes, methods, and results of assessment and focus on reporting what students know and are able to do, what they need to learn to do, and what will be done to facilitate improvement.

Assessment as learning refers to the use of assessments to bring deeper understanding of education goals, concepts, skills, and the process of learning to both teachers and students. Discussion of student work by teachers and by students is an example of assessment as learning. Assessment as learning might also give feedback of how the assessment system is working, rendering valuable information so the system evolves and improves, adapting to changing conditions.

* When considering how to assess one must also take into consideration that good assessment systems ensure that all students receive fair treatment in order not to limit students’ present and future opportunities. They allow for multiple methods to assess student progress and for multiple but equivalent ways for students to express knowledge and understanding. They are created or appropriately adapted to meet the specific needs of particular populations, thus respecting the principles of Universal Design for Learning, which state that specific needs of individuals based on learning differences need to be considered so students have fair and valid opportunities to demonstrate their learning. In the process, all students benefit.

** So, attention must be given to establishing a complete, balanced, and relevant assessment system that addresses broad education goals and include four major components that must be simultaneously taken into consideration:

1. Two of them are the already mentioned summative and formative assessments,that must be planned considering how to give all students (each with different needs) the chance to express knowledge, and also be used as learning tools,
2. the third one would be teacher capacity and development. Assessment systems depend on educators who understand the full range of assessment purposes, use appropriately a variety of suitable methods, work collaboratively, and engage in ongoing professional development to improve their capability as assessors. The first type of professional development would come from developing and scoring assessments. The second type of professional development occurs when teachers meet to share and discuss students’ performance on formative assessments (assessment as learning). And the third component of professional development addresses teacher development through washback effect, which refers to the capacity to understand and analyze data from all types of assessments and collapse/integrate/use them to inform instructional planning.
3. and last but not least, the fourth would refer to effective data systems. Effective data systems help stakeholders keep track of student scores on summative assessments and enables teachers to use technology to choose among optional formative assessment tasks and resources, to keep track of data on formative assessments, and share resources and insights with other teachers.

** In educational systems evaluation and assessment are but one of the components that has to be harmoniously related to the others:

1. the identification of needs;
2. the determination of objectives;
3. the definition of content;
4. the selection or creation of material;
5. the establishment of teaching/learning programs;
6. the teaching and learning methods employed.

2. Concept Checking

It is easy to just ask students the typical question ‘Do you understand?’ and the students will probably give us the answer we are looking for: ‘yes’; which really gives us no idea if they really do.

Maybe the student thinks he understands, but doesn’t really. Maybe the student does understand but the teacher is still left with no proof of this. Asking the student to give a meaning can also have various problems if they don’t have the range in vocabulary to do this. Even if they did, would the explanation give us an idea if they can use it correctly in a sentence or in context? Perhaps, with high level students and when the teacher knows the class well.

An important issue to be aware of in terms of our students’ learning process is concept checking. Don’t assume knowledge. Concept checking is a very good practice that teachers can use to check understanding when presenting new language or revising old language or concepts.

Keep in mind the following when checking the acquisition of new concepts:

1) Don’t ask about understanding; check understanding.

2) Decide which one is more effective:

a) Do you understand? (Students may answer “Yes” to something different)

b) What does this mean?

c) Can you explain “trade union”, Oscar? (This is a broader question and Oscar can choose how to explain the concept and also giving us enough information on whether he has understood properly or not)

Actually, each way of asking for understanding asks different abilities of the students. If they’re asked to explain a meaning, they’re working on describing; if they’re asked to use it in a sentence, or asked a question that forces them to use the word or structure, they have to be able to use it in context; if they’re asked for an explanation, they’re working on their communications skills; if they’re asked to touch their nose or to wave, they prove they understand the word; if they’re asked for a synonym or antonym, what we’re actually testing their vocabulary, etc. So, next time you concept check, make sure you take this into consideration.

Other issues might be… how often should we concept check? All the time or every time we introduce a new TL structure, word or expression? Only to elicit new TL items or also while reviewing? Making sure they notice it’s a CCQ that refers to previous classes or keeping implicit the fact that we’re actually continuously assessing their knowledge, memory and use of TL items?

Whatever your answer if to those questions, think… is there really any use in concept checking if there’s no follow-up on the issues that weren’t clear? Wouldn’t it be important for concept checking to be systematic and the results of it somehow registered?

Finally, think about another question… should we also concept check every time we correct them and want to see if they’re actually able to reproduce the correction?

3. Error & mistake management

3.1 Errors, mistakes and lapses

Are all faults equally important? Well, errors are more serious and more in need of correction than mistakes, and lapses may well require no corrective action at all.

