A Study On Error-correction For Oral English In Junior Middle School

Errors are common in the process of language learning.Since 1990 s,there is growing consensus concerning the effectiveness of error-correction in improving the learner's target language.Researchers have done lots of empirical studies which suggest that error-correction has a very positive effect on foreign language learning.Many of these studies are related to methods of strategies for error-correction,and most of them take college students and senior middle school students as subjects.And few studies related to oral English error-correction in junior middle school have been conducted.Therefore,the study investigates the actual situation of junior middle school English teachers' error-correction,compares the similarities and differences between teachers and students in English error-correction,and analyzes the reasons.The subjects of this research are 100 students and 30 teachers from Yantai NO.10 Middle School and Yantai Foreign Experimental School.In light of the current situation of error-related research,the author comes up with three research questions as follows: 1)What kinds of errors related to spoken English do the junior middle school students make frequently in English class? 2)What are the teachers' and students' attitudes toward whether errors should be corrected? 3)What kinds of error-correction strategies do the junior middle school teachers usually use?In order to find the answers to these three questions,the author conducts the study with three instruments,including classroom observation,questionnaires and interviews for both students and teachers.Through the data analysis of this research,the author comes up with some major findings as follows:1)There are mainly four kinds of errors in the junior middle school oral English class,including phonological errors,lexical errors,grammatical errors and expression errors.2)As for error-correction on oral English for junior middle school students,the majority of teachers and students agree the necessity and urgency of oral English error-correction,only few people are negative to error-correction.3)Four kinds of error-correction strategies are frequently used in junior middle school English class.They are explicit,recasts,metalinguistic clues,elicitation.In order to promote the effectiveness of oral English error-correction in junior middle English class,the author puts forward three recommendations for teaching according to the research: 1)To stimulate student's interest of language learning and to improve the effectiveness of error-correction;2)To strengthen exchange and cooperation between teachers and students;3)To enrich the theoretical knowledge of error-correction and to combine it with classroom teaching practice.The aim of above three recommendations lie in providing scientific and reliable reference for junior middle school teachers,so as to improve the teaching efficiency in the practical teaching of junior middle school English class.