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tedkarma
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: The World is my Oyster
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 Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:25 am Post subject: |
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Be happy for those errors - that's EXACTLY why they need you!
No errors, no problems = no jobs for EFL teachers! |
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jwbhomer
Joined: 14 Dec 2003
Posts: 876
Location: CANADA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:15 am Post subject: |
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| What about the errors made by the EFL teachers? |
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tedkarma
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: The World is my Oyster
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| Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:54 am Post subject: |
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| jwbhomer wrote: |
| What about the errors made by the EFL teachers? |
If you have ever really studied language- particularly recorded language - you will know that native speakers make errors all the time - and they can be categorized into slips (you know the correct usage but didn't use it due to numerous reasons) and real errors where you didn't/don't know the correct usages. I studied this a LONG time ago - so may not have the correct terminology here.
No big deal - they happen. No one speaks (or writes) correctly 100% of the time.
My most recent job was as an editor of an English language newspaper and even there we checked and double checked. One editor would check another - and another would check that - and once a story was laid on the page, someone else would check that.
And, you know what? We STILL got errors on the pages of the newspaper!
This may also say something about what kind of errors and how much tolerance we should show for our students' errors - but that is a whole different line of thought and an in-depth topic for teacher training. |
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jwbhomer
Joined: 14 Dec 2003
Posts: 876
Location: CANADA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:02 am Post subject: |
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Tedkarma, good post. I earn my crust as a writer/editor now and know that it's futile to demand perfection, even of myself. However, I do think that those who hold themselves out as teachers of English should strive to get as close as possible to 100% correct.
Sadly, a lot of those teaching EFL come far short of that standard, to judge by their writing in these posts. We have so-called EFL teachers here who apparently don't know the difference between "your" and "you're", and "they're", "there" and "their". |
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tedkarma
Joined: 17 May 2004
Posts: 1598
Location: The World is my Oyster
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| Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2007 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| jwbhomer wrote: |
| I do think that those who hold themselves out as teachers of English should strive to get as close as possible to 100% correct. |
I agree to some extent - but there is a natural "tension" in TEFL between accuracy and fluency. When we make our students too uptight about correct usage - they don't want to talk. If we just let them babble nonsensically - well, that goes no where either. There has to be a balance.
Though I have taught since 1992 - I have never set myself us as the perfect model for my students.
I agree that much of what is written forums is of not such good quality - but then I am not so sure that I write so well when intending to communicate quickly with other native speakers.
I learned LONG ago to not correct others' errors on forums - as I know they won't have to look far for my errors! |
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fluffyhamster
Joined: 13 Mar 2005
Posts: 3292
Location: UK > China > Japan > UK again
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| Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 10:01 am Post subject: |
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| merlin wrote: |
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| A good response: 'Yes, but do you really ever try to?!'. |
 Is that punctuation MLA, APA or something British? |
Why, do you like it?  |
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merlin
Joined: 10 May 2004
Posts: 582
Location: Somewhere between Camelot and NeverNeverLand
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| Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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I was just wondering if double puncuataion ?! was acceptable useage outside of comics or if through your post you were cleverly implying that you had joined the ranks of those of us who
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| ALWAYS seem to be too tired/lazy/drunk/drugged/uneducated to type properly |
Your cologne also seems a bit irregular.
But then again, I'm one of the lost souls: I'm far too lazy to bother to taip correclty. |
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rusmeister
Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 867
Location: Russia
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| Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2007 4:30 am Post subject: |
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| merlin wrote: |
I was just wondering if double puncuataion ?! was acceptable useage outside of comics or if through your post you were cleverly implying that you had joined the ranks of those of us who
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| ALWAYS seem to be too tired/lazy/drunk/drugged/uneducated to type properly |
Your cologne also seems a bit irregular.
But then again, I'm one of the lost souls: I'm far too lazy to bother to taip correclty. |
Actually, in chess notation, double punctuation has a specific purpose -
?! expresses a basically poor move with some bright spots and
!? is a good move with weak points, etc... |
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