What Kinds of Errors Should Be Corrected

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(a) The literature discusses what kind of error should be corrected (e.g. based on frequency of occurrence, their stigmatizing effect, or the degree to which they hinder communication). How feasible are these recommendations? (b) As a teacher, how would I choose whether or not an error should be corrected? (a) Correcting a learner’s language error or lexical misapprehension is a critical part of the process of successful L2 acquisition. An individual whose speech is peppered with errors may be misunderstood or regarded as having a shallow ability to communicate. The first question then is what errors should be corrected. Nassaji and Fotos (p. 80) distinguish between errors [owing to a lack of knowledge] and mistakes [simple performance errors] (Corder, 1967), or local and global errors (Burt & Kiparsky, 1974). Where local errors tend to be minor (e.g. omission of a plural or gerund ending), global errors are more significant as these may affect the message and create a communication problem. Nassaji and Fotos (p. 80) cite to Hendrickson (1978) for the premise that teachers should pay more attention to global errors than local errors and give priority to those based on frequency of occurrence or the stigmatizing effects they may have on the speaker. There are a few problems with following Hendrickson’s guidance: first, it is sometimes difficult to determine whether an error is local or global, depending on the setting (written, spoken, task activity, etc.), and second, at what level of frequency must an error occur, or how stigmatizing must the corresponding error be to make it susceptible for correction. It calls for a closely controlled interaction between instructor and learner to be able to constantly monitor those parameters. I would also point out that I think there are two kinds of stigmatizing effects, the one which might occur if the learner were to
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