A Classroom Research Study on Oral Error Correction

Abdullah Coskun, Turkey Abdullah Coskun is an EFL teacher at Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey. He holds an A in ELT and is currently !ursuin" a #H$ in the sa%e &ield. His %ain interests are classroo% research and the e&&ects o& En"lish as an International Lan"ua"e on the EFL classroo%. E'%ail( coskun)a*ibu.edu.tr

Menu Abstract Introduction Back"round $ata collection +esearch ,uestions $ata analysis $iscussion o& &indin"s Conclusion +e&erences A!!endi- A Abstract This study has the %ain ob.ective to !resent the &indin"s o& a s%all'scale classroo% research carried out to collect data about %y s!oken error correction behaviors by %eans o& sel&' observation. /ith this study, I ai%ed to analyze ho0 and 0hich s!oken errors I corrected durin" a s!eci&ic activity in a be"inner1s class. I used Lyster and +anta1s 234456 %odel to cate"orize the ty!es o& s!oken error correction as e-!licit correction, recast, clari&ication re,uest, %etalin"uistic clues, elicitation and re!etition. I realized that al%ost all errors 0ere i%%ediately treated by %e and I used e-!licit correction %ore than other ty!es o& error correction. This study concludes 0ith the idea that En"lish teacher should "et involved in such sel&'observation studies in order to realize their current !ractices in the classroo%, 0hich 0ill hel! the% "ain the a0areness that each class is a s%all 0orld re,uirin" s!ecial attention 0ith its uni,ue dyna%ics.

Introduction In order to set a theoretical &ra%e0ork &or the study, a de&inition o& 7error8 should be %ade. There are %any de&initions o& error %ade so &ar and there see%s to be no consensus on a sin"le de&inition. +esearchers like All0ri"ht and Bailey 234496 have ri"htly beco%e a0are o& the i%!ortance o& s!eakin" conte-t, the intention o& the teacher and student and the !rior learnin" o& the students in the !rocess o& decidin" 0hat an error is. There&ore, researchers dealin" 0ith error treat%ent have chosen the de&inition a!!lyin" to their o0n research conte-t. For this study, an oral error is broadly de&ined as a &or% un0anted by the teacher in the "iven teachin":learnin" conte-t 2 osbah, ;<<56. Also, the ter% 7corrective &eedback8 needs to be de&ined. It is the teacher reaction that trans&or%s, disa!!roves or de%ands i%!rove%ent o& the learner utterance 2Chaudron,34556. Another ter% in need o& clari&ication is 7u!take8 that re&ers to di&&erent ty!es o& student res!onses &ollo0in" the &eedback, includin" res!onses 0ith re!air o& the non'tar"et ite%s as 0ell as utterances still in need o& re!air 2Lyster =+anta, ibid6. The correction %ay co%e &ro% the student, a !eer or the teacher. A&ter so%e key de&initions, the issue o& oral error correction should be a!!roached &ro% a historical !ers!ective to see the !ro"ress %ade so &ar. Traditionally, 0hen the audio'lin"ual a!!roach to teachin" &orei"n lan"ua"es 0as !o!ular a%on" En"lish teachin" !ro&essionals, errors 0ere seen as so%ethin" to be avoided. Ho0ever, today the conte%!orary research see%s to a"ree on the &act that rather than e-!ectin" students to !roduce error'&ree sentences, students 0ere encoura"ed to co%%unicate in the tar"et lan"ua"e and %akin" errors is a natural !art o& second lan"ua"e ac,uisition. Background The %odel !ro!osed by Lyster and +anta 2ibid6 0ere used &or this study. As they su""est that their research on teacher &eedback and student u!take does not yield conclusive results related to lan"ua"e, %ore research in di&&erent settin"s is believed to brin" %ore insi"hts into the issue o& s!oken error correction. As lan"ua"e learnin" in!ut co%es %ainly &ro% teachers, teachin" %aterials and students in EFL conte-ts, such studies 0ill hel! !racticin" teachers realize their correction behaviors in the classroo% and sha!e the 0ay they a!!roach to s!oken error correction. In their study that 0as conducted in an E>L settin", they %ade a cate"orization o& error, &eedback, and u!take to investi"ate the relationshi! bet0een error

