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Eliciting Corrections from Speakers | ||
Tags: Corrections | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5163 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes  Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 1 of 6 08 December 2010 at 9:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
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On this forum, we talk a lot about the methods we use to acquire new language information, but we rarely talk about how to ensure that we use it correctly.
I'm particularly interested in how people elicit corrections from native speakers. I sometimes get native speakers to correct explicitly what I write or say, but I find it much more effective to try to get implicit corrections from them, the kind they don’t even realize they are giving. Whenever I have a doubt about a grammatical structure or the pronunciation of a word I am about to use, I am forced to make a decision based on the best information I have, and I build my sentence accordingly. When the native speaker replies, it's very likely that he'll use similar words -- or more appropriate ones -- and if I can just listen to where the conversation is going, I'll get my answers. Was I right? Was I wrong? Since I just made an assumption about which was right, I will either be relieved that I was right, or I'll be surprised to find the correct answer. In either case, I'm very likely to feel a strong emotional impact from the answer. This helps me retain information better. When possible, I use the corrected version in my reply, and this usually seals the deal: it's hard to forget information obtained in this kind of context. What about other forum members? Where and how do you get your corrections from? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5431 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 2 of 6 08 December 2010 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Short answer: Lang 8 and e-mail corrections. For speaking, well, only the only East Asians in my college are Chinese (that I've met,) so I haven't spoken to any Korean or Japanese person.
Long answer: As I do most of my output by chatting online on MSN Messenger or sites like Shared Talk, if I don't know something, I'll remember the problem for later and just write what I think is the closest to being right. If I'm just writing a journal entry on Lang 8 or in an email, I consult a grammar source. Other corrections come from more input and more practice. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| kyssäkaali Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5335 days ago 203 posts - 376 votes Speaks: English*, Finnish | Message 3 of 6 08 December 2010 at 11:43pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Most people aren't going to stop you mid-sentence and correct every last one of your errors because it quite frankly comes off as rude, and it also interrupts the flow of the conversation and can lead to a pretty awkward silence. If there was ever something I was unsure about and that I absolutely wanted to be corrected, all I had to do was, rather than pronounce the questionable sentence with normal intonation, use this format (with an example sentence, assuming I don't remember how to use the English comparative form).
"That cat is ... biggest than the other cat?" Basically pause, scrunch my face up and turn the statement into a question. Almost always 99% of the time elicits a correction from the native speaker without having to stop the conversation and ask "how do you say...?", at least in my experience. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| vickyyuchi Newbie Taiwan Joined 4900 days ago 14 posts - 17 votes Speaks: English | Message 4 of 6 09 December 2010 at 1:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
Agree. When in class or in a language course, to ask directly about the correct expression may be fine. However, it may be awkward if there so many pauses or stops in daily concersation with native speakers, or even some of them may feel annoyed. I think to raise the tone a liitle bit or show the hesitation when encountering something not sure of would be a great choice. It could lead the conversation go on and without possible awkward stops. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5163 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 5 of 6 09 December 2010 at 1:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
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It seems my OP was confusing: I didn't say that you should ask for corrections, on the contrary, I suggested
you make a sentence anyway and pick up on the reply to get your information about what's right or wrong. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| unzum Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom soyouwanttolearnalan Joined 6696 days ago 371 posts - 478 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 6 09 December 2010 at 1:57pm | IP Logged | |||||
I do something similar when I'm correcting someone else, but I say the correct form, with a question tone 'The cat is bigger than the other cat?'. Usually the person I'm speaking to will understand quite quickly, repeat what I said and then carry on with what they were saying. I don't do this too often though, as it can derail a conversation. As for me being corrected, normally at some point I talk with my friends and we both agree to correct each other's mistakes now and then. So sometimes when I'm talking I'll be interrupted and given a quick explanation of my mistake. Sometimes it can be a bit annoying if I'm full-throttle telling an exciting story ;) but I'll pause, listen and repeat and make a mental note not to make the same mistake again. Also, maybe this is off-topic but a friend of mine keeps a notebook with all these questions she has about English: what's the difference between 'to see' and 'to watch', what does this sentence mean that someone typed on MSN, etc. And then we'll meet up, I'll try and give an explanation and she'll write it down in the notebook. She keeps it with her most of the time, so whenever she has a niggling question she can write it down before she forgets. I thought it was a good idea, especially if you don't have a teacher to ask about this stuff. Edited by unzum on 09 December 2010 at 1:59pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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