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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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 Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 1:19 pm Post subject: Correcting students' writing is pointless |
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| Ronald Gray wrote: |
Grammar Correction in ESL/EFL Writing Classes May Not Be Effective
Ronald Gray
[email protected]
Beijing Language and Culture University (Beijing, China)
Introduction
Second language writing textbooks for teachers are typically full of advice concerning techniques and activities to use in class, but they rarely tell teachers what things not to do. The purpose of this short paper is to argue that a widely used and very popular form of writing class correction feedback should be avoided.
Most ESL/EFL writing teachers would strongly agree with the statement that teacher correction feedback is a necessary part of any writing course. Most would also concur that grammar correction is essential. This belief seems to be intuitively obvious and just plain common sense, but solid research conducted in the last 20 years has revealed it to be wrong. This paper aims to explain why, and also attempts to offer some practical recommendations on the type of feedback writing should be giving their students in place of grammar feedback.
The case for grammar correction in writing classes is based on the idea that if a teacher points out to a student a grammatical error they have made, and provides, indirectly or directly, the correct form, the student will then understand the mistake they have made, learn from it, and their ability to write accurately will improve. It is also widely felt that if teachers do not correct their students' grammatical mistakes, 'fossilization' will occur, and it will become very difficult to later eliminate these errors. Studies have shown these arguments to be incorrect.
Grammar Correction in Second Language Writing Courses Does Not Work
The research that has been conducted on grammar correction in writing classes has largely consisted of comparative studies measuring the effectiveness of different types of feedback on students writing abilities. In a famous study by Robb, Ross, and Shortreed (1986), four kinds of grammar corrections used on the surface errors of Japanese students were compared to see if they had an influence on the students' writings over time. These types were: (a) explicit correction, where errors were pointed out and correct forms offered; (b) marking mistakes with a yellow pen, without explanation; (c) a tally was kept in the margin of the number of errors per lines, and students were told to examine the line and find and correct the mistakes; (d) the use of a correction code which showed both the location and kind of errors. In all these cases, the students were told to write their essays again, making the necessary corrections. Results showed that at the end of the course, no significant differences existed between all the groups in terms of accuracy. Consequently, the authors concluded that comprehensive treatment and overt corrections of surface errors are probably not worth the trouble for teachers to make.
Additional studies have shown that neither the use of direct or indirect techniques in correcting student errors has an influence on writing ability results. Moreover, making full (every error is corrected by the teacher) or selective (only one type of error is marked at a time) grammatical corrections is also not effective. There is no evidence of a delayed effect to grammatical corrections, that is to say, an effect which later shows up. The kind of instruction used by teachers in the study did not appear to have an impact on the results. Nor was the lack of benefits of grammatical correction dependent upon the students' gender, age, proficiency level, or educational background. (For additional information on these studies, see Truscott's seminal article (1996), Krashen (2004a) and Loewen (1998). Interestingly, many of these results are also true of corrections made in first language writing classes).
The results of these studies should not be too surprising, for as John Truscott has noted:
Veteran teachers know there is little connection between correction and learning: Often a student will repeat the same mistake over and over again, even after being corrected many times. When this occurs, it is tempting for the teacher to say the student is not attentive or lazy; however, the pervasiveness of the phenomenon, even with successful students, argues against any such explanation. Rather the teacher should conclude that correction simply is not effective. (Truscott 1996, p. 341).
Grammatical Correction in ESL/EFL Writing Classes Can Actually Be Harmful To Students' Performance and Development
Numerous studies have revealed that grammar correction to second language writing students is actually discouraging to many students, and even harmful to their writing ability (Semke 1984; Kepner 1991; Sheppard 1992; and Truscott 1996). Generally those who do not receive grammar corrections have a more positive feeling about writing than those who did, wrote more, and with more complexity, than those who did receive grammar corrections. Moreover, the time spent by students and teachers on correcting grammatical errors causes needed attention to be sidetracked from other important elements of writing, like organization and logical development of content.
Why Doesn't Grammar Correction Work?
