A Study On English Classroom Error Correction From A Student-centered Perspective

Errors are inevitable in foreign language learning and error correction is a necessary practice in classroom teaching.As error correction draws more and more attention of language researchers and teachers,abundant empirical studies have been carried out in this respect.However,most of the studies focus on the teachers' correction behavior, while the students' views are overlooked.Holding that the students' attitudes towards error correction will greatly affect their learning effect,the author makes a tentative study on error correction in Chinese college English classroom by a student-centered approach.The present study aims at finding out whether the error correction is student-centered by investigating the students' expectation on error correction and examining whether the teachers come up with their expectation.100 non-English major freshmen in Central China Normal University are surveyed by questionnaires for their expectation on error correction,specifically on when to correct,what to correct,who to correct and how to correct.16 periods of their English classes are observed to record the teachers' actual practice of error treatment.Then the two sets of data are compared to examine whether the students' expectations are fulfilled.By comparison,a large discrepancy between the students' expectation and the teachers' practice on error correction is revealed,which suggests that the error correction in the English classes being observed is not student-centered.The finding is representative among Chinese colleges to a certain extent.Based on the findings revealed in the study,it is suggested that error correction must always focus on the students.When correcting errors,it is important for the teachers to know the students' needs and pay special attention to the students' affective factors such as motivation,anxiety and self-esteem.The teachers are advised to reflect on their correction practice and examine the effectiveness of their corrective feedbacks,thereby improving the teaching practice.