An error is a sure sign that the learner has not mastered the code of the target language. In this case the error has to be analyzed: either it is an attempt of the student to say more than what is expected for that level or he hasn’t mastered the already taught and explained concepts. In each case our reaction should be similar, but not identical: in the first case we can mention the correct form but decide not to explain it in depth. In the second case we should consider explaining and practicing more the concept that hasn’t been mastered properly.

Mistakes are made when a student says something grammatically incorrect or when the syntax is not in the correct order, but are able to correct the mistake once it has been pointed out to them. This can happen often in the classroom when we have students that want to speak so fast that they are always mixing tenses and changing the order of the words.

Since face-to-face communication is a ‘real-time’ activity, all speakers whether native or not make slips – or lapses – and the teacher can ignore them, unless they recur so frequently that the hearer becomes disturbed by them or they are not the kind of lapse commonly made by natives.

Accuracy and fluency

Accuracy describes a focus on correctness (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, appropriacy). If we work on accuracy, we are concerned about the use of language as free from errors and mistakes as possible.

Fluency, on the other hand, describes a focus on the learner’s ability to convey a message in a comprehensible manner; it also entails the ability to organize ideas, to keep the conversation going, to respond appropriately, to paraphrase when not knowing the right word or structure.

The distinction between fluency and accuracy must be clearly understood, as this will help the teacher decide if a particular activity should be more for one or the other. Once this is decided, given that the focus of the activity is either on accuracy or fluency, it’s the teacher’s call whether correction would be made or not, and in case it were: when to correct, what to correct and how to correct it.

Stages in students´ production

All language teachers and language learners are aware that learners make mistakes. For the teacher several issues arise in relation to mistakes:

a) Are mistakes systematic or random?

b) Are there levels of seriousness, some mistakes being trivial and others being crucially important?

c) Are there any ways of explaining why particular mistakes occur with particular learners?

d) How can we set about answering these questions?

Errors are of enormous value to the teacher, since they show us what the learner is thinking and guide us to the teaching they need to correct their false assumptions and move closer to the actual system of the target language.

Managing errors goes further that the simple correction practice. Error management occurs when we are aware of the reasons for the error and make a decision whether to correct, or explain, or guide or just wait until we can assure consistent practice of the wrongly used item.

Have in mind that some mistakes or errors do not come from not having acquired the target item, but from an attempt to do more than what the student is actually able to.

3.2 What to correct, when to correct

Oral mistakes

With oral mistakes made during class discussions, there are several schools of thought:

1) Don’t correct anything, for language will take care of itself.

2) Correct often and thoroughly, since a fault that’s let go is a fault that will probably be repeated.

3) Let all students make mistakes and correct depending on the level; beginners should be left to try and make many mistakes, while advanced students should be corrected often.

However, many teachers are taking a fourth route these days. This might be called ‘selective correction’. In this case, the teacher decides to correct only certain errors. Which errors will be corrected is usually decided by the objectives of the lesson, or the specific exercise that is being done at that time, being either a fluency or accuracy activity.

Fluency activities

It should be our goal as teachers to help our students improve and this would mean at times that not correcting at all is the best way. In fluency activities focusing more on the meaning of what is said rather than its correctness can help our students greatly. Learning a language is more than learning bits of grammar and linguistic forms. There should be times in our lessons when the students are encouraged to speak fluently and when the content of what is said, is more important than how correctly it was said. Of course if a mistake during the course of such an activity affects the meaning or understanding of what is said, then the teacher should guide the student with some form of “gentle” correction.

Students require correction as part of learning, but also need to have the experience of being listened to as people with something to say.

Accuracy activities

On the flip side, to be successful in communication students require some level of correctness. So there are times when accuracy must be the focus of the activity and then we must employ the appropriate correction techniques to get the desired result from the students and lead them to success in their learning experience. When the activity requires that grammar and use of the TL and/or pronunciation is important, then accuracy should be the goal.

Immediate versus Delayed correction

You may feel that a mistake should be corrected immediately. Pronunciation could be a good example of a type of mistake that requires this if it affects the meaning in a fluency activity or if it is related to the TL. If the student is using the TL in a statement or replying to a question concerning the TL then this would also be corrected in the moment.

If the activity is more focused towards speaking, for example, then it would be more appropriate to opt for noting down the mistake(s) over the course of the activity and go back to them at the end.

Delayed correction can have many advantages, such as promoting fluency and making correction less personal as they may not remember who made the mistake(s). Delayed correction is more useful if you are sure that the mistakes are errors and may need some more focused attention on the issue to resolve.