ty!es and ty!es o& &eedback, and learner u!take. They &ocused on !honolo"ical, "ra%%atical, and le-ical errors and ca%e u! 0ith a %odel o& corrective &eedback ty!es such as recasts, e-!licit correction, elicitation, clari&ication, re!etition o& error, and %etalin"uistic &eedbackkk.. Another &ocus o& their study 0as on u!take that can be "rou!ed as 7sel&'8 or 7!eer're!a!r8 and 7teacher're!air8. Corrective &eedback ty!es as su""ested by the% can be &urther e-!lained and illustrated 0ith the transcribed data o& the videota!ed classroo% as &ollo0s 2&or transcri!tion conventions, see A!!endi- A6( 3. E-!licit correction( Clearly indicatin" that the student?s utterance 0as incorrect, the teacher !rovides the correct &or%. S: there is a little milk in fridge. T: + in the fridge ;. +ecast( The teacher i%!licitly re&or%ulates the student?s error, or !rovides the correction 0ithout directly !ointin" out that the student?s utterance 0as incorrect. S: he like pop-music. T: yes, he likes pop-music @. Clari&ication re,uest( The teacher indicates that the %essa"e has not been understood or that the student?s utterance included so%e kind o& %istake and that a re!etition or a re&or%ulation is needed by usin" !hrases like AE-cuse %eBA. S: there arent many /hotls/ in this town. T: again C. etalin"uistic clues( The teacher !oses ,uestions like 7$o 0e say it like thatB8 or !rovides

co%%ents or in&or%ation related to the &or%ation o& the student?s utterance 0ithout !rovidin" the correct &or%. S: there isnt any !ooks. T: + there isnt g"r#nce uncounta!le, yani saylamayan !ir $ey kullanmam% gerekiyormu$. $s( there isn1t any %oney

D. Elicitation( The teacher directly elicits the correct &or% &ro% the student by askin" ,uestions 2e."., AHo0 do I ask so%ebody to clean the boardBA6, by !ausin" to allo0 the student to co%!lete the teacher?s utterance 2e."., AHe is a "oodEA6 or by askin" students to re&or%ulate the utterance 2e."., ACan you say that a"ainBA6. S: there are a few !ooks in my /l!rari/ T: in my& 9. +e!etition( The teacher re!eats the student?s error and chan"es intonation to dra0 student?s attention to it. S: 'ow much money do you ha(e in your /pakt/ T: /pakt/ )S: /pokt/ T: yes As Lyster and +anta1s %odel 0as &ollo0ed &or the study, a &urther revie0 o& their 0ork is needed. The !artici!ants in their study 0ere youn" learners in a French i%%ersion !ro"ra%. Teacher'student interactions 0ere recorded and the results yielded the !ercenta"e distribution o& the si- &eedback ty!es as( recasts DDF, elicitation 3CF, clari&ication re,uests 33F, %etalin"uistic clues GF, e-!licit correction 5F, and re!etition o& error DF. +ecasts 0ere by &ar the %ost 0idely used techni,ue, accountin" &or over hal& o& all &eedback %oves. They also &ound that 0hile recasts 0ere the %ost co%%only used corrective &eedback, they 0ere the least likely to lead to success&ul u!take. oreover, the %ost success&ul ty!e o& &eedback resultin" in students1 re!air 0as elicitation. Lyster 2344G6, in another study, &inds that !honolo"ical errors like %is!ronunciation and "ra%%atical errors such as tenses o&ten %ake the teacher use the recast techni,ue. Ho0ever, the teacher see%s to 7ne"otiate the &or%8 usin" elicitation, clari&ication re,uest, re!etition and %etalin"uistic &eedback 0hen a le-ical error occurs. Lyster and +anta 2ibid6 ar"ued that &eedback ty!es o& &or% ne"otiation are 0ays o& ne"otiatin" the &or% by creatin" o!!ortunities to ne"otiate the &or% by encoura"in" %ore active learner involve%ent in the error &eedback !rocess.

