Students' and Teachers' Assessments of the Need for Accuracy in the Oral Production of German as a Foreign Language

Abstract

Previous research indicates that foreign language learners are much more focused on accuracy, particularly grammatical accuracy, than their teachers are. The purpose of the current study was to gain a more detailed understanding of American learners' views of the need for accuracy in the oral production of a foreign language (German) by (a) distinguishing among 4 different purposes of language use (deriving a personal sense of accomplishment; being comprehensible to a native speaker [NS]; being pleasant to an NS; receiving an A in the course); (b) specifying 19 different language forms (grammatical, phonological, lexical, and pragmatic) of German; (c) asking the learners to assess the likelihood of ever attaining 90% or higher accuracy in each of these features; (d) examining learners in 4 different years of instruction; and (e) comparing the learners' beliefs to those of their teachers.The results revealed that (a) the learners in this study were not universally motivated toward accuracy in oral production generally or toward grammatical accuracy specifically; (b) they assumed that the grade requirements demanded much higher levels of accuracy than were necessary (as reported by the teachers) and were needed for communication with NSs or for their personal sense of accomplishment; (c) the year of instruction distinguished ratings of needed accuracy in specific forms, but not ratings of the overall degree of needed accuracy; and (d) the views of beginning learners especially and their teachers differed on the degree of accuracy needed to obtain a grade of A in the course, to derive a sense of accomplishment, and in the usage of specific language forms. Here, the learners appeared to construct unwarranted equivalencies between form-meaning relationships in the first language (L1) and the second language (L2) when they perceived that a low degree of accuracy was needed in certain German forms, particularly case endings and suprasegmental features.These findings suggest that judgments of required accuracy: (a) interact with the specific language-use purpose and specific language forms; (b) may vary by specific L1-L2 pairings; and (c) may have reflected in previous research the learners' perceptions of grade requirements rather than their true personal motivations.THIS ARTICLE DESCRIBES HOW LEARNERS and teachers in four different years of university instruction assessed the need for accuracy in the oral production of German as a foreign language. Numerous studies have been dedicated to the The Modern Language Journal, 91, iv, (2007) 0026-7902/07/537-563 $1.50/0 C 2007 The Modern Language Journal improvement of accuracy in language production through various modes of pedagogic remediation, 1 as well as to the question of whether and how certain learning processes are impervious to instructional intervention. 2 Pedagogical efforts typically strive to improve or accelerate learning processes through instruction, with increased accuracy a primary marker of success. Teachers and learners are idealized as working togethe...

Learners’ Beliefs About Corrective Feedback in the Language Classroom: Perspectives from Two International Contexts

“…These may include motivation, anxiety, self-regulation, learner autonomy, gender, language proficiency, and strategy use (e.g., Cotterall, 1999;Horwitz, 1990;Peacock, 1999;Siebert, 2003;Tanaka & Ellis, 2003;Wenden, 1991Wenden, , 1999Yang, 1999). There is also evidence that certain beliefs are common among learners, teachers, target languages, cultures, instructional settings, and age groups (e.g., Chavez, 2007;Horwitz, 1999;Peacock, 2001;Schulz, 1996Schulz, , 2001. Today, however, learner beliefs are no longer seen as "stable mental representations that are fixed a priori constructs" (Kalaja & Barcelos, 2003, p. 2) but rather as highly dynamic because they can change in light of one's situation, emotional state, and company (Barcelos & Kalaja, 2011).…”

Variable beliefs about the need for accuracy in the oral production of German: an exploratory study

“…Three‐hundred‐and‐forty‐nine students of German enrolled in first‐ (N = 105), second‐ (N = 170), and third‐ (N = 74) year courses at a large Midwestern university in the US participated in this study. Previous statistical analyses (Chavez ) showed that students in the first three years of the German program responded without significant differences to the questionnaire items that constituted the research instrument. Therefore, in the analyses applied in the current study, students in years 1, 2, and 3 of instruction were treated as one population.…”

“…Instead, the paper's aims are to highlight the complex interaction between learner variables and beliefs about accuracy and to underscore that evidence of (in)accuracy should be considered not just in light of cognitive but also social‐attitudinal influences. The study reported on here relates to an earlier one (Chavez ) that used the same data set but examined the study population taken as a whole, i.e. without regard to learner variables.…”

“…Kern ; Schulz ; Borg ; Peacock ). In Chavez (), American college learners of German believed that a much higher degree of accuracy was needed to earn a grade of A in the course than did their teachers. In contrast, the teachers overestimated how accurate learners needed to be so as to obtain a sense of personal accomplishment.…”

Grammar is the heart of language: grammar and its role in language learning among Finnish university students

“…Students, of course, also have preconceived views on demands for accuracy depending on, among other things, the specific language to be learned, contexts of language use and beliefs about factors affecting setting of grades (see Chavez 2007). Sometimes students actually wish for more emphasis on formal correctness than teachers do (see Brown 2009;Ellis 2004;Horwitz 1988;Schulz 2001;Sharwood Smith 1988).…”