I was prompted to write this blog after reading two research-based blogs about correcting students' written errors. The first, typically provocative in its title, is one by Gianfranco Conti here . the second, in response to Gianfranco's post is here by Russell Mayne on the blog Evidence based EFL. I recommend both blogs. The introduction of Gianfranco's blog post (one of a number he has written on error correction) puts the issue of error correction into context: "Most secondary school MFL teachers correct their student writers’ mistakes. But does error correction ACTUALLY enhance L2-writing proficiency development? A large number of scholars who espouse Cognitive theories of L2-acquisition (e.g. McLaughlin, 1987; Johnson, 1988, 1996), the vast majority of teachers (Applebee, 1984; Zamel, 1985) and most L2-learners (Ferris and Hedgcock, 1998) think so. However, many language educators working in the Nativist paradigm oppose this view. Believing that L2-acq...
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