Correctional Facility
Steve at TheLinguist took a look at the frustration of being corrected when speaking the other day. Based on the comments, some people like being corrected, others are convinced of the value their corrections offer and still others, including me, are a bit wary about them.
I think that too much language correction has two big problems: 1) It puts the focus on what the learner is getting wrong. 2) It makes the learner focus on language instead of communication.
A post or two back, I noted that I was now reading two books in Spanish - Borges meticulously and new-age guru Tolle rather carelessly. What I've found is that I need to have places to go where Spanish is something I just use. In my conversations at work, likewise, by picking up on the way teachers say things, I'm gradually improving. But we'd never get anywhere if they corrected too many of my errors, because I'd never speak to them in Spanish again.
When I read Borges, I drift back to my grad school days doing close readings, where the reason you're verifying the meanings of words and sentences precisely is to look for something hidden, something new or something revealing - about the language or the author. It's not the kind of exercise that makes you feel stupid about your language. I think likewise that, properly approached, careful consideration of language in a classroom setting can be beneficial. It gives the illusion of progress if you get a grammar point or some such thing right when the teacher calls on you. But language is ultimately about communication. If the communication is there, it's irritating to have it interrupted by someone who thinks usage is more important than message, in the same way that it's irritating to look up a word you're 99% sure of in case you get called on in class, when you would otherwise keep reading. In this vein, dissecting Borges helps me understand something a little more removed from everyday life (unless you spend your time with troglodytes who eat snakes and don't talk), while not dissecting Tolle helps me get something out of Spanish without making myself tired of it.
Because some people feel good about error correction, or productive for getting it, I'm not prepared to pass judgment on the whole thing. Some of my favorite stories from my learning of French relate to big errors that were thankfully corrected. I think, in a nutshell, that when the correction of errors speeds up your communication and consultation of a dictionary makes your reading easier, go for it. But don't fetishize perfection of speech or comprehension. If error corrections either make you (or your interlocutor) nervous about communication or radically slow a conversation that could otherwise go forward, drop it. And if doublechecking words you could guess keeps you from enjoying a text so that you're ready to give up on it altogether, drop it. This, at least, is my advice. And to update an old expression, that and $1.89 will get you a cup of coffee. Happy reading and talking.
I think that too much language correction has two big problems: 1) It puts the focus on what the learner is getting wrong. 2) It makes the learner focus on language instead of communication.
A post or two back, I noted that I was now reading two books in Spanish - Borges meticulously and new-age guru Tolle rather carelessly. What I've found is that I need to have places to go where Spanish is something I just use. In my conversations at work, likewise, by picking up on the way teachers say things, I'm gradually improving. But we'd never get anywhere if they corrected too many of my errors, because I'd never speak to them in Spanish again.
When I read Borges, I drift back to my grad school days doing close readings, where the reason you're verifying the meanings of words and sentences precisely is to look for something hidden, something new or something revealing - about the language or the author. It's not the kind of exercise that makes you feel stupid about your language. I think likewise that, properly approached, careful consideration of language in a classroom setting can be beneficial. It gives the illusion of progress if you get a grammar point or some such thing right when the teacher calls on you. But language is ultimately about communication. If the communication is there, it's irritating to have it interrupted by someone who thinks usage is more important than message, in the same way that it's irritating to look up a word you're 99% sure of in case you get called on in class, when you would otherwise keep reading. In this vein, dissecting Borges helps me understand something a little more removed from everyday life (unless you spend your time with troglodytes who eat snakes and don't talk), while not dissecting Tolle helps me get something out of Spanish without making myself tired of it.
Because some people feel good about error correction, or productive for getting it, I'm not prepared to pass judgment on the whole thing. Some of my favorite stories from my learning of French relate to big errors that were thankfully corrected. I think, in a nutshell, that when the correction of errors speeds up your communication and consultation of a dictionary makes your reading easier, go for it. But don't fetishize perfection of speech or comprehension. If error corrections either make you (or your interlocutor) nervous about communication or radically slow a conversation that could otherwise go forward, drop it. And if doublechecking words you could guess keeps you from enjoying a text so that you're ready to give up on it altogether, drop it. This, at least, is my advice. And to update an old expression, that and $1.89 will get you a cup of coffee. Happy reading and talking.
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