GRAMMAR OR GRAMMER? MISTAKE OR ERROR?SHALL I CORRECT IT OR NOT?

                                                       MISTAKE OR ERROR

                                                                      

In some cases, teachers may not decide to treat an error because the difference between errors and mistakes are not always clear. James (1998:79) makes a useful distinction and says:

'Errors, one must assume, are everything that mistakes are not; they are of significance ;they do not reflect knowledge; they are not self-correctable; and only learners of L2 make them.'

                                                 HOW TO CORRECT ERRORS

                                                   

And how to correct errors depends largely on the context. Whether to correct errors or not depends on the kind of learners and the linguistic level of students, as Tsui (1995:48) puts it:

‘For students with low language proficiency it would be unreasonable to expect error- free sentences. For students who are very shy and reticent it is more important to get them to express themselves rather than produce correct forms.’

According to James (1998:236) the term correction is used in three senses:

·         Informing the learner that there is an error and leaving them to discover and repair it themselves. This is called feedback.

·         Providing treatment or information that leads to the revision and correction of the specific instance of error (error token)without aiming to prevent the error from reoccurring later.

·         Providing learners with information that allows them to revise or reject the wrong rule they were operating with when they produced the error token. Since its purpose is primarily to improve the processes for all future productions rather than merely ‘cosmetically’ to improve the present product, this is called remediation.’

In the classroom, students may sometimes try to form sentences which have just been introduced to them or try to utter sentences which have not been covered in the classroom and make mistakes or errors. In situations like these it may be time consuming and also not useful to give any sorts of feedback as it may not make any sense to the learner, as Allwright and Bailey (1991:102) suggests:

‘Another question which teachers face in deciding whether to treat an error or to ignore it is whether the error is within the learner’s grasp in terms of his or her place on the interlaguage continuum.  It may do no good at all to try to give learners feedback on a form they are not ready to learn.’

I believe how to  correct the errors of performance is important because students need to be encouraged to speak without being defensive and thinking about assessment. Norrish (1983:116) states about the correction of speech errors:

' ...when the learner is more concerned with expressing a meaning, importing some information or opinion, that he is with the forms of language he is using for that purpose, he should not be stopped or corrected in 'mid-stream'

A teacher might consider an utterance an error whereas another teacher may accept the utterance as Norrish (1983:91) states:

'There may be times when one judge or teacher will consider a given form an error, while another would consider it acceptable. Since language constantly changes and develops, what is considered 'incorrect' today may be acceptable tomorrow.'

The best example of it is I guess:

             

    TEACHER'S PERCEPTION IS IMPORTANT

 Another related issue is that it may be more significant from a teacher's perception to expect the correct answers for a particular exercise or an activity even when it may be a suitable utterance in the target language as Tsui (1995:43) comments:

'An error in the classroom is commonly understood as something that is rejected by the teacher because it is wrong and inappropiate. However, when classroom exchanges are examined it is found that what teachers consider being errors may not be wrong or inappropiate at all.'

Thank you Susan from Karatay University for giving  me the idea to think and write about this issue.

HOW I CORRECT MY STUDENTS' SCRIPTS

Here is a task for students:
Level: high intermediate- upper intermediate

J-14 is a magazine for teenagers and they are organizing a competition. They are going to choose the ‘Writer of the Month’ and the winner will get 5000 TL. You want to join to this competition. Write a PARAGRAPH about ‘My ideal girl/boyfriend’ in 130-150 words.

In your paragraph mention these points:

·         What is he/she like?

·         What does he/she look like?

·         What do you want to do with him/her in your free time?

Here is a sample answer:

I imagine that my boyfriend is loyal and honest. Because Honesty is a virtue. So honesty is very important to me. Besides I should trust him. He should be trusted man. Then, He should be a determined person. That is he would rather he decides for anything than I decide. That is he should direct me. As I am very undecided. My imaginary boyfriend should appreciate me. He should give value me even if he does not love me in a crazy love. And... He should not be selfish. On the contrary he should be thoughtfull. He should be calm.He should give peace me. Because I need to peace....Finally,I can not know when I will fall in love with whom....So, they are my imagines....But my imagines may not realize......

Here is my feedback to the student:

1. SCORE FOR TASK ACHIEVEMENT: 4

JUSTIFICATION:

·         You wrote a semi-formal paragraph which is polite and consistent in its style.

 ·         However, of the three content points only one of them is included: What is he/she like? ADD THE OTHER TWO CONTENT POINTS: What does he look like? / What do you want to do with him in your free time?