The first reason why writing class grammar feedback doesn't work is that it treats only the surface appearance of grammar and not with the way language develops (see Truscott 1996 for details). Secondly, learning grammar in a second language is a complex and gradual process which occurs both developmentally and hierarchically (some items are acquired before others). Compounding this is the fact that the learning of linguistic items does not occur in a linear fashion, that the learning curve for an item is full of valleys and peaks, progress and regressions. Therefore, for grammatical correction to work, the correction must be precisely tied into the correct levels of this process. If a student is given a correction for a stage he has not yet reached, it would not be effective. In order to offer useful corrections, a teacher would need to precisely know where the student is developmentally and hierarchically in terms of their grammar level. Yet because of the complexity involved in learning grammar, this would be a virtual impossibility.
The third reason for the ineffectiveness of grammar correction involves the practicalities associated with teachers comments and students understanding of these comments. Research has shown that corrections made by second language writing teachers are frequently arbitrary, not consistent, and greatly dependent upon the age and amount of time the teacher has with L2 students. According to Zamel (1995), teachers also commonly misread student texts and evoke abstract rules and principles in their comments. Moreover, students often find teachers remarks vague, confusing, and contradictory, and feel that teachers do not provide sufficient grammatical explanations about their writing mistakes (Cohen 1987). Finally, students generally only make a mental note of the corrections they have understood, and if they have to rewrite their papers, regularly do not incorporate these corrections into their work (Cohen 1987).
Practical Implications For ESL/EFL Teachers
So what should a L2 writing teacher do? The quickest and most effective solution would be for writing instructors to simply stop making grammar corrections. This would of course be difficult for teachers to do because it has been shown most students strongly expect teachers to notice their writing errors and comment on them, and they become quite resentful if this does not occur. Adding to this pressure to give grammar feedback is the fact that established curriculum of many language school and university writing programs (especially overseas) is based on the value of grammar correction and if a teacher did not employ it, they would have a good chance of being considered unprofessional.
One possible solution to this problem which I have found to be useful is to give periodic short grammatical lessons at the beginning of class (the week after a big homework assignment), and I discuss one or two widespread grammatical problem (e.g. articles, prepositions) that I encountered in the students' homework. This usually has gone over
well and generally satisfied the students need for grammatical correction feedback. Krashen (2004b) recommends teachers simply inform their students of the limitations of grammar correction but I have doubts whether students would be satisfied with such an explanation.
But just because grammar feedback is problematic does not mean all feedback is ineffective. The general problem with is with the focus of S2 teacher's feedback. Studies indicate that writing teachers spend most of their busy time offering grammatical or surface level corrections in their comments. In other words, they commonly view their students' work as language instead of writing teachers, concentrating primarily on form over content. As a consequence, they address only one part of the writing process. What writing teachers need to do is give priority to MEANING and MEANING RELATED problems, to make remarks about students' texts instead of just form. Semke (1984) has demonstrated that students who received comments from teachers only on content did much better and spent more time working on their essays than those who received criticism only on grammar.
Specifically, this means that teachers should devote their time to areas like:
Organization
Logical development of ideas and arguments
Effectiveness of introduction and conclusion
Content
Use of description
Thesis statement
Focus
Use of facts and experience
Cogency and consistency of how and why explanations
In short, teachers need to train themselves to set aside their red pens and examine ideas and see what students are trying to say instead of simply looking for grammatical errors.
If ESL/EFL writing teachers are really concerned with improving their student's grammatical competency, they should, in lieu of offering grammar correction feedback, constantly stress in their classes the importance of outside reading. Studies have shown that voluntary, 'light,' authentic reading (graphic novels, comics, the easy section of newspapers, popular literature) in the target language greatly helps the overall writing and grammatical skills of second language students (Krashen 2004a).
Teaching writing can be a very taxing and time-consuming process. Minimizing grammatical error feedback has the advantage of greatly simplifying teachers jobs, giving them needed time to spend on concentrating on other important elements of the writing process, while also removing a significant impediment to their students learning how to effectively write.
References
Cohen, A.D. (1987). Student processing of feedback on their compositions. In A. Wenden & J. Rubin (Eds.), Learner strategies in language learning (pp. 55-69). New York: Prentice Hall.
Kepner, C. G. (1991). An experiment in the relationship of types of written feedback to the development of second language writing skills. Modern Language Journal, 75, 305-313.
Krashen, Stephen. (2004a). Applying the Comprehension Hypothesis: Some Suggestions. Retrieved August 5, 2004 from Stephen D. Krashen website: http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/eta_paper/index.html
Krashen, Stephen. (2004b). Why support a delayed gratification approach to language education? The Language Teacher, 28:7, 3-7.
