
Why grammar correction is ineffective:
Numerous studies show that grammar correction does not help students, yet students expect teachers to correct their errors and consider them unprofessional if they don’t.
Numerous studies show that grammar correction does not help students, yet students expect teachers to correct their errors and consider them unprofessional if they don’t.
“the students are so involved in what’s going on in terms of content that they’re not really aware that they’re acquiring the language”
This article is an excellent review of Dr. Krashen’s work and mostly very favorable. A good introduction to show to traditional teachers who are just discovering Stephen Krashen.https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/can-we-learn-second-language-we-learned-our-first
“if we are going to consider anything “basic”, let’s consider high-frequency words and phrases as the starting point. There’s a reason they are high frequency: we need them to communicate.”
“A century of research shows that traditional grammar lessons—those hours spent diagramming sentences and memorizing parts of speech—don’t help and may even hinder students’ efforts to become better writers. “
Terry Waltz finds this method quite similar to Cold Character Reading, used with students learning to read Chinese characters.
I often come across interesting articles that I share on the Facebook TPRS Witch page. I am going to start a new category here on the website where I will stock these thought-provoking articles so that they can be easily found.
“TPRS maintains the innovations of the methods that went before it, but represents a big
increase in interesting input. This is done in two related ways: (1) Stories, co-created by
the student and teacher. Everybody in every culture is interested in stories. (2)
Personalization. In TPRS, the stories and other class activities are about the people the
students care about the most: themselves. “
Every summer for the last ten years something magic has happened in Agen, France. Teachers from around the world have gathered in a friendly little town in southwest France and particpated in what many of them have called a life-changing experience. They come together because they have heard of a different way of teaching languages, a way of creating stories with their students and building a different kind of classroom. They come with open hearts and open minds and they leave with smiles and warm memories and many new friends. That is the magic of Agen.