English as Foreign Language (Efl) Teaching and Learning at the Undergraduate Level: Treatment of Errors and Mistakes
Background Human speech is very much complicated. It cannot be explained from any single source. The first sound a child makes on coming into the world is one of discomfort, it is a cry, a reflex action and the child does not expect a response. People first learn their native languages through making all kinds of errors and mistakes, and getting the necessary correction and help from their parents and teachers. The same thing happens when people are learning their foreign languages. In this research paper, I would like to discuss whether or not linguists believe that teachers should correct their students’ errors, and if so, what to correct, how to correct, and when to correct. It is very important for teachers to know and understand this information when they teach students because how they address these issues will have great impact on students’ language learning process.
Many people find these two words with similar meanings, but when we are talking about errors and mistakes in language learning, they are representing two different things. Mistake means that learners already know or understand the usage of the language, but unintentionally say or use it in the wrong form or way. However, learners will be able to notice it and self-correct it immediately, and this is called a mistake. On the other hand, the error means that learners use the wrong term, word, or form, and they are unable to recognize the problems. At this time, an error is made and it is needed for somebody to point it out to the learner to correct it.
It is interesting to see how error treatment has evolved all these years. Just a half century ago, when language teachers were enthusiastic about audio-lingual method, nobody had really considered or worried about error treatment. When using audio-lingual method, it came with different sets of dialogues; teachers only needed to guide students to practice all kinds of drills from the set dialogues, and did not need to think about
Many people find these two words with similar meanings, but when we are talking about errors and mistakes in language learning, they are representing two different things. Mistake means that learners already know or understand the usage of the language, but unintentionally say or use it in the wrong form or way. However, learners will be able to notice it and self-correct it immediately, and this is called a mistake. On the other hand, the error means that learners use the wrong term, word, or form, and they are unable to recognize the problems. At this time, an error is made and it is needed for somebody to point it out to the learner to correct it.
It is interesting to see how error treatment has evolved all these years. Just a half century ago, when language teachers were enthusiastic about audio-lingual method, nobody had really considered or worried about error treatment. When using audio-lingual method, it came with different sets of dialogues; teachers only needed to guide students to practice all kinds of drills from the set dialogues, and did not need to think about
References: Bartram, M., & Walton, R. (1991). Correction: a positive approach to language mistakes. England: Language Teaching. Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.). New York: Addison Wesley Longman. Hanzeli, V. E. (1975). Learner’s language: Implications of recent research for foreign language instruction. The modern language journal, 59, 426-432. Hendrickson, J. M. (1978). Error correction in foreign language teaching: Recent theory, research, and practice. The modern language journal, 62, 387-398. Lyster, R., Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (1999). A response to Truscott’s “What’s wrong with oral grammar correction”, Canadian modern language review (Vol. 55, No. 4).