Troubleshooting is a common form of problem solving. Technicians (e.g., automotive mechanics, electricians) and professionals (physician, therapists, ombudspersons) diagnose faulty systems and take direct, corrective action to eliminate any faults in order to return the systems to their normal states. Traditional approaches to troubleshooting…

This paper reports on a study of bilingual elementary students' oral reading miscue patterns focused on self-correction strategies. Specifically, two kinds of self-monitoring during reading were compared: self-correction for which previous context to the miscue provided no prompt to self-correct, and self-correction for which the miscue itself…

This article reports on a study which investigated the effects of correction of learners' grammatical errors on acquisition. Specifically, it compared the effects of timing of correction (immediate versus delayed correction) and manner of correction (explicit versus implicit correction). It also investigated the relative effects of correction of…

Sentence-level writing errors seem immune to many of the feedback forms devised over the years, apart from the slow accumulation of examples from the environment itself, which second language (L2) learners gradually notice and use to varying degrees. A computer corpus and concordance could provide these examples in less time and more noticeable…

In this exploratory study, we examine the role of literacy in the acquisition of second-language (L2) oral skills through a partial replication of Jenefer Philp's (2003) study of recasts in native speaker (NS)-non-native speaker (NNS) interaction. The principal research question was the following: Is the ability to recall a recast related to the…

Effective supervision of student teachers has become a growing concern for teacher educators due to the increased emphasis placed on field experience in teacher preparation programs. Lacking an effective means of providing intervention, feedback, and reinforcement during the process, supervisors, both cooperating teachers and university based…

This study investigated the attitudes of American students learning Irish as a second language about error correction. Subjects were 45 former students in summer programs in an Irish university, who were asked how they preferred to have their papers corrected by Irish language teachers. Most (64 percent) preferred full editing on essays, finding…

The process of learning a language is a long and arduous one. The spoken word is only a part of communication, and socio-pragmatics is increasingly recognized as a key element in language learning. More and more Americans are becoming aware of the gap between grammatical proficiency and cultural fluency as they strive to do business in our global…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a text revision strategy in improving the writing skills of college students (St. Lawrence Campus of Champlain College in Quebec) of French as a second language. Subjects were two groups of students in one course. One group (n=24) was taught a revision technique using self-questioning to detect and correct…

The effects of review options (the opportunity for examinees to review and change answers) on the magnitude, reliability, efficiency, and concurrent validity of scores obtained from three types of computerized vocabulary tests (fixed item, adaptive, and self-adapted) were studied. Subjects were 97 college students at a large midwestern university…

Most research in feedback has not found significant differences in error correcting approaches for L2 writing. This paper reviews research on error correction approaches used by second language instructors and reports on a survey of 50 French and American instructors of English as a Second Language (ESL). Although research over the last 35 years…

This study examines the pedagogical and pragmatic motives behind error correction both in classroom contexts and in everyday conversation among native Spanish-speaking English teachers in Costa Rica. Survey and interview data are analyzed and discussed in terms of participants' attitudes toward correction of errors in L1 and L2 in various…

Techniques for helping college-level non-native English speaking students understand the process of editing include individual and small-group conferencing, peer editing, and follow-up on errors. Teachers should give students the pencil, have them read the draft aloud, look for patterns of both good and erroneous usage, and focus on the positive.…

Offers suggestions for the college teacher with limited opportunity for individual writing conferences with non-native English-speaking students: tolerating some more complex errors; focusing on content; soliciting student ideas for correction; addressing only one or two error types; providing vocabulary choices; and highlighting correct usage.…

A study used structured interviews to explore the nature of written language difficulties of 31 university students with learning disabilities. Discussion of results addressed perceived demands for written expression; specific areas of difficulty (proofreading/detecting errors, spelling, grammar, writing speed, legibility); strategies used to…