A Study On The Correction Of Speech Errors In Non-English Majors' Speaking Class

This study is aimed at investigating the attitudes and views of college English teachers and non-English major college students towards error correction in oral English class and offering constructive pedagogical proposals on error correction in oral English class for non-English majors. The subjects of the study are four teachers and 112 non-English major students from a provincial normal university. The research methods are classroom observation, questionnaires and interviews. The five research questions offered and meant to be answered by the study is as the following:(1) What are the teachers'views on speech error correction?(2) What are the teachers'preferences for speech error correction?(3) What are the learners'views on speech error correction?(4) What are the learners'preferences for speech error correction?(5) What kinds of speech error treatment are more effective in non-English majors'speaking class?The major findings of the study are listed below: First, teachers hold quite differed conceptions on error correction in oral English class. Teachers have different views on whether errors should be corrected, how errors should be corrected and if error correction is of any use improving students'oral English performance.Second, the teachers do have something in common in their preferences for error correction. That is, they prefer to correct errors selectively; they prefer not to interrupt the students to correct errors; they prefer to use more recast in real teaching while regarding elicitation as the most ideal method.Third, the learners are generally more positive towards error correction. The majority of them regarded as necessary and helpful for improving oral English. Fourth, there are remarkable discrepancies on preferences among the learners themselves,although there are still agreements on the preferences on error correction between a major part of students and the teachers, which are: error correction, if needed, should be conducted selectively instead of every and each one of them picked up and corrected; error correction should not interrupt students'conversation; elicitation, recast and repetition are the methods favored by both the teachers and learners. However, there is always certain number of students, either small or large, whose preferences are different. Therefore, the preferences of the minor part of the students should not be ignored. Their preferences need to be analyzed and taken into consideration by the teachers to facilitate the learning progress. Fifth, according to the teachers and learners, the more effective correction methods in this study turn out to be elicitation, recast and repetition.The pedagogical proposals of the study are as the following: 1) Encouraging cooperation among teachers; 2) Addressing individual differences ; 3) Emphasizing self-correction; 4) Encouraging trying out new language inside and outside classroom.