英语课堂纠错

王雪花

【摘 要】 外语学习领域对学习者错误的研究始于20世纪50年代。一些研究者提倡纠正学习者的错误，而另一些研究者则持否定态度。对待语言学习过程中学习者错误的看法也随着特定时期教学法的盛行而发生变化。目前，交际教学法在中国盛行，老师对学习者错误的容忍度比以前大了。但是一些错误还是应该在正确的时间用正确的方法来纠正。在这篇论文中，我们将英语课堂上出现的不同种类的错误及纠错方法进行讨论，这将对英语教学提供很大的帮助。

[Abstract] The study of English learners errors has been carried out since 1950s. Some researchers strongly advocate the correction of learners errors， while others hold a negative view. The attitude towards learners errors changes with the fluctuation of teaching methodology in a particular period. In China， nowadays， due to the prevalence of Communicative Language Teaching， teachers tolerance of learners errors is much greater than ever before. But some certain errors still should be corrected with the right method at the right time. In this essay， different kinds of errors in English class and treatment of errors are discussed， which will be of great help to the English teaching.

【關键词】 英语课堂 不同种类的错误 纠错方法

[Key Words] English Class Different Kinds of Errors Treatment of Errors

Ⅰ. Introduction

From 1950s error correction has been a hot topic in the field of the second language acquisition. Attitudes towards error correction have evolved from the strict avoidance of errors before the 1960s， to the condemnation of error correction as harmful and unnecessary in the late 1960s， and then to a more critical view of the need and value of error correction in the 1970s.

Aston （1986） made a claim that group-work tasks designed to maximize negotiation for meaning might end up discouraging students by making them feel unsuccessful and ineffective. Kebede （1999） pointed out that if we were so preoccupied with being right that we had no room for the students to make mistakes； we might deprive them of their most important learning experience as people learned from their mistakes. “An overemphasis on the importance of being right and insistence upon perfection might boomerang to discourage people from trying at all.” （Kebede， 1999：273）However， James （2001） supported that it is necessary to correct certain errors at certain time.

In this paper， different kinds of errors and treatment of errors are discussed.

Ⅱ. Different Kinds of Errors

According to George （1972）， “The teachers response to students utterances may be the most important criterion for judging errors in formal classroom instruction of second or foreign languages. Indeed， one definition states that an error is a form unwanted by the teacher.” Another explanation was given by Chaudron （1986） in his study of teachers reactions to childrens errors. He defined errors as linguistic forms or content that differed from native speaker norms or facts， and any other behavior signaled by the teacher as needing improvement.

According to Corder S. P. （1967， cited in Ellis， 1994）， an “error” is a deviation in learner language which results from lack of knowledge. An error can be overt （the deviation is apparent in the surface form of the utterance） or covert （the deviation is only evident when the learners meaning is taken into account）. Corder made a distinction between “error” and “mistake”， which he defined as a deviation in learner language that occurs when learners fail to perform their competence. It is a lapse that reflects processing problems.

In order to have a better understanding about errors， researchers divided errors into different types， and different people have different classification of errors.

1. Interlingual Errors

Interlingual errors are caused by mother-tongue influence， so they are also called mother-tongue transfer. Transfer is the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously acquired. In the process of language learning， before the system and structure of the second language are established， the native language system and structure are the only linguistic system and structure in the previous experience upon which the learners can draw， so interlingual transfer is attributed to learners using knowledge of the first language in learning a second language. The learners are apt to transfer some rules from their mother tongue into the target language， and interlingual transfer explains many errors made in the process of second language learning.

（1） Errors in Tense

In English， there are sixteen tenses， but Chinese is the language that does not use inflectional means to mark tense. Therefore， as a Chinese learner， the student is apt to make errors in this aspect. See the following examples：

① 我昨天去學校。

② 我明天去学校。

In Chinese， they are exactly alike except two adverbial modifiers of time“昨天”and“明天”. So the Chinese students tend to say：

① I go to school yesterday.

② I go to school tomorrow.

As can be seen， such mistakes are due to the rule of verbs in the two languages.

（2） Errors in the Plural Form of Nouns

In Chinese， nouns are not marked for plural and lack of plural marking does occur frequently. For example， students often say， “She bought some book for me.” instead of “She bought some books for me.”

