Design class-wide grammar lessons from common journal errors, and let students catalogue their own errors¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The author suggests two further corrective approaches. Teachers can provide feedback to the entire class based on common student errors: for repetitive errors in count and non-count nouns, a grammar lesson is designed on the topic, either inductively (analyzing modified journal examples as a class to infer the rule) or deductively (