·         You elaborate on only one of the content points: ‘What is he like?’ ADD AND ELABORATE ON THE OTHER CONTENT POINTS

·         The layout is appropriate for this kind of task.

·         The closing section is inadequate ‘So, they are my imagines....But my imagines may not realize......’ =YOU MAY WANT TO CHANGE IT. Or PARAPHRASE IT.

·         Word limit is between 130-150 words = no problem with your word limit.

2. SCORE FOR ORGANIZATION (COHERENCE& COHESION): 4 (out of 10)

JUSTIFICATION:

·         You should use reference: It establishes a link between a sentence or between two or more sentences. For example: Instead of saying:  ‘I saw a dog yesterday. The dog was black.’ You should say ‘I saw a dog yesterday. It was black’ = (It refers back to ‘a dog’) AVOID REPEATING THE SAME WORDS. In your paragraph: ‘I imagine that my boyfriend is loyal and honest. Because Honesty is a virtue. So honesty is very important’ = USE REFERENCE INSTEAD = DO NOT REPEAT THE SAME WORD OVER AND OVER AGAIN= IT DISRUPTS COHESION.

·         You use linking devices: (because, so, besides, then, that is, as, and, on the contrary, finally, so, but): DO NOT OVERUSE THE LINKING DEVICES= IT MAKES YOUR SCRIPT ARTIFICIAL.

·         TRY NOT TO START A SENTENCE WITH ‘BECAUSE/ AND = INFORMALLY THEY MIGHT BE OKAY. IN YOUR CASE, YOU DONT NEED TO START A SENTENCE WITH THEM.FOR EXAMPLE: ‘He should give peace me. Because I need to peace.’= PARAPHRASE IT. DO NOT START WITH BECAUSE.

·         ‘Then, He should be a determined person’ =INCORRECT USE OF THE LINKING DEVICE. ‘THEN’ IS USED TO SHOW TIME: ‘We drank coffee and then we left (CORRECT USE OF THE LINKING DEVICE)

                                     Or:

§  Then is used to say what happens next or what you do next: For example: Mix the flour and butter, then add the eggs. = (CORRECT USE OF THE LINKING DEVICE)

§  WHEN YOU TRANSLATE YOUR SENTENCE IN TURKISH, IT MAY SOUND CORRECT, BUT IN ENGLISH IT SOUNDS AWKWARD= CHANGE IT.

·         ‘That is he would rather he decides for anything than I decide. That is he should direct me.’= REPETITION OF THE SAME LINKING DEVICE = CHANGE ONE OF THEM or PARAPHRASE YOUR SENTENCES or COMBINE THEM IN ANOTHER WAY. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR PUNCTUATION: That is (,) he would.....

·         BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR PUNCTUATION: ‘On the contrary(,) he should be thoughtful’

·         ‘Because I need to peace....Finally,I can not know when I will fall in love with whom....So, they are my imagines....But my imagines may not realize......’ = DO YOU ACTUALLY NEED ALL THESE (......) ?? = DO NOT OVERUSE THEM(.......)

·         ‘That is he should direct me. As I am very undecided.’ = YOU DO NOT NECESSARILY HAVE TO START A SENTENCE WITH ‘AS’ HERE. = COMBINE THESE TWO SENTENCES.

·         BE CAREFUL WITH CAPITILIZATION = IT ALSO DISRUPTS COHERENCE: ‘Because Honesty is a virtue’ or ‘Then, He should be a determined person’ = CHECK AND CORRECT YOUR CAPITIZATION MISTAKES AGAIN.

·         ‘thoughtfull’ = IS THIS THE CORRECT SPELLING? CHECK YOUR PARAGRAPH FOR SPELLING MISTAKES AGAIN

3. GRAMMAR:

           JUSTIFICATIONS FOR GRAMMAR: 7 (out of 10)

·         Correct use of simple present tense, future (will) and ‘should’ = APPROPIATE FOR THIS TYPE OF TASK.

·         Should is overused = TRY TO USE SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD OF ‘SHOULD’. For example: I’d rather a man who..... / I prefer / It’s better.... ./ must..etc.

·         ‘He should be trusted man’ DO YOU NEED AN ARTICLE HERE? A/AN?

