Xue
Line #
Phrase with error
Type of Error
5 and 6
Force us.
This is an error in lexicon
(vocabulary) because the word
“force” means something was
done rather aggressively. She
should have said “made us”
instead.
9
“Um, because I think English
is the biggest language in the
world…”
30
“Yup, and because we have
took a lot of examinations and
of course um for…”
This error is again, lexical
because she should not use
“biggest” to describe a
language in this context. She
should have been more
specific and said it is the
“largest spoken language,” or
“most commonly spoken
language.”
This is an error with grammar,
particularly aspect. She
should have said, “We took a
lot” or “we take a lot.”
Type of Corrective
Feedback and why
I would have used recast said,
“So your school made you
take English?” This is the best
method because I do not want
to disrupt the conversation at
this point.
Again, I would have used the
recast method for the same
reason and said, “So you think
the Chinese should learn
English since it is the most
widely-spoken language in the
world?”
I would correct this at the end
by highlighting the transcript
in areas where she made
mistakes with tense. I would
then have her try to correct
those mistakes on her own, so
she could see where made the
error and know not to do it
again. This would be a type of
metalinguistic feedback, and I
would choose this because she
made quite a few of these
errors throughout the
conversation. She has already
learned this grammar, and
now just needs fine-tuning it.
What better way than for her
to be aware when she is
making the mistake.
34, 38, 40
“…we have to those
grammars, boring
grammars,…have a bright
future so we have to learn the
grammars.”
49
“So, when. Actually our host
blings?
This is an error with
morphology. The word is
simply a non-count noun and
doesn’t take an “s”
In the script, the teacher uses
recast several times to correct
the student. It takes a while,
but the student finally gets it.
If it were me, and the student
kept making a mistake after I
recalled it twice, I would have
stopped and made her aware
of it before moving on using
the “explicit” method of
feedback. This way she could
correct it and begin using the
word correctly.
Phonologic error; she
I would have done exactly
mispronounced the word
what the teacher had done,
because she had just learned it. which was to repeat it until the
student said it correctly. This
is a very effective way to
reinforce the pronunciation of
a word.
Rodrigo
Line #
Phrase with Error
Type of Error
11
“I need to speak English
because I would like to study
the master’s degree.”
This is both a lexical
(vocabulary) and grammar
error. For study he really
means “earn,” and he does not
need the article “the,” he needs
the article “a”
20, 24, and 25
“…the most important is write,
write, and I don’t know…”
27
“But, no is good, in Mexico no
is good.”
This is an error with
morphology. The student
needs to say “writing,” as this
is the noun form of the word.
This is an error with
vocabulary and grammar at
one time. He should be saying
“nothing,” and the misuse of
this word makes the sentence
grammatically incorrect.
34
“But now, in the fourth, week,
is more easy…”
This is a grammar mistake
with the comparative.
Type of Corrective Feedback
and Why
I would use recast and say,
“That’s wonderful, you would
like to earn a Master’s
degree?” I would use this
method because I do not want
to stop the conversation at this
point.
I would do just as the teacher
did and use recast for the same
reason as above.
Again, I would use recast.
This student’s English is so
low that if you tried to explain
a lot of these errors with
explicit feedback during the
conversation, it would only
cause confusion.
I would correct this mistake by
doing metalinguistic feedback.
He uses the superlative and
comparative a few times in the
script, and sometimes it is
correct and sometimes it is not.
I would print the script,
highlight these sections, and
then have him tell me which
ones were correct or incorrect.
We could then word to fix
them. I think this would help
him both practice the concept
and recognize how he was
using it incorrectly.
34
“…I I I feel to learn, more
English vocabulary, eh,
grammar, eh compo…”
The word feel is
mispronounced slightly and
could be heard as “fell” instead
of “feel.”
I would use repetition and say,
“So you feel it is important to
think in English,” and then
perhaps ask, “Do you mean
feel or fell?” This clarification
method would make the
student aware that he must
have said something wrong,
and so he would have to think
about what I asked and then
repeat the word again,
correcting himself, to clarify it.
Analysis
When comparing these two speakers, it is quite obvious that Xue is more advanced and made fewer errors than Rodrigues, who had a
much lower level. However, their errors were quite different. Xue had a few systematic errors with tense aspect and vocabulary
(morphology). Her pronunciation was excellent and she communicated her ideas very well, but these few errors hindered her validity
at times. I think a great way to help her would be to point these errors out after the conversation and have her correct them. Then doing
some practice exercises, both oral and written, to reinforce these concepts would be helpful. For Rodrigues, he simply needs practice
speaking in general. He is going to make a lot of mistakes, but the more he practices English, the better he will become.
I think in Xue’s conversation, it would have been helpful to sit down and review her mistakes because she would easily be able to
understand and correct them. Doing this with Rodrigues would cause a lot of confusion. He needs to learn to communicate and
understand a basic conversation before we can try to explain grammar rules for every mistake that he made. Therefore I believe counting
errors and explaining them to the student should be determined on an individual basis. However overall, I feel it is very productive to
point out one’s errors. One can be fluent in a language, but still make the same mistakes over and over again because no one has the
nerve to correct them. Therefore, the amount of errors one makes does not always determine proficiency, but it does affect validity and
those around the person who has to listen to them all the time.
Lastly, I think that through this lesson I became aware that recast is a very useful method but should be used strategically. If a student
does not correct a mistake with this method, then another method should be used. I also think that if I were these students’ teacher, I
could help them both through these various methods. Xue is advanced enough we could fine tune her speech through metalinguistic or
explicit feedback, and Rodrigues just needs practice and recast.