It is obvious that the mistake happens because “book” is plural in Chinese meaning. We need to add a suffix “-s” to the end of the words in the English expression.

（3） Chinglish Sentences

Among Chinese learners， Chinglish is the common errors. The Chinese way of thinking and Chinese sentence structures have the learners make mistakes， and we call it Chinglish. We all know a typical joke in Chinglish—“Good good study， day day up！”， and “Give you some color to see see”. Such mistakes are common and show us the serious problem existing in English learning. Students are often heard to say， “I and Tom go to school together.”

Due to the word-for-word translations， it is obviously influenced by the Chinese way of thinking.

2. Intralingual Errors

Learners also make many other errors in the process of English learning besides interlingual errors. Intralingual errors refer to the over-generalization of the rule of the target language and they often occur when the learners have learnt some rules of the target language， but have not learnt the restrictions on their use. According to Richards （2001）， “Over-generalization” means learners often construct some new structures that do not exist in the target language because they take it for granted that these structures are analogues. Over-generalization is also defined as the use of previously available strategies in new situations. In English learning， some of these strategies prove helpful in organizing the facts about the target language. There are examples like this：

① We are not knowing the rules.

② Who did write the book？

In the first sentence， the use of rules for forming progressing is over-generalized； and in the second example， the use of auxiliary verb is over-generalized. Clearly， these mistakes are not due to the interference of the native language， but largely due to what the learners know of the target language， or by their intuitions， or even some communication strategies in other situations.

3. Communication Strategy-based Errors

Communication strategy-based errors mean that the errors are not connected with syntax and words used， but wrong in certain communication situation so that they make other people feel embarrassed. For example， when we talk with an American friend， it is not appropriate to ask “Are you married？” because she/he may feel uneasy and reject to answer such a question， which refers to her/his privacy. This kind of errors is caused by putting the Chinese culture into English communication so that communication strategy-based errors occur.

Ⅲ. Treatment of Errors

Nearly two decades of error analysis and interlanguage studies have led to the notion of the inevitability of errors in second language learning， and this has encouraged a greater tolerance in teachers attitudes to student performance. On the other hand， an outright refusal to correct can be disorienting and confusing. Ideally， learners should develop the ability to monitor their own performance and to correct themselves. If the teacher does not provide the correction， the learner has no yardstick. A complete absence of feedback would only be justified in cases where students have been made thoroughly inhibited by constant and nagging over-correction. Thus， an element of judicious error correction is required to complete the cycle of classroom treatment of language learning. In an English classroom， a teacher is likely to respond to students utterances as a means to show the students whether they are right or wrong. If the learners make an error， the teacher should choose right techniques to correct it.

What techniques can be used to correct the error？ James （1998） put forward some suggestions and principles for error correction：

● Correct effectively. The relative effectiveness of correction techniques will depend on individual differences and on some group factors such as the learners level of attainment in the foreign language. So this means correction must be subject-sensitive.

● Correction should be sensitive. The crucial point is that correction should be non-threatening. In oral work， a teacher should try to extend the wait-time between hearing the students erroneous utterances and having themselves correcting them. Walz （1982） claims that learners can self-correct about 50 percent to 90 percent of their own errors.

● Match correction to students preferences. Students preferences for certain types of correction cannot be ignored of course. Studies have been done to elicit the learners point of view about error treatment. Qiu （1997） conducted a pragmatic study on students view and requirement of teachers feedback to their errors.

There are some common techniques employed in correcting errors： self-correction， peer-correction and teacher-correction.

1. Self-correction

Students always thought that the task of correcting errors has nothing to do with them and they become less motivated and completely dependent on teachers to correct their errors.Holley and King （1971） asked their graduate teachers to wait five to ten seconds after a student began to speaking. With this change， the students were able to correct their own errors 50 percent of the time. At the same time， the students would feel more self-confident if allowed to pursue this course of action. Krashen and Pon （1975） found that an advanced language learner was able to correct 95 percent of her own errors. Walz （1982） has showed that learners have certain abilities to correct their own errors， if they are given enough time and encouragement， and we call it self-correction.