·         THERE ARE CLUMSY BITS: (1) ‘That is he would rather he decides for anything than I decide.’/(2) He should give value me even if he does not love me in a crazy love = PARTIALLY DISRUPTS COMMUNICATION = PARAPHRASE IT= BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR GRAMMAR:

(1)   He would rather or you would rather? Than you decide or that you decide? CHECK THE EXAMPLES, AND HAVE A LOOK AT SOME GRAMMAR BOOKS =REWRITE YOUR SENTENCE: I’d rather go by car./  I’d rather not go out tonight/ I’d rather (someone) +v2 =present/future meaning. Ex: I’d rather he went by bus.

(2)   ‘LOVE ME IN A CRAZY LOVE’ = OR IN A CRAZY WAY? LOVE YOU CRAZILY?

·           BE CAREFUL WITH PREPOSTIONS: ‘He should give peace me.’ = HE SHOULD GIVE ME PEACE or HE SHOULD GIVE PEACE TO ME. / ANOTHER EXAMPLE: ‘GIVE ME A DATE or GIVE A DATE TO ME’

·           ‘Because I need to peace’ = OMIT ‘TO’

4. VOCABULARY: 8 (out of 10)

JUSTIFICATIONS FOR VOCABULARY:

Regarding your level:

·         Relevant vocabulary choice

·         Variety of adjectives are used

·         ‘As I am very undecided.’ = ARE YOU UNDECIDED OR INDECISIVE? CHECK THE MEANING OF THESE WORDS

·         ‘But my imagines may not realize......’= WRITE A FULL SENTENCE = IT IS NOT A PROPER ENDING. THERE IS NOT ENOUGH CONTEXT (SENTENCES, WORDS) TO UNDERSTAND WHY YOU USE ‘REALIZE’ THERE?

·         ‘So, they are my imagines’ = WRONG WORD = CHANGE IT

5. Communicative function:

 If you were the editor of J-14 magazine, would you give 5000 TL to this paragraph? 5pts. (out of 10)

IN TOTAL: 28 x2 = 56pts.

ALL IN ALL, THIS IS A GOOD PARAGRAPH AND MEETS MOST OF THE CRITERIA.

READ THROUGH THE COMMENTS, AND MAKE THE NECESSARY CORRECTIONS.

As teachers obviously we may not always have the

time to give our students a detailed feedback.

However, at least trying to do it from time to time

shows that you are taking writing seriously. And yes

it does make a difference in their perceptions

of writing.

SMOKERS ARE THE LUCKIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!

Has anyone thanked you for smoking yet? Well, I do. I thank you for smoking your lungs out for all those years.

I thank you because you are given a second chance. Non-smokers will never get this second chance in life.

                                               NEVER

 By giving up smoking you will be:

•  happier than ever in your life
•  much healtier and a lot more energetic
• have a crystal clear  mind
• able to see the world differently (like you have never seen before) 

  I smoked for 13 years...and I eventually gave it up and hope you will do the same and experience your new life....

Smoke your last one and start a new life!

NOTE: you might as well use 'smokers' and 'non-smokers' to group or pair your students ( if only you are working with 18+ students)

ACTIVITIES USING MOBILE PHONES IN THE CLASSROOM:PART 1

                          

                           Students just can not live without them (even during the lessons) :

                                                           MOBILE PHONES

And sometimes no matter what you do they still end up texting their friends while you are

trying to do your precious activities.

So why not doing activities that include mobile phones!

So far I have come up with a few ideas and here you will find one of them:

• Find a reading text (It could simply be a reading text from your students’ course books)
• Ask them if their mobile phones have a voice recording application. At least %80 of your students will say ‘YES’ instantly.
• Then pair your students. (As and Bs)
• After that, you tell your students to take out their mobiles, which will hopefully surprise them.
•  Student A reads the text, and B records A’s voice and then B reads the same text and A records B’s voice.
• After that,  there are several things that you might do:

a)Listen to all recordings as a class. If you have loudspeakers in your classroom, you can

listen to everyone much more effectively. [By plugging mobile phones to the

loudspeakers] . I would not do any grading here, but what I would do is I would ask students

to underline all the mispronounced words/phrases and after we listen to everybody, we

would discuss them as a class so no one would know who made a mistake and who did not

make mistakes.

b) Pairs listen and grade each other. (Teacher might give students a simple criterion.)

                                                    Why do I do this activity?

• As mentioned at the very beginning: To do something that includes something they are very much interested in: MOBILE PHONES
• It is a pronunciation activity.
• It helps students to correct themselves. They become more aware of their own mistakes and students start to correct themselves (self-correction/self-awareness).
•  I aim to give students a learning strategy as well. Students record and listen to their voices whenever they want. Something they can do alone.

