The Glossing Process as a Practical Approach to Grammar Instruction

When I was reading this article, the first thing that came to my mind was a correction process that we used to adopt some years ago in which we would indicate a student’s error by writing a code next to the error. These codes would indicate problems with spelling(sp), grammar(gr), verb tense(vt), vocabulary(vocab) and so on. Then the student was supposed to see and understand the codes and correct him or herself. He or she should have already been taught about the meaning of these codes. Teachers, however, used different codes, students got mixed up with them, sometimes they wouldn’t return their papers…- the result: I don’t see teachers using this nowadays.

The Glossing Process seems to be quite similar to this process as far as self correction is concerned. I agree that getting students to analyze their errors, think about them and actually re-write their sentences – and state the rules - might be useful for exercising the format of their writing, but the inevitable question comes up: what should be focused first – content or form? It has been discussed over the years the importance of focusing on content, meaning rather than on accuracy. Teachers have been taught about Process Writing – another form of correction which basically focus on meaning and the piece of writing goes back and forth (teacher-student-teacher-student…with all teachers hoping these papers don’t get lost or that students remember to hand them in again – and again) as many times as necessary so that the message is clearly – not necessarily accurately – written. As for the correction of form, it is the same process all again.

I personally have never been good at dealing with this come and go of students´ activities. I admit: I get lost. It is hard for me to control if Paulo is handing me a piece of writing after his third revision or if Manuela has already tried ten times – and is getting bored of that. This article leaves me basically with two questions: content or accuracy? And - whatever the first answer is - should I learn how to deal with this come and go – or is technology coming to make my way through this?

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Commenting on the text: “A touch of ...Class!”

Error Correction is indeed one of the great concerns of any L2 teacher. In fact, I think it is something we have to deal with in a daily basis and we need to find better ways to make it work, bringing better learning results for the students.

When the author questions whether “… our efforts in error correction actually translates into student leaning…” I find myself thinking about the students we teach at a certain level - for example, A3 - and who, repeatedly, come back to us in later stages (Int 2, Hint 1, etc) presenting the same type of problems they had when they first “belonged” to us! And this is so frustrating! It gives us the idea that neither we, nor any other teacher did the job well.

The author then presents some ideas on how to deal with the problem of error correction in a more strategic way. She argues that we should “… correct errors selectively rather than comprehensively …” when the students are at a beginning level of proficiency. On the other hand, she suggests a “reformulation” correction (meaning = “… having a native writer of the target language rewrite a learner´s composition …. So that it sounds more “native like”.) for students at a higher level of proficiency. This way, “…error correction strategies need to be tailored to the linguistic ability of the individual student.”

My observation is that, as teachers, we are so anxious for proficiency to be established that we do not wait for the learning process to occur, respecting the time each student needs. We correct and correct every little detail and think this correction will help the learning process to occur faster…! Maybe we need to think more, reflect more and become more patient… What do you think, teacher Catron?

Ana Maria
October, 2007

dilemma

When I read the article about students errors I wondered if, as a teacher, I do not see all of my students´ mistakes in writing as something negative.
On the contrary, I believe many of their mistakes are like a natural outcome of the development of communication skills. In fact, they demonstrate that my students are getting into the process of learning a foreign language.
Therefore, for me, the duty of knowing how to access that in an effective way becomes a challenge. What to do? Should I highlight their mistakes? Should I give them codes, so that they can discover by themselves what was wrong? Should I give them the right answers? Well, it depends on the students´profile and level and also on the teacher´s.
One consideration I know for sure: Identifying the students´ mistakes is as crucial as knowing how to access them.
Alecsandra

A touch of... class!

Error correction

Maria Mantello

After reading Mantello’s article on error correction, I found myself making some considerations on how I deal with correcting my Ss’ errors in writing. Correcting students’ errors is not an easy task and I agree with her when she mentions how frustrating it is correcting errors and seeing them recur in students writing.

As a teacher, I use both selective and comprehensive error correction. I find the use of coded feedback very helpful with beginner or weaker Ss, mainly because it shows both the location and the nature of the error. As Mantello says “It seems that weaker students, in general, benefit from an error correction technique that makes corrections more explicit”.

With advanced or stronger Ss, I also use the coded feedback technique, and I provided them with models where the target structure can be seen in different context. By doing so, Ss have the opportunity to compare and analyze the language critically.

In conclusion, the way teachers approach error correction might differ, depending on a variety of reasons. It is important though, to reflect on why it is that we correct Ss’ error, and to bear in mind that the only objective in error correction is student learning.