Self-correction means that the learners are actually capable of making changes in their developing interlanguage system， and the best form of correction a teacher can do is to offer the learners the opportunity to try self-correction. There is an example to show us this kind of correction.

Teacher： “Tom as well as his classmates is fond of playing basketball.” Pay attention to “is”， what does this sentence mean？ Can you rewrite it？

Student： Tom is fond of playing basketball， so does his classmates.

Teacher： So does？

Student： Oh， so do.

Teacher： So do？

Student： So are.

Teacher： That is right.

From the example above， we can find that the teacher gives feedbacks to the students errors three times instead of giving the student the correct answer. By using the suggesting strategy， the teacher tries to arouse the thinking of the student， and at last the student gets the right answer.

2. Peer-correction

When the teacher communicates with student A， and there are errors in student As answer and student A cannot correct them by himself， the teacher turns to the whole class or a certain student. We call it peer-correction. So if the student who makes the error cannot correct it by himself， other learners in the classroom might be asked to help him. Stevick （1980） warns that it can invite unfavorable comparison between students， but he goes on to point out that it is a more informative way of correcting errors because it comes from someone who has had the same experience （also Burt and Kiparsky 1972）.

In this way the teacher still helps the student to get the right answer without pointing out his errors directly. And this method can be regarded as a good way to deal with errors. Peer-correction has other important benefits： First， it can make other students participate in the communication. Second， the student can know the importance of cooperation. Third， it can motivate students who thought English was impossible to learn well， because they see their classmates using it correctly. Fourth， the correction tends to be at a level that others in the class can understand.

However， some students said that they are still frustrated， when the other students can get the right answer， which they cannot. They consider it face-losing occasion to have their errors corrected by their classmates， which may imply that they do not do well in English. Whats more， the student who can find the right answer does not command knowledge directly coming from the teacher， who is usually treated as an authority in classroom， so most students thought the benefit of using the peer-correction is lower than that of the teacher-correction. And the survey made by Zheng Peiyun shows that only 16.3% students surveyed like this way and 16.4% students think it makes them confident， so the use of it should be careful.

3. Teacher-correction

Teacher-correction means that the teacher corrects the error. Although this has been widely criticized， there comes a time when the teacher must tell the class what the proper form is. Often， it is a question of saving time or reducing confusion， especially when two errors must be corrected. There are two kinds of teacher-correction. One is that the teacher corrects the error at once whenever the error is made， and the other is that the teacher feels that the error should be corrected， but the student who made the mistake cannot correct it， and other students can neither. Then the teacher-correction becomes the only possible way. The following two examples will show us the two kinds of teacher-correction.

Student： He is watch TV.

Teacher： No， it is wrong. It should be “He is watching TV.” Understand？

Student： Yes.

Here， when the error occurs， the teacher points it out immediately and conveys to the student the correct answer. This method can benefit the learners knowledge command， but may make the student feel unsuccessful and frustrated. Whats worse， it makes the student feel afraid of answering questions and keep silent from then on.

Student 1： I think that the worm will go under the soil.

Teacher： I think that the worm will go under the soil？

Student 1： …

Teacher： I think that the worm will go under the soil？ Is it right？ Any other ideas？ （Turns to other students）

Students： …

Teacher： It should be “I thought that the worm would go under the soil.” Understand？

Students： Yes.

Here， the teacher feels that the error should be corrected， but the student who made the mistake cannot correct it， and other students can neither. So the teacher corrects the error directly， which makes the students get knowledge directly coming from the teacher.

Ⅳ. Conclusion

Making mistakes is inevitable in language learning. We made them when we were children learning our first language， and we cannot help making them when we learn a second language. In the paper， we have analyzed different errors and discussed when and how we correct errors. In English class the important things a teacher should consider are what to be corrected， when to correct and how to correct. About the three ways of correction， as I mentioned in the paper， self-correction should be the first choice. The advantages of this way include the students satisfaction in coming up with the correct answer， proving that they recognize the errors. If the student who made the error can not correct it， the teacher should ask another student. When the teacher feels that the error should be corrected， but the student who made the mistake cannot correct it and neither can other students， the teacher need to correct errors directly. The second language teacher should pay more attention to these aspects in order to help the learners learn more efficiently.

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