 

THE STEPS OF PREPARING A TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM

                                           Five steps that might be followed

1. Target group:

In order to determine which one outweighs the other, the first and the foremost question that may need to be addressed is the one about the target trainees at hand.

   Are they novice teachers?     
                                                  

  Are they more experienced teachers?

                                                                                  or

                             both novice and experienced teachers?

                                      (A SPICY COCTAIL)

2. Goals and objectives of the institution:

Once the trainer has the above information about the target group, then the second

question that could need to be posed is the goals and objectives of the institution.This is highly important because it gives the trainer an idea of what the features of a good teacher should be according to the institution where the training will take place. Obviously, there could be some basic conceptions in people’s minds of what the features of a ‘good teacher’ is; however, the conceptions might just as well change not only from one culture to

another but also even in different institutions which are located in the same area or city.

Thus, it might be vital for a trainer to find out the institution’s goals and objectives and their perceptions of good  (ups! SORRY), effective teacher.

 

3. Collecting information about the teachers:

To me, the third step is to find out the background and especially the previous experiences

 of the trainees. This could be done by simply sending a questionnaire via e-mail to the trainees before the sessions. But what I would do is I would send a questionnaire plus a couple of irrelevant questions –subtle questions- targeting to ascertain some more realistic clues about their character, background and previous experiences.

This third step might be particularly essential because the trainer then would probably

foresee how much they will be able to bring to the sessions and also a little bit of how far

they might contribute to the sessions. The first three steps are all about gathering information about the context that the training session(s) will take place.

 

4. Matching:

The fourth step to me is the matching part. Trainers regardless of where they live and
where they do their job on the planet Earth have some sort of philosophy that underpins
their sessions. In order to prevent any contradictions between the institution’s philosophyand her own, a trainer has to link, adapt and transfer her philosophy of teaching and learning to a specific teaching environment in which she will have her sessions.

5. Planning (some answers to the question):

The fifth step is designing a training plan which indeed should be a flexible one. There

should always be a room for changing, adapting or even altering all together some of the things in  the plan prepared before the sessions although it is planned in accordance with the data collected from the institution and the school. This indicates that the goals of the

sessions should be flexible and kind of broad as well, but the goals should frame the outcomes to a point as well in order to prevent from going to a different or opposite direction.

                                                      

                        

HOW I GUIDE MY STUDENTS TO MAKE POWER POINT PRESENTATIONS

Students do not necessarily LOVE the idea of making presentations. They may have their own and very valid reasons for this and two of them - to me- seems to stick out ; 

• They have never spoken in front of a group before ( esp. IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

•    They may feel peer pressure (What are 'the others' going to think and say about me and my English?)

Every teacher has their own way of overcoming these challenges. To me, creating a positive classroom environment and teacher’s proactive attitude are the two very important things to kick the ball rolling in the class. These two are like SPINACH AND YOGURTJ. You simply can not have one without the other.

I made an attempt to handle things  in a more 'constructive' way and to put it simple, constructivism is to start with what students already know and build on it.
In the following video, you will find the video of one of my student’s presentation. She is a beginner level student and this is her first presentation:

or you can follow the link to watch the video:

                                                                        http://vimeo.com/30959051

The topic of the presentation is ' Introduce your best friend'. Simge prepared three drafts and made some pre-presentations - to her mom and to me and a couple of students- before actually presenting the one above.

(In the video, Simge is not in her class, but in another one)

Before the students in the video watched Simge's presentation, they were given a sheet of paper divided into three columns [Things I liked/ Things I don't like so much/ Things I learned]

While the students in the video watched Simge’s presentation, they wrote down all the things they liked, didn't liked so much and things they learned from this experience.

After the presentation, everybody walked around the classroom and shared their ideas. Here you can see how it looks:

Finally, students worked in pairs and wrote down what they think are the key points to an effective presentation. Then we stuck them on the walls. Here are some of the ideas they come up with:

do not write a lot of sentences on one slide            

                                               use interesting& lots of pictures

eye contact is important

use bullet points on slides         

                                                 INTERACTION IS VERY IMPORTANT

And here are  task specific ideas they come up with:

         

give more details about your friend      

           

                                                   give some interesting details      

 SIMGE, you are a very self-confident student! I am proud of you.

 I would like to thank Mert for technical support:)

And I would like to thank my colleague NISA for answering all my questions patiently about blogging