Changing Perspectives on the Utility of Error Correction in Second Language Acquisition英文书.pdf

Changing Perspectives on the Utility of Error Correctionin Second Language Acquisition Robert C. Mings Arizona State Univevsity AaSTRACT Viewsamong foreignlanguage educators regarding the value o ferror correction have changed considerablyin recent decades. Thispaper examinescontemporarytrendsin the errorcorrection literature.Emphasesareon the: I) ppes o fErrors and 2)Methods o fCorrectionswhich affectsecond language acquisition. Introduction To most observers,correctionof errors probably seems like a completely natural part of the learning process.Language teacherscorrectthe errorsof their studentsso that they can learn proper pronunciation, grammar, etc. However, examination of second languageacquisitionliteratureover the past several decadesrevealsa rather different reality. Attitudes regardingtypes of errorsthat should be corrected (oreven whether any correctionshould occur)and how to implementthese correctionshave changed frequentlyand markedly sincethe 1960s when the audiolingual method of instruction prevailed in North American schools. The general focus of this paper is on published research dealing with the evolution of attitudes among educators regarding the utility of error correction. Emphasis is given to questions surrounding how correction of errors affects second languageacquisition,particularlyspeech. Specific research questions are: What types of errors, when corrected, are most beneficial to second languageacquisition?And what methods of correctionaremost beneficial to second language acquisition? The paper is organized into two basicparts:after a brief discussionof terms, 1)an historical overview of changing viewpoints will be followed by 2) a shortdiscussionof contemporaryresearch pertaining specifically to the two research questions on types of errors and methods of Correction. Robert C. Mings (Ph.D., Ohio State University) is Associate Professor of Geography at Arizona State University, Tempe. Definitions The term “errorcorrection”has historica