Although most writing centres maintain policies against providing grammar correction during writing tutorials, it is undeniable that students expect some level of grammar intervention there. Just how much students expect and receive is a matter of speculation. This article examines the grammar-correction issue by reporting on a survey of L1, L2,…

Research has found that, during speaking activities, instances of students' collaborative repair are most often lexicon-focused. Collaborative writing tasks have been credited with the potential to force students to confront broad issues, such as content and register, along with more narrow lexical and morphological choices. The present study…

This study used quantitative analyses complemented by the retrospective data obtained through a stimulated recall procedure to address three interrelated issues: (a) whether second language learners use online planning opportunities to carefully plan their speech to enhance the quality of the language they produce, (b) what kinds of self-repair…

This laboratory-based study of second- and third-year American university students learning French examines the effectiveness of implicit and explicit corrective feedback on noun-adjective agreement errors. The treatment consisted of one hour of interactive tasks. Implicit feedback was operationalized as a single recast with interrogative…

Although second language (L2) teachers spend a significant amount of time marking students' writing, many of them feel that their efforts do not pay off. While students want teachers to give them feedback on their writing and value teacher feedback, they might experience feelings of frustration and confusion once they receive it. What is amiss in…

Argues that oral grammar correction in second-language classrooms produces overwhelming problems both in making corrections and dealing with their harmful side effects, and that the practice should be discontinued. Research evidence suggests that oral correction does not improve learners' ability to speak grammatically, and no good reasons have…

A discussion of the need to teach revision as part of the writing process begins with an analysis of the revision process and presents results of experiments in teaching revision. Some specific classroom techniques for teaching error detection and revision are then outlined. (20 references) (Author/MSE)

Response to criticism of oral grammar correction in second-language (L2) instruction which argues that while there are challenges and complexities in providing effective feedback, error correction should not be abandoned. Continued systematic, rigorous research to investigate whether different types of feedback are more effective, and to what…

Terrell's Natural Approach to second-language learning is examined in terms of the degree of acceptance or rejection of his pedagogic views since they were first presented in 1977. Among the issues discussed are his attitudes toward grammar, error correction, and the evolution of educational materials and classroom practices. (205 references)…

Descriptive studies in four elementary school French immersion classrooms investigated the negotiation of form in classroom discourse. Four interactional moves that encourage peer- and self-repair and draw attention to non-target output were examined. Found that recasts, the most common form of corrective feedback, can not lead to peer- or…

Teachers are encouraged to learn to codify student errors of selection and usage and to promote use of dictionaries and other lexical tools so students can achieve proper pronunciation and identify colloquialisms, misuse of idioms, and lack of grammatical logic in complex constructions. (MSE)

The applied linguist, who most commonly uses interlanguage analysis for nonstandard language forms, and the language teacher, who relies heavily on error analysis, each need to learn the usefulness and viability of the other method in his own professional context. Examples focus on the written preterit form in Spanish. (44 references) (Author/MSE)

Three essays on second-language instruction are presented. One describes a letter exchange between teachers as a means of exploring and understanding classroom and instructional issues; another (in French) describes a teacher's reflective examination of the immersion teaching experience; and a third reports on a classroom study of the…

Focuses on research addressing how to integrate content and language teaching, with specific reference to studies conducted in French immersion classrooms. Findings indicate that teachers should structure activities to incorporate a focus on form into content teaching through teacher-led instruction and collaborative tasks with peers. (21…

Examines the problems associated with interlanguage in French immersion and how teachers can use the writing process to help students develop the target language. It is suggested that language can be mediated through conferencing sessions, and in so doing, propel students into their zone of proximal development. (15 references) (Author/CK)