Loewen, S. (1998). Grammar correction in ESL student writing: How effective is it? Retrieved August 3, 2004 from Temple University, Schuylkill website: http://www.temple.edu/gradmag/fall98/loewen
Robb, T., Ross, S. & Shortreed, I. (1986). Salience of feedback on error and its effect on EFL writing quality. TESOL Quarterly, 20, 83-95.
Semke, H.D. (1984). Effects of the red pen. Foreign Language Annuals, 17, 195-202.
Sheppard, K. (1992). Two feedback types: Do they make a difference? RELC Journal, 23, 103-110.
Truscott, John. (1996). The case against grammar correction in L2 writing classes. Language Learning, 46:2, 327-369.
Zamel, V. (1985). Responding to student writing. TESOL Quarterly, 19, 79-101.
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The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. X, No. 11, November 2004
http://iteslj.org/
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http://iteslj.org/Technique/Gray-WritingCorrection.html |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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| So, the way to correct grammar is to teach grammar? |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
So, the way to correct grammar is to teach grammar?
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Who'd have thunk it?
Justin |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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Hmm, that is a problem, but doesn't it depend on how bad the student's writing is? In other words, if it is almost not intelligible as English, it might be difficult to not correct some of the grammar and/or stuctural problems or at least give some guideance as to how to do it.
One of the other teachers at one of the places I work at does that, generally focusing on the organization and use of description rather than on correcting student's other errors.
I find it difficult to do that if a lot of the student's message is being lost, and also most of my students are pretty poor at peer editing or self editing. partly their level, and partly the way they think about the writing process  . |
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isanity
Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 179
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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| If the piece is incomprehensible, then the task set was probably too difficult. Correcting particular grammar points then is just rearranging deckchairs as the boat sinks. |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| If the piece is incomprehensible, then the task set was probably too difficult. |
There are two other possibilities:
1. The student is trying to write with his dictionary and/or translation software instead of what he has learned (or thought he learned).
2. He is a poor student who has been pushed through the silly Japanese school system. You DO know about quotas with grades in JHS/SHS, and the adjusting of grades? I'm sure Japan is not unique on that. |
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isanity
Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 179
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Glenski wrote: |
| Quote: |
| If the piece is incomprehensible, then the task set was probably too difficult. |
There are two other possibilities:
1. The student is trying to write with his dictionary and/or translation software instead of what he has learned (or thought he learned).
2. He is a poor student who has been pushed through the silly Japanese school system. You DO know about quotas with grades in JHS/SHS, and the adjusting of grades? I'm sure Japan is not unique on that. |
In both cases, the task is too difficult for that student. If you're setting tasks which students fail completely, you're not coping well with the range of abilities in your class. (And whether the root cause of the problem is poor writing skills or a poor educational system, setting the tasks achieves nothing for that student, and correcting isolated grammar points in a failed task achieves nothing with a cherry on top). |
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tedkarma
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: The World is my Oyster
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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I enjoy teaching writing - but in my experience, most courses and course-books start FAR ahead of the students and then move ahead too quickly.
I usually go right back to basic sentence writing - and YES - teaching writing IS all about teaching grammar. Only once the basics are mastered do we move on to paragraph writing. Students often don't appreciate this method as they have come believe that they are skilled writers - and most are not.
I've never quite understood why teachers allow students to write PAGES of gobbledygook and then attempt to correct it. It is a self-defeating task and disheartening for the students as well.
Back to basics - and small step-by-step successes . . . |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:32 pm Post subject: |
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You hit the nail on the head, Ted.
First, that most abused structure ever, the sentence. with a special emphasis on knowing when to stop.
After mastering the sentence, we DO NOT merely put several together, and pretend that it is a paragraph. You have to look at what makes a paragraph a paragraph- why we separate into paragraphs when we do, and how the elements in a paragraph fit together.
Only when sentence and paragraph level errors are minimized do we look at longer writing. Again, with an emphasis on structure. How do paragraphs fit together? How do you structure an argument, or a narrative, a report, or whatever?
If you start writing 2 page reports with students who haven't got the hang of the sentence, no wonder you wind up with so many errors that there is no chance that you can correct them in a meaningful way. You CAN correct somethinng you've already taught, especially if you've taught it recently. But many teachers just get their students started writing, and try to correct the whole essay- when did they ever teach the whole essay?