Data collection This classroo% research has been conducted in an EFL settin" consistin" o& @< be"inner students in a "eneral En"lish !ro"ra% 0ith s!ecial e%!hasis on "ra%%ar teachin". To %ake students "et used to the video ca%era and behave as naturally as !ossible, the classroo% had been videota!ed &or %ore than 3< !eriods be&ore the transcribed lesson 2A!!endi- B6. The data 0as collected durin" the !roduction sta"e o& a lesson includin" a 7sentence %akin"8 "a%e about ,uanti&iers, inde&inite !ronouns and there is:are. The activity that took about 3; %inutes 0as likely to lead students to so%e kind o& s!oken error because they need to listen to their &riends1 0ords, re%e%ber all the 0ords to co%bine the% in order and utter the co%!lete sentence. In this activity, students are asked to %ake u! a %eanin"&ul sentence conte-tualizin" any o& the tar"et structures. The teacher and so%eti%es students initiate a sentence and then, the teacher calls on another student to continue by addin" a 0ord to the !revious one. Another student is called on to continue the sentence by sayin" the third 0ord that %ay &ollo0 the earlier t0o 0ords. /hen a !ro!er sentence is %ade, a student tries to re%e%ber 0hat his:her &riends have said in order and !roduce the &inal sentence co%binin" their 0ords. As &ar as the sel&'observation techni,ues used &or the study, +ichards 2344<(3346 su""ests that this techni,ue has a lot to o&&er to teachers1 continuin" "ro0th and !ro&essional develo!%ent. Further%ore, he &ocuses on the &ollo0in" list o& advanta"es o& this ty!e o& observation( 3. It enables teachers to %ove &ro% a level 0here their actions are "uided lar"ely by i%!ulse, intuition, or routine to a level 0here their actions are "uided by re&lection and critical thinkin"H ;. It can hel! narro0 the "a! bet0een teacher1s i%a"ined vie0 o& their o0n teachin" and reality I a "a! that is o&ten considerableH @. It shi&ts res!onsibility &or initiatin" i%!rove%ent in teachin" !ractices &ro% an outsider, such as su!ervisors, to teachers the%selves. It enables teachers to arrive at their o0n .ud"%ents as to 0hat 0orks and 0hat does not 0ork in their classroo%s.

Research uestions The research ,uestions &or this study are stated as &ollo0s( 3. /hat di&&erent errors are corrected by the teacherB ;. /hat are the di&&erent ty!es o& corrective &eedback and their distribution a%on" all correction ty!esB @. /hat ty!e o& learner errors lead to 0hat ty!es o& corrective &eedbackB C. /hat is the distribution o& u!take &ollo0in" di&&erent ty!es o& corrective &eedbackB Data analysis $urin" the videota!ed activity, students co%%itted 3D errors, 3< o& 0hich 0ere "ra%%ar and the rest D 0ere !ronunciation errors. The do%inance o& "ra%%atical errors %ust have arisen &ro% the &act that the activity &ocused accuracy about tar"et structures. All o& the errors 0ere i%%ediately treated by the teacher and corrected by either the student hi%:hersel&, the teacher or a !eer. As &ar as the error correction techni,ues are concerned 2Table 36, it 0as &ound out that the %ost co%%on ty!e o& correction 0as re!etition a!!lied si- ti%es durin" the activity. It is &ollo0ed by %etalin"uistic clues used three ti%es. E-!licit correction and elicitation 0ere utilized only t0ice and clari&ication re,uest only once. As &or the &ocus o& these corrections, out o& &ive !ronunciation errors, three 0ere corrected by %eans o& re!etition, one o& the% by elicitation and the other by clari&ication re,uest. Jut o& ten structural errors, three 0ere corrected by re!etition and t0o 0ere by %etalin"uistic clues. T0o 0ere treated e-!licitly, one by elicitation, one by recast and one by clari&ication re,uest. Table !" Distribution o# #eedback ty$es and #ocus +ecast Kra%%ar error #ronunciation error 3 ''' Elicitation 3 3 Clari&ication +e,uest 3 3 etalin"uistic E-!licit clues correction ; ; ''' ''' +e!etition @ @

In ter%s o& &eedback leadin" to re!air 2Table ;6, it 0as &ound out that out o& si- re!etitions, t0o 0ere sel&'corrected, t0o teacher'corrected and t0o 0ere !eer'corrected. As the ter% 7e-!licit8 i%!lies, the teacher e-!licitly treated t0o o& the errors. etalin"uistic clues led to !eer'correction and one o& the clari&ication re,uests 0as sel&'corrected 0hile the other 0as !eer'corrected. Elicitation 0as also handled in t0o 0ays. Jne o& the elicitations 0as sel&' corrected and the other 0as teacher'corrected. Finally, the only recast occurred durin" the transcri!tion 0as teacher'corrected. Table %" Distribution o# u$take #ollo&ing di##erent ty$es o# correcti'e #eedback +ecast >el&'corrected #eer'corrected Teacher' corrected ''' ''' 3 Elicitation 3 ''' 3 Clari&ication +e,uest 3 3 ''' etalin"uistic E-!licit clues correction ''' ''' ; ''' ''' ; +e!etition ; ; ;

