A Model for Communicative Error Correction in Saudi EFL Freshman Students' Writing

Reima Al-Jarf*
King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Periodicity:April - June'2021
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jelt.11.2.17719

Abstract

Many EFL teachers spend a lot of time marking students' written assignments and correcting their spelling, grammatical, punctuation, organization and idea generation errors in detail. The more mistakes students make the more meticulously they mark and correct mistakes. Despite meticulous error correction, students continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. Teachers' correction of written assignments does not seem to be effective in reducing students' errors and enhancing their ability to write correctly and effectively. The present study proposes a model for correcting students' errors effectively. In this model, students are encouraged to write for communication and not to worry about spelling, grammatical, punctuation or capitalization mistakes. Students do written assignments or part of them in the class. While doing the written exercises and writing their paragraphs, the teacher monitors students' work and provides individual help. She gives communicative feedback that focuses on meaning and highlights only errors related to rules or skills under study in a particular chapter. Feedback is provided on the occurrence and location of errors, but no correct forms are given. Self-editing and peer-editing are encouraged. Extra credit is given for good paragraphs every time the students write a paragraph in the class.

Keywords

Writing Errors, Error Correction, Communicative Feedback, EFL Writing, L2 Writing, Writing Process Skills, Writing Product, College Writing, Instant Feedback, Teaching Stages, Writing Instruction.

How to Cite this Article?

Al-Jarf, R. (2021). A Model for Communicative Error Correction in Saudi EFL Freshman Students' Writing. i-manager's Journal on English Language Teaching, 11(2), 32-41. https://doi.org/10.26634/jelt.11.2.17719

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