Best,
Justin |
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isanity
Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 179
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Amen to that. When the students produce sentences, correct at the sentence level. When they produce essays, correct at the essay level. |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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I agree that students need to master the sentence before they can move on to paragraphs, etc.
One of the things I did during the month I was teaching in Indonesia was to correct the grammar of the students' report cards. The report cards were entirely in English - not only the list of the items being graded but the teacher's narrative comments as well. There were times when I had to ask a particular teacher what it was she was trying to say and, once we got that cleared up, I was able to render it correctly in English. |
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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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| Posted: Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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I used to teach this Korean girl. Every day after class she would have me correct her diary. She'd write pages and pages of mainly drivel and I'd duly correct and explain every error. I could never work out why she kept on making the same mistakes until I read that paper. Now I realise I should have worked on simple sentence structure--  |
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lf_aristotle69
Joined: 06 May 2006
Posts: 546
Location: HangZhou, China
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| Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:21 am Post subject: |
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| TheLongWayHome wrote: |
| I used to teach this Korean girl. Every day after class she would have me correct her diary. She'd write pages and pages of mainly drivel and I'd duly correct and explain every error. I could never work out why she kept on making the same mistakes until I read that paper. Now I realise I should have worked on simple sentence structure-- |
Certainly it is important all students in writing classes are given the necessary building blocks. Such as: skills to write individual sentences correctly, basic grammatical forms etc.
Nevertheless, as schools often expect students to do longer pieces of writing almost from the beginning the teachers must often set such work and correct it.
As the article suggests the mere corrections given by a teacher may be little help in improving most students' writing skills. However, the article neglects to advise that greater benefits can result when students are subsequently required to rewrite their pieces of writing using the teacher's painstaking corrections to make changes to their original written work. In that way the teacher's advice is not wasted and becomes relevant for the students.
More productive for everyone.
LFA
EDIT: Ummmm, this morning I didn't have time to do more than skim read the article before posting my comments (See above). Although I did try to quickly find the evidence, I must have missed it!
The article does, in fact, say that the students, in at least some of the studies cited, had to rewrite their work based on various error identification methods.
I ask the students in my classes to do some of the re-writing in class time (I have that luxury), sometimes as individual work and sometimes as a group editing activity. During those sessions I give class feedback on common errors and individual feedback as well. I find that there is some additional benefit that I have not seen when students are simply left to rewrite the essay as homework.
Last edited by lf_aristotle69 on Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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isanity
Joined: 05 Nov 2004
Posts: 179
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| Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:14 am Post subject: |
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| lf_aristotle69 wrote: |
As the article suggests the mere corrections given by a teacher may be little help in improving most students' writing skills. However, the article neglects to advise that greater benefits can result when students are subsequently required to rewrite their pieces of writing using the teacher's painstaking corrections to make changes to their original written work. In that way the teacher's advice is not wasted and becomes relevant for the students.
More productive for everyone.
LFA |
Er- did you read the article?
| Quote: |
| In all these cases, the students were told to write their essays again, making the necessary corrections. Results showed that at the end of the course, no significant differences existed between all the groups in terms of accuracy. |
| Quote: |
| Finally, students generally only make a mental note of the corrections they have understood, and if they have to rewrite their papers, regularly do not incorporate these corrections into their work (Cohen 1987). |
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Glenski
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN
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| Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 12:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
Glenski wrote:
Quote:
If the piece is incomprehensible, then the task set was probably too difficult.
There are two other possibilities:
1. The student is trying to write with his dictionary and/or translation software instead of what he has learned (or thought he learned).
2. He is a poor student who has been pushed through the silly Japanese school system. You DO know about quotas with grades in JHS/SHS, and the adjusting of grades? I'm sure Japan is not unique on that.
isanity replied:
In both cases, the task is too difficult for that student. If you're setting tasks which students fail completely, you're not coping well with the range of abilities in your class. |
Well, that's true, however (and this is a big however), if only a handful of students in the class of 45 (my typical high school class size) do that badly, it is not fair to say the teacher is not "coping well". Gimme a break. You have to teach to the majority (whether it's a reading, writing, speaking or listening class), and do your darnedest to help the highs and lows. THAT is coping. But when the first draft comes back totally incomprehensible, you are only starting. Don't blame the poor teacher for "not coping" at that early juncture. |
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