Why correction is necessary

Correction is necessary. The argument that students just need to use the language and the rest will come by itself seems rather weak. Students come to us to teach them. If they want only conversation, they will probably inform us – or, they might just go to a chat room on the Internet. Obviously students need to be corrected as part of the learning experience. However, students also need to be encouraged to use the language. It is true that correcting students while they are trying their best to use the language can often discourage them. So, there should be a balance between correction and your students having the opportunity to express themselves without having to worry about being corrected every other word.

3.3 How to correct

a.               Attitude and approaches to errors and mistakes

Whenever a language is learnt or acquired one is faced with the problem of errors. Errors are an inevitable feature of learning. They are not problems to be overcome or evils to be eradicated. They in fact are part of learning and reveal the strategies that learners use to learn a language. They provide valuable insight into the language learning process.

They help the teachers infer how much the students have learnt. They also give an indication as to whether they are ready to learn what the teacher wants to teach them next. Thus a lack of fit between the learner’s needs and the items taught could be avoided.

By analyzing their errors one could build up a picture of the features of language which cause the learning problems. Once their problems are understood in the right perspective remedial measures could be thought of. An important part of the teachers’ job is to undertake a systematic analysis of learners’ errors.

As Jean D’Souza (1977) points out, in the fifties and early sixties errors were looked upon as evils which had to be eradicated. It was believed that if the teacher taught well and drilled the patterns of the new language efficiently, there was no reason for the learners to make any errors at all. As more and more studies have been undertaken it has been proved that learners’ errors show evidence of a system. The learners try to evolve a language system of their own on the basis of the exposure they receive. They constantly try to bring their system in line with the system of the language they are exposed to. The study of errors also helps us to infer what the nature of learners’ knowledge is at that point of time in their learning career and what more has to be learnt. As Corder (1973) says “By describing and classifying his errors in linguistic terms we build up a picture of the features of language which are causing him learning problems”.

b.              Strategies to correct errors and mistakes

Finally, let’s go in depth of the techniques that should be used to make correction not only part of the lesson, but also a more effective learning tool for the students.

Immediate error correction strategies

• Reformulating. The teacher says the wrong word or phrase/sentence correctly

• If there is more than one mistake in the utterance, then sometimes getting the student to repeat themselves again can resolve one or all of the mistakes.

• Giving the students a verbal gap fill. For example the students say `I goed to the cinema last night`, the teacher can say ´I ________ to the cinema last night´

• Indicate a mistake has been made by a facial gesture or a remark such as ‘sorry?’

• Give the student the opportunity to self-correct by saying ‘third person’ if he/she knows the rule of adding –s or –es to the verb, or leading them to the correct conjugation by saying `I go, you go, she…´

• Repeat the complete sentence containing the mistake and with a rising intonation as if it is a question on the mistake in question

• Use your fingers to indicate for example, that two words are back to front in a sentence to indicate the student is to swap them over. A very effective technique if the adjective is placed after the noun.

• Exaggerating. By exaggerating the correction the students will remember it better. For pronunciation errors, exaggerate the articulation of the word; break it down in syllables and start backwards.

• Explicitly explain the mistake, especially the relevant ones for the objective of the activity

• Visuals. Use visuals of recurrent mistakes (e.g. draw a big S on a card for 3rd person singular)

• Asking the class to help. Ask the other students to remark on mistakes made and explain the rules by themselves.

• Deferring correction to the end of an activity

• Taking notes on typical mistakes made by many students

• Correcting only one type of error, since too many corrections at the same time can be confusing

• Associations. Associate word or phrase usage with a popular song.

• Rhymes. Use rhyming words rather than phonics for pronunciation

• Giving students clues to the type of error they are making, but allowing them to correct the mistakes themselves

• Meta messages. Errors should not be embarrassing for the students. Smile! A smile can be encouraging when a mistake occurs. You are transmitting “No worries, it’s not that bad!”

• You can ignore the error as sometimes you aim for fluency rather than for accuracy. In this case leave correction for the end of the activity if necessary and ignore occasional lapses.

Summary

Correction is not an ‘either / or’ issue. Correction needs to take place, and is expected and desired by students. However, the manner in which a teacher corrects students plays a vital role in whether students become confident in their usage or become intimidated.

** However you decide to correct, you should remember that just as you are listening for errors, you shouldn’t forget to listen for good uses of the language and improvement and to make the students aware of these also. The students should always be reminded that some of the best learning comes out of mistakes and not trying because of not wanting to make them is to hinder their own learning experience.