Discussion o# #indings Althou"h the ti%e o& data collected throu"h observation is too li%ited to co%e to sound conclusions, this classroo% research has shed so%e li"ht on the !artici!atin" teacher1s oral error correction !ractices durin" an actvitiy. It 0ould be &air to su""est that the teacher did not ne"lect any o& the errors and treated errors i%%ediately usin" di&&erent techni,ues by %eans o& 0hich errors 0ere corrected e-!licitly or sel&' and !eer'corrected. As &or the error correction ty!es, it 0ould be true to su""est that contrary to Lyster and +anta1s &indin"s %entioned earlier, recast 0as the least !re&erred ty!e used to correct both "ra%%ar and !ronunciation errors 0hile re!etition 0as the %ost co%%on &or both errors. +e!etition also see%s to lead to success&ul u!take 0ith t0o sel&' and t0o !eer'corrections. The teacher re!eated students1 utterances 0ithout chan"in" anythin" but by e%!hasizin" the error. By this 0ay, the teacher encoura"ed the learners to sel&'correct the erroneous utterance by re!eatin" the error in a risin" intonation as i& it 0as a ,uestion !osed to the student. Bot 234496 underlines the i%!ortance o& !ushin" learners to !roduce correct &or%s the%selves

a&ter so%e kind o& corrective clue so that they can %ake %eanin"&ul connections in their brains. By doin" so, re%e%berin" the sel&'corrected &or% 0ill be %uch easier. #ushin" learners in their out!ut instead o& directly correctin" the% is believed to be bene&icial &or learners1 interlan"ua"e develo!%ent 2Li"il and Jller, 34596 as learners1 !roduction !ro%otes the develo!%ent o& co"nitive connections. All0ri"ht and Bailey 234436 also reco%%ended that learners should be !rovided 0ith a%!le ti%e and o!!ortunities &or sel&'re!air. The teacher s!ent at least one %inute to "et the error sel&' or !eer'corrected be&ore e-!licitly correctin" the error. He tried di&&erent ty!es o& error correction to elicit correction &ro% the student and &inally corrected hi%sel& i& students &ail. /henever he used e-!licit correction, he "ot a student to re!eat the corrected utterance to %ake sure that the correct &or% 0as understood. /hile the teacher 0as !rovidin" %etalin"uistic clues, it 0as realized that code's0itchin" 2e.". 7A little !oziti& olacak. This sentence is ne"ative86 0as used to &acilitate understandin" o& the erroneous utterance by students. >0itchin" &ro% En"lish to the native lan"ua"e, Turkish see%s to be an e&&ective 0ay o& savin" ti%e both 0hile teachin" "ra%%ar and correctin" "ra%%ar errors. The teacher1s use o& body lan"ua"e is also note0orthy. For e-a%!le, to &acilitate sel&' and !eer'correction in res!onse to the &aulty sentence 7she has "ot a blue shoes8, the teacher chan"ed the %ood o& his &ace and !retended to be sur!rised by !ointin" out his shoes. Then, he asked 7a blue shoes or blue shoesB8 Conclusion To conclude, teachers o& En"lish should "et involved in classroo% research and take the role o& a !eda"o"ic e-!lorer in order to beco%e a0are o& their current !ractices in the classroo%. As Tedick and de Kortari 2344G6 su""est, teachers should take the teachin" conte-t into account and "et to kno0 0hat kind o& classroo% behaviors they dis!lay. They also !oint out that teachers should !ractice a variety o& &eedback techni,ues as di&&erent techni,ues %i"ht a!!eal to di&&erent students in ter%s o& their needs, !ro&iciency level, a"e and classroo% ob.ectives. Because these &actors have an in&luence on 0hether to correct, 0hich errors to correct and ho0 to correct, studies done in so%e other settin"s can yield di&&erent results and

