ACCURACY AND CORRECTING MISTAKES

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ACCURACY AND CORRECTING MISTAKES

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This talk:
How important is it for our students to be accurate in their language use?
How can we achieve accuracy?
How does error correction help?
Summary and conclusions

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What do you think?
Would you agree or disagree with the following statements?
It’s not important for students to spell English words correctly, as long as their meaning is clear
It’s not important for students to pronounce like a native speaker, as long as they are easily comprehensible.
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
And because…
… from the point of view of the speaker/writer, inaccuracy may lower self-confidence lower self-respect as a language user
…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
Research indicates that to achieve accuracy, learners need…
communicative language use
+
some explicit discussion of form or rules
practice
Probably the optimal teaching model combines these
Communicative tasks, with ‘time out’ for focus on form, including practice exercises
Focus on accuracy: rule explanation, leading into both ‘mechanical’ and communicative practice

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But also time for:
Communication on its own
Focus on accurate form on its own
Communicative tasks (fluency)
(on their own)
Language work (accuracy)
(on its own)
Communication (+ accuracy):
Task-based instruction

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The basis of the lesson is a communicative task.
We may teach bits of grammar / vocabulary / spelling before, during or after: but the focus is always on the communicative task.
A communicative task
Discuss how far you agree with the following statements
The teacher should correct me when I make a mistake.

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Agree …………………………………………….Disagree
The teacher should ask other students to correct me when I make a mistake.
The teacher should get me to correct myself.
The teacher should make me rewrite essays after she’s corrected them.
The teacher should not only correct me, but also explain why what I said was wrong.
Communication (+ accuracy)

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Communication / Fluency:
Reading and understanding the sentences and their meanings
Discussing how far we agree.
Coming to a consensus.
(Possibly: rewriting the statements so that we all agree with them)
Then, for accuracy:
Learning the vocabulary (e.g. use of make with mistake, get so.to, make so. do sth) Work on grammar (e.g. modal should, reflexive pronouns like myself)

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Comment:
Based on authentic language use
Puts communication first, accuracy as a means to an end
Fashionable (task-based learning)
But:
Difficult for learners who need to feel ‘safe’
May not, in the long term, lead to coverage of the most important language items.

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We start with a language point
We do some ‘mechanical’ exercises
We then progress to more communicative work.
2. Accuracy (+ communication)

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Grammar practice 1:
Conventional form-focused exercises
A. Discrete items
1. A car is ……… than a bicycle. (Fast)
2. Chinese is …………………. than english. (Difficult).
3. A lion is ……………. than a dog. (Big).
B. Full text
Glenda: I don’t know which dress to buy, the red or the green!
Sally: well, the red one is …………. (expensive), the green one is much ….. (cheap).
Glenda: yes, but the red one is much ………….. (pretty). Which do you think suits me …………(well)? …

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Grammar practice 2: Moving towards meaning
Compare the people in this family.
Use the adjectives big, fat, thin, small, big, tall, short, old, young.
Alex is taller than Jill. Karen is smaller than ………
Jill is……………than Karen.
Ben is …………than Alex.
Alex is ………………………Karen.
Jill is …………………………Ben.

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Grammar practice 3:
Focus on meaning
Choose one of these pairs of items. How many different ways can you think of comparing them? Use the comparative form of the adjective.
A radio and a computer
A rabbit and a snake
Playing football and reading a book
Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore

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Grammar Practice 4:
Focus on communication
Debate
Debate based on comparison. e.g. discuss the following motions:
‘Computers are better than books’.
Or
‘It’s better to live in the town than in the country’.
Comment:
Based on ‘inauthentic’ language use
Old-fashioned (‘PPP’)
Puts accuracy first, communication second
BUT:
Appropriate for learners who need to feel ‘safe’
Based on a systematic language syllabus

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3. Communication only
Just getting learners to use the language for understanding or conveying messages.
No following language work.
Receptively:
listening to stories,
listening and responding,
reading stories,
reading and responding,
watching movies…

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Productively:
talking, communication games
exchanging information,
creative or transactional writing…
Comment
‘Authentic’ and communicative
Often fun and interesting, motivating
BUT
Very variable amount of learning
Virtually impossible to check how much learning has taken place
Some activities are not appropriate for pupils who like clear-cut and structured tasks

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4. Accuracy only
Talking ‘about’ the language or doing activities that focus on ‘getting it right’:
Examples:
‘Tip of the day’ – isolated language points.
Grammar explanations
Learning lists of vocabulary for a test
Dictations
Drills
Pronunciation work
Comment Inauthentic
May be boring
Leads to ‘theoretical’ knowledge of the language
No direct contribution to fluency.

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BUT:
Leads to understanding of how the language works
Satisfying for some pupils
Very easily assessed
Indirect contribution to communicative ability Interim conclusions
If we wish our learners to become both accurate and fluent in English, we need to provide
both explicit and implicit teaching/learning;
both meaning- and form-focus;
both unthinking and cognitively demanding language production;
And we need to organize these within a balanced methodology that includes different teaching processes because

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Even the same learner may learn in different ways at different times
Language items are different
How does error correction help?
What different kinds of correction are there?
And which is the most effective?
Which types of correction, on the whole, lead to better uptake? (Lyster and Ranta, 1997; Lyster, 1998)
Learners are different

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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.
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.

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