高中英语课堂口语纠错方法

【标题】高中英语课堂口语纠错方法

【作者】冉军

【关键词】错误；失误；纠错原则；纠错方法

【指导老师】马小燕

【专业】英语

【正文】

Ⅰ.Introduction

New Curriculum emphasizes student self-cooperative learning, so students have more and more opportunities to use English in the classroom. In English class, some students will make errors when they communicate with the teacher or classmates. The traditional view is that: Student's "wrong" are derived from the mother tongue interference, a "mistake", said the failure of learning, reflecting the improper way of learning. "Wrong" must not be tolerant by teachers, and must immediately be corrected. But in teaching practice, if these errors must be corrected by the teachers, it is bound to undermine the students’ oral communication initiative, hurt their self-esteem, and affect fluency. However, if teachers do not pay more attention to their errors and correct them promptly, students will be likely to make errors again. They can not always grasp the correct grammar rules, why do students make errors? What kind of errors teachers should correct? How to correct? How to guide students to correct errors in spoken language training by themselves? About these problems, this paper will analyze the causes of students making errors, the principles of error correction and the ways of error correction, to explore the errors correction techniques in English class.

Ⅱ. Definition of errors

What is an error in language learning? Different researchers give different definitions to it．According to Corder S.P. (1967, cited in Ellis，1999), “an error is a deviation in learner language which results from lack of knowledge”3．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 learner’s meaning is taken into account)．Corder (1973) also makes a distinction between errors，lapses and mistakes．Errors are not recognizable. Such lapses are not failing and so are sometimes referred to as ‘performance errors’(Allwright et al，1991：88)．Mistakes in Corder’s scheme are what he calls‘inappropriate utterances’, where there is a failure to match the language to the situation．A further useful distinction is offered by Edge，who subdivides Cor der’s category into

two．He retains the term ‘error’ for items that the learners cannot self-correct but to which they have been exposed，offering the

term ‘attempts’ for deviations in areas of language still untaught．Based On Corder’s distinction，James (2001) refines the definition of error as “being an instance of language that is unintentionally deviant and is not self-corrigible by its author”4．A mistake is intentionally or unintentionally deviant and self-corrigible．

Brown (2000：205)defined error and mistake as follows：

A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip in that it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly．It occurs when learners fail to perform their competence．It's a performance phenomenon resulting from slip of tongue，memory limitation，or lack of linguistic planning and strategy．All people make mistake，in both native and second language situation．Native speakers are normally capable of recognizing and correcting such lapses or mistakes, which are not the result of a deficiency in competence but the result of some sort of breakdown or imperfection in the process of producing speech．An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner．An error reveals a portion of his competence in the target language．

Comparing the definitions made by Corder and Brown, we can find that Brown’s mistake is similar to Corder’s lapse，and Corder’s mistake is what we call pragmatic failure，and Brow n’s definition of error is too limited in grammar．But there is a common thing，which is that mistake is not the reflection of deficiency in language knowledge，but just a failure in performance．

According to Geoge (1972，cited in Allwright et al，1991：85)，“In formal classroom instruction of second or foreign languages，the teacher’s response to students’ utterances may be the most important criterion for judging error．Indeed，one definition states that an error is a form unwanted by the teacher"5．Another explanation was given by Chaudron (1986，cited in Allwright et al，1991：86) in his study of teachers’ reaction to children’s errors．He defined errors as(1) linguistic forms or content that differed from native speaker norms or facts；(2) any other behavior signaled by the teacher as needing improvement．However,

both “unwanted form” and"behavior that needs improvement" seem to illustrate quite ambiguous concepts．Indeed，it is found in some transcripts of classroom discourse that learners’ response are sometimes rejec ted or signaled to be improved by teachers--not because they are wrong but because they are unexpected．

In a word, a mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a ‘slip of tongue’, and it is a failure performance to a known system.6 Everyone makes mistakes, no matter in a native language or in a foreign language .As we can see that a mistake has nothing to do with the