Chapter 4: Learning to speak or speaking to learn? - part one
In this unit and Unit 8, the authors explore, from the teaching point of view, the role of mistakes in spoken English. The unit begins with a list which presents an overview of its contents and those of the subsequent unit.
The authors begin the discussion by using a task to outline a wide variety of teacher attitudes to learners' mistakes, and to techniques of error correction. Further tasks invite readers to think about the possible connotations, for them and their learners, of the various words that are used to cover the subject investigated in Chapter 4 - mistakes, errors, slips, lapses, goofs, etc. The commentaries focus on ways in which some, but not all, teachers use different words to reflect the different processes which lead to the mistake, error, etc, and the effect of this on learner attitudes. Further consideration is given to the possible effect on teacher attitudes of the language used in various methodology texts - from different periods, and reflecting different fashions in teaching - to talk about the correction process itself.
The recommended reading, references and bibliography for this unit are given at the end of Unit 8:
