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Correct Me If I 'M Wrong: Scott Thornbury

This document discusses research and perspectives on providing corrective feedback and error correction in second language classrooms. It presents findings that corrective feedback can be beneficial to learner development when done selectively and in a way that encourages self-correction. Examples are provided of effective teacher responses that prompt learners to notice and correct their own mistakes without interrupting communicative flow. The document also references research showing that feedback is most useful when it connects to students' prior knowledge and provides logical connections to help learning.

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142 views25 pages

Correct Me If I 'M Wrong: Scott Thornbury

This document discusses research and perspectives on providing corrective feedback and error correction in second language classrooms. It presents findings that corrective feedback can be beneficial to learner development when done selectively and in a way that encourages self-correction. Examples are provided of effective teacher responses that prompt learners to notice and correct their own mistakes without interrupting communicative flow. The document also references research showing that feedback is most useful when it connects to students' prior knowledge and provides logical connections to help learning.

Uploaded by

mccabeandmrsmiller
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Correct me if I’m wrong

Scott Thornbury
Agree or disagree?

1 Mistakes are an inevitable part of language learning.

2 Most errors are the result of differences between the learner’s first
language and their second language (interference).

3 If teachers don’t correct learners’ mistakes they will become bad


habits.

4 Correcting mistakes makes students shy and afraid to speak.

5 Rather than correcting students, it’s better to get students to


correct themselves.

6 The teacher should be selective when correcting mistakes.

7 Correction doesn’t make much difference to the learning process.

8 Learners’ mistakes can provide useful material for teaching.


Some research findings on error correction:

1. Teachers are generally tougher on error than non-


teachers.

2. Non-native-speaker teachers are generally


tougher on error than native-speaker teachers.

3. Teachers do not treat all the errors that occur.

4. Learners often say that they want more error


correction than is usually offered.

ELTacademia.com
Researchers found that “... learning
becomes better if conditions are arranged
so that students make errors.... Getting the
answer wrong is a great way to learn.”
Scientific American October 20, 2009

ELTacademia.com
“We need classes that develop the courage to
err.”

Hattie, J. (2009) Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses


relating to achievement. London: Routledge, p 178.

ELTacademia.com
“There is clear evidence that corrective feedback
contributes to learning”.

Ellis, R. 2008. The Study of Second Language Acquisition (2nd edn). Oxford:
Oxford University Press, p.885.

‘Research fairly conclusively shows that


corrective feedback can be beneficial for
learners’ L2 development.’

Loewen, S. 2015. Introduction to Instructed Second Language Acquisition.


London: Routledge, p.73.
'Li (2010) examined the effects of corrective
feedback in 33 studies conducted in both classroom
and laboratory contexts. He… found that corrective
feedback showed a medium effect and that the effect
was maintained over time… He also found that
laboratory-based studies had larger effects than
classroom-based ones, suggesting caution regarding
the generalisability of such research and classroom
contexts.’

Loewen, S. 2015. Introduction to Instructed Second Language


Acquisition. London: Routledge, p.72.

ELTacademia.com
How do you increase grammatical accuracy?

• learning grammar rules?


• repeating grammar patterns?
• memorizing example sentences?
• task rehearsal and performance?
• task repetition?
• writing?
• feedback and correction!

ELTacademia.com
Learner: My brother is a good cooker.

Teacher:

1. No.
2. No. My brother is a good cook.
3. Wrong noun.
4. My brother is a good cooker?
5. My brother is a good….? [with rising intonation]
6. No. Cooker is the equipment. For a person, say
cook.
7. Your brother is a good cooker?
8. Your brother is a good cook, is he?
9. I’m sorry?
10. Oh, really? What kind of things does he cook?
11. Good.
T: after they have put up their tent, what did the boys
do?
L: they cooking food.
T: no, not they cooking food, pay attention.
L: they cook their meal.
T: right, they cook their meal over an open fire.
(Tsui, 1995, cited in Seedhouse P. (2004) The Interactional
Architecture of the Language Classroom: A conversational
Perspective, Oxford: Blackwell, p. 171)

ELTacademia.com
Learner 1: On Sunday what did you do?
Learner 2: Oh, er I stayed in home.
 Teacher: At home.
Learner 2: On Sunday I stayed at home and
watched the Wimbledon Final. What did
you do on Sunday?
Learner 1: On morning
 Teacher: In the morning
Learner 1: In the morning I took a bus...

