The Recognition of Usage Errors by Instructors of Freshman Composition

Greenbaum, Sidney; Taylor, John

doi:10.2307/356690

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Based on the findings reported in the paper, teachers' ability to reconstruct L2 learners' intentions in their absence cannot be taken for granted, providing support for earlier studies (e.g., Greenbaum & Taylor, 1981;Hamid, 2007;Wall & Hull, 1990). The interview data showed that even though the teachers used quite a few techniques to reconstruct students' thoughts, sometimes those thoughts could not be figured out, leading the teachers to guess and/or impose their own ideas in the reconstruction process.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

The problematic of second language errors

Hamid

Doan²

2014

ARAL

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The significance of errors in explicating Second Language Acquisition (SLA) processes led to the growth of error analysis in the 1970s which has since maintained its prominence in English as a second/foreign language (L2) research. However, one problem with this research is errors are often taken for granted, without problematising them and their identification. Against this background, the present study aimed to: (a) measure L2 English teachers’ ability to interpret L2 learner intentions in idiosyncratic expressions, and (b) bring to light factors that facilitate error identification. Findings show that: (1) there is a significant difference between L2 students’ intentions and teachers’ interpretations of those intentions; and (2) L2 English teachers’ knowledge of students’ L1 is not an advantage in error detection. Teacher interview data were drawn on to explicate text interpretation, reconstruction and error identification, suggesting implications for L2 research and pedagogy.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

The problematic of second language errors

Hamid

Doan²

2014

ARAL

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“…Since the teachers did not keep a record of the types of errors each learner made, it was impossible to provide suitable remedial work. The studies of Greenbaum and Taylor (1982) and Fearn (1982) report a similar phenomenon among college composition teachers. In both studies, teachers were presented with sentences containing specific types of errors and were asked to classify them and provide the corrected form.…”

Section: Kansai University Of Foreign Studiesmentioning

confidence: 71%

Salience of Feedback on Error and Its Effect on EFL Writing Quality

Ross²,

1986

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To date, few empirical studies have been designed to evaluate the effects of different types of feedback on error in the written work of second language writers. The study reported in this article contrasted four methods of providing feedback on written error. These methods differed in the degree of salience provided to the writer in the revision process. In the study, a factor analysis was used to reduce an initial set of 19 measures of writing skill to a subset of 7. Each of the 7 measures in the subset was then used as a dependent variable in an analysis of covariance design which contrasted the effects of the feedback methods on subsequent narrative compositions. Evidence against direct correction of error in written work is discussed.

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“…Students are thus given to understand that what they wanted to say is not as important as what their teachers wanted them to say. Furthermore, these "ideal texts" may interfere with the teachers' ability to read and interpret texts, with the result that texts may be misread and comments and reactions may be inaccurate, misleading, or inappropriate (Greenbaum andTaylor 1981, Sommers 1982). In the face of their teachers' critical judgments, students are unlikely to make any effort to establish that their meaning has been misconstrued; "the writer avoids or alters meaning rather than risk [the teacher's] disapproval" (Schwartz 1983:556).…”

Section: Teachers' Responses To Student Writing: L1 Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responding to Student Writing

Zamel¹

1985

TESOL Quarterly

470

268

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Because writing teachers invest so much time responding to student writing and because these responses reveal the assumptions teachers hold about writing, L1 writing researchers have investigated how composition teachers respond to their students' texts. These investigations have revealed that teachers respond to most writing as if it were a final draft, thus reinforcing an extremely constricted notion of composing. Their comments often reflect the application of a single ideal standard rather than criteria that take into account how composing constraints can affect writing performance. Furthermore, teachers' marks and comments usually take the form of abstract and vague prescriptions and directives that students find difficult to interpret. A study was undertaken to examine ESL teachers' responses to student writing. The findings suggest that ESL composition teachers make similar types of comments and are even more concerned with language‐specific errors and problems. The marks and comments are often confusing, arbitrary, and inaccessible. In addition, ESL teachers, like their native‐language counterparts, rarely seem to expect students to revise the text beyond the surface level. Such responses to texts give students a very limited and limiting notion of writing, for they fail to provide students with the understanding that writing involves producing a text that evolves over time. Teachers therefore need to develop more appropriate responses for commenting on student writing. They need to facilitate revision by responding to writing as work in progress rather than judging it as a finished product.

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The Recognition of Usage Errors by Instructors of Freshman Composition

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

The problematic of second language errors

The problematic of second language errors

Salience of Feedback on Error and Its Effect on EFL Writing Quality

Responding to Student Writing

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