Feedback

Effective learning requires feedback. When teaching ELLs, it is particularly important to ensure that your feedback is comprehensible, useful, and relevant.

Oliver (2003) notes that the way in which teachers correct language usage affects students’ verbal modifications. When teacher feedback on errors is constructive, students use the feedback to rephrase. According to Schoen and Schoen (2003) and Short (1991), rather than immediately correcting students, teachers should simply restate what the students say using the correct grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary. Students can refer to this model in the future when they want to say something similar. Modeling correct grammar is beneficial for the student, but overemphasizing grammar is not.

To be able to give feedback on language, you must have a firm foundation in how our language works. Wong Fillmore and Snow (2000) put forth a strong rationale for the need for classroom teachers to understand language function and structure: Because knowledge of English language usage has been emphasized less and less over time, they recommend more training for teachers in the areas of linguistics, sociolinguistics, and language use.

Thornbury (1999) and Brown (2000) contend that if language learners only get positive messages about their output, they will not make attempts to restructure their grammar. If they think that everything, they are saying is accurate, they will stop short of full language proficiency and their incorrect usage will become “fossilized.” As an example, Thornbury recommends some possible responses for teachers when responding to the error in the sentence “He has a long hair”:

• “He has long hair.” This is a correction in the strictest sense of the word. The teacher simply repairs the student’s utterance.

• “No article.” The teacher’s move is directed at pinpointing the kind of error the student has made in order to prompt self-correction.

• “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand.” This is known as a clarification request.

• “A long hair is just one single hair, like you find in your soup. For the hair on your head you wouldn’t use an article; you would say: He has long hair.” This is an example of reactive teaching, where instruction is in response to errors.

• “Oh, he has long hair, has he?” This technique (sometimes called reformulation) is an example of covert feedback, disguised as a conversational aside.

Error correction can take many forms; it varies from the simple to the complex. Talk with your school’s ESL teachers regarding the forms of error correction that work best for them. We will be reminding you to model by repairing (first example above) and reformulating (last example above) when an ELL makes an error.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

قسم شؤون المعارف ينظم دورة متقدمة في تحقيق المخطوطات لملاكاته

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يصدر العدد العشرين من مجلة دراسات إفريقية

المجمَع العلمي يكرم الأساتذة المشاركين في مشروع الدورات القرآنية الصيفية في كربلاء

العتبة العباسية المقدسة تختتم فعاليات البرنامج المركزي الأسبوعي لمنتسبيها

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

تحذير من "عدوى بكتيرية" تسبب نوبات قلبية

ماذا يحصل لجسمك عند التوقف عن استخدام الزيت في الطهي؟

الأمل في كبسولة.. "فيتامين شهير" يبطئ التقدم في العمر

اشتهاء أطعمة بشكل مفاجئ.. ناقوس خطر للسرطان ؟!

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

زلزال أفغانستان يحصد أكثر من ألف قتيل.. ويدمر آلاف المنازل !

ناجٍٍ وحيد من انزلاق أرضي.. دمّر قرية سودانية بأكملها !

نهر الفرات.. مورد مائي بين الندرة والتقاسم

ما السر وراء مشية إيلون ماسك الغريبة والسريعة ؟

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Intermediate and Advanced Fluency

Speech Emergence

Early Production

Preproduction

Classroom Example

Classroom Recommendations

Generalizations from Classroom Instruction That Works

Identifying Vocabulary and Key Concepts

Determining Language Functions and Structures Classroom Examples

Determining Language Functions and Structures

SETTING OBJECTIVES AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK

The stages of second language acquisition summary