16 Вопрос
Self-correction
Always give the students the chance to correct themselves. If they are going to become more accurate they must learn to monitor themselves. They may have just made a slip and will welcome the opportunity to put it right. Sometimes they need some assistance from you in knowing where the mistake is and what kind of mistake it is, before they can self-correct. (See above.)
Student-student correction
If the student still can't get it right, it's probably because she doesn't know how to, So with a gesture, hold her attention and get another student to help out. This has the advantage of:
• involving all the students in the correction process;
• making the learning more co-operative generally;
• reducing student dependence on the teacher;
• increasing the amount the students listen to each other;
• giving the better students something to do.
Student-student correction must be done carefully. Not Oh, no! Wrong again, Juan. GoonSami, tell him. but Not quite, Juan. Do you know, Sami? Even better, do the whole thing by gesture. Indicate not quite with your face or hands and gesture to another student to help. Try to choose a student who looks eager to help and don't always resort to the class know-all! Always return to the first student and let him or her say the correct version.
Teacher correction
If neither self-correction nor student-student correction is effective you must assume that either the student hasn't understood what you're getting at or doesn't know what the correct version should be. If it's an important point and the others don't know it either, you may have to stop and teach it to the whole class. If not, and the meaning of the item is clear, your simply saying it and getting the students to say it should be enough.
No matter how you have done the correction, get the student who made the error to say the correct version, if possible in its original context. This is a vital part of any correction process. You can do this by gesture or saying something like OK, again. The whole thing.
23 Вопрос age and acquisition
The increased pace of research on first language acquisition in the last half of the twentieth century attracted the attention not only of linguists of all kinds but also of educators in various language-related fields. Today the applications of research findings in first language acquisition are widespread. In language arts education, for example, teacher trainees are required to study first language acquisition, particularly acquisition after age five, in order to improve their understanding of the task of teaching language skills to native speakers. In foreign language education, most standard texts and curricula now include some introductory material in first language acquisition. The reasons for this are clear. We have all observed children acquiring their first language easily and well, yet individuals learning a second language, particularly in an educational setting, can meet with great difficulty and sometimes failure. We should therefore be able to learn something from a systematic study of that first language learning experience.
What may not be quite as obvious, though, is how the second language teacher should interpret the many facets and sometimes conflicting findings of first language research. First language acquisition starts in very early childhood, but second language acquisition can happen in childhood, early or late, as well as in adulthood. Do childhood and adulthood, and differences between them, hold some keys to language acquisition models and theories? The purpose of this chapter is to address some of those questions and to set forth explicitly some of the parameters for looking at the effects of age and acquisition.