Seedhouse, P. 1997. Combining form and meaning. ELT Journal, 51/4:


342
José: I think that the worm will go under the soil.
Teacher: I think that the worm will go under the soil?
José: (no response)
Teacher: I thought that the worm would go under
the soil.
José: I thought that the worm would go under the
soil.

Doughty, C., and Varela, E. 1998. Communicative focus on form. In


Doughty, C. and Williams, J. (eds.) Focus on form in Classroom
Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press.

ELTacademia.com
1. T: Vin, have you ever been to
the movies? What’s your
favorite movie?
2. Vin: Big.
3. T: Big, OK, that’s a good
movie, that was about a little
boy inside a big man, wasn’t it?
4. Vin: Yeah, boy get
surprise all the time.
5. T: Yes, he was surprised,
wasn’t he? Usually little boys
don’t do the things that men
do, do they?
6. Vin: No, little boy no
drink.
7. T: that’s right, little boys
don’t drink.
Johnson, K. 1995. Understanding communication in second language
classrooms. Cambridge.
(The central heating boiler has just re-ignited)

Mark: oh popped on
Mother: pardon?
Mark: it popped on
Mother: it popped on?
Mark: yeh
Mother: what did?
Mark: er – fire on
Mother: the fire?
Mark: yeh … pop the. fire popped it fire
Mother: oh yes. the fire popped on didn’t it?
Mark: yeh

(Wells, 1981)
Our basic premise has long been that the child learns
some basic set of syntactic structures, moving from a
one-word phase to a two-word phase, to more
complex structures, and that eventually the child is
able to put these structures together in order to carry
on conversations with others. The premise, if we use
discourse analysis, is the converse. That is, language
learning evolves out of learning how to carry on
conversations.

Hatch, E. (1978) Discourse analysis and second language acquisition. In


Hatch, E. (Ed.) Second language acquisition: A book of readings.
Rowley, Mass.:Newbury House.
1. T: Vin, have you ever been to
the movies? What’s your
favorite movie?
2. Vin: Big.
3. T: Big, OK, that’s a good
movie, that was about a little
boy inside a big man, wasn’t it?
4. Vin: Yeah, boy get
surprise all the time.
5. T: Yes, he was surprised,
wasn’t he? Usually little boys
don’t do the things that men
do, do they?
6. Vin: No, little boy no
drink.
7. T: that’s right, little boys
don’t drink.
Johnson, K. 1995. Understanding communication in second language
classrooms. Cambridge.
• Recasts are more likely to be noticed by high-ability
learners than by low-ability learners […]
• Recasts of phonological errors are more noticeable
than recasts of grammatical errors […]
• Recasts may benefit language development when
"the learner has already begun to use a particular
linguistic feature and is in a position to choose
between linguistic alternatives" (Nicholas et al.
2001:752).
Lyster, R. 2007. Learning and Teaching Languages through Content: a
counterbalanced approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p.97-98.

ELTacademia.com
‘It seems highly probable that a correlation exists
between immersion teachers’ tendency to use
random implicit feedback and immersion students’
tendency to reach a developmental plateau in their
communicative ability.’

Lyster, R. 2007. Learning and Teaching Languages through Content: a


counterbalanced approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p.92

ELTacademia.com
Ulichny, P. (1996) Performed conversations in an ESL classroom. TESOL
Quarterly, 30, 739-64.
‘Plenty of classroom studies have shown that
teachers are able to provide various forms of
corrective feedback in ways that allow the
communicative flow to continue.’

Lyster, R. 2007. Learning and Teaching Languages through Content: a


counterbalanced approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, p.93

ELTacademia.com
‘Providing feedback is not about giving rewards,
but rather providing information about the task…
To be effective, feedback needs to be clear,
purposeful, meaningful and compatible with
students’ prior knowledge, and to provide logical
connections.’

Hattie, J. (2009) Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses


relating to achievement. London: Routledge (p. 174 and 177).
‘Dynamic assessment is an interactive approach to
psychological or psychoeducational assessment
that embeds intervention within the assessment
procedure. … This allows the assessor to determine
the response of the client or student to the
intervention.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_assessment

ELTacademia.com
Herazo, J.D., Davin, K.J., & Sagre, A. (2019) L2 Dynamic assessment: An activity
theory perspective. Modern Language Journal, 103/2. p. 453.
Slides available at
www.scottthornbury.com

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