thus there is a need &or &urther research conducted 0ith di&&erent classroo%s and learners. Classroo% research 0ill hel! teachers "ain the a0areness that each class is a s%all 0orld re,uirin" s!ecial attention 0ith its uni,ue dyna%ics. Re#erences All0ri"ht, $. = Bailey, M. 234436. *ocus on the language classroom. Ca%brid"e, UM( Ca%brid"e University #ress. All0ri"ht, $. and Bailey, M. 234496. *ocus on the +anguage ,lassroom: -n .ntroduction to ,lassroom /esearch for +anguage Teachers, Ca%brid"e( Ca%brid"e University #ress. Chaudron, C. 234556. A descri!tive %odel o& discourse in the corrective treat%ent o& learners? errors, +anguage +earning, ;5236, ;4'C9. $e Bot, M. 234496. The !sycholin"uistics o& the out!ut hy!othesis. +anguage +earning, 01, D;4' DDD. Ha0kes, L. 2;<<@6. /ecasts re(isited: The role of recasts in error detection and correction !y adult 2S+ students. #ublished A thesis. Lyster, +. = +anta, L. 234456. Corrective &eedback and learner u!take( Ne"otiation o& &or% in co%%unicative classroo%s. Studies in Second +anguage -c3uisition, 45, @5'99. Lyster, +. 2344G6. +ecasts, re!etition, and a%bi"uity in L; classroo% discourse, Studies in Second +anguage -c3uisition, ;<, D3'G3. osbah, K. A. 2;<<56. Treatment of ,lassroom 6ral 2rrors: a ,omparati(e Study 7etween 8ati(e and 8on-nati(e Speaking Teachers. #ublished $octoral $issertation. +ichards, Oack C. 2344<6. The teacher as sel&'observer. In Oack C. +ichards, The Lan"ua"e Teachin" atri-. Ne0 Pork(Ca%brid"e University #ress. Tedick, $. = de Kortari, B. 2344G6. +esearch on error correction and i%!lications &or classroo% teachin". The -,.2 8ewsletter 32@6. Li"il, N. A., = Jller, O. /. 234596. +ule &ossilization( A tentative %odel. +anguage +earning, ;9, ;G3';4D.

A$$endi( A Transcription ,on(entions

T( teacher >( the sa%e student $s( a di&&erent student >s( students Q( !ause RR SS( e-tra'lin"ual in&or%ation 2e.". lau"hin"6 T auditory cue Underlined student errors Italics( !eer correction Bold( teacher correction Bold'italics( sel& correction E( continuin" sentence Ada!ted &ro% Ha0kes2;<<@6

A$$endi( B Transcription for 2ach 2rror Error 3 >( she have T( Q she haveB >( she hasE Error ; >( she has "ot a &lo0er in her :vazou: T( Q :vazou:B >s( RR SS T( :vazou: Turkish, En"lishB >( QQQ T( )'a"*)

Error @ >( he like !o!'%usic. T( yes, he likes !o!'%usic Error C >( she is very beauti&ul 0o%an. T( she is very beauti&ul 0o%anB QQQ NoU >he is a very beauti&ul 0o%an. Error D >( there is a lot o& a!!les. T( there isB QQQ $s( there are. Error 9 >( she has "ot a blue shoes. T( 2callin" on another student6 +e!eatU $s( she has "ot a blue shoes T( 2!ointin" out his shoes6 a blue shoes or blue shoesB $s( !lue shoes Error 5 >( there is not a little chair in %y roo%. T( 20ritin" the sentence on the board6 A little !oziti& olacak. This is ne"ati&. /ho can %ake the sentence correctB $s( there is a little chair in %y roo% T( >till, there is a !roble%. )s: There are a lot of chairs in my room. Error G >( there are a &e0 books in %y :lVbrari: T( in %yB >( :lVbrari: T( :lVbrari:B

>( Q:lVbrari: T( NoU )laib+reri) Error 4 >( there are a littleE T( there are a littleB >s( RR SS >( there is. Error 3< >( there is a little %ilk in &rid"e. T( Q in the &rid"e Error 33 >( ho0 %any books are there in your /librari/B T( in yourEB >( :librari: T( :laib+reri) Error 3; >( ho0 %uch %oney do you have in your :!akVt:B T( :!akVt:B $s( :pokt: T( yes Error 3@ >( there isn1t any books. T( Q there isn1t "WrXnce uncountable, yani sayVla%ayan bir Yey kullan%a%Vz "erekiyor%uY. $s( there isn1t any money Error 3C >( ho0 %uch %oney is there !ocketB T( ho0 %uch %oney is thereEB >( how much money is there in you pocket?

Error 3D >( there aren1t %any :hotVls: in this to0n. T( a"ainB >( there aren1t %any :hotVls: in this to0n. T( :hotVl:B >( /heutel/ The ,ronunciation course can be 'ie&ed hereThe .umanising Testing course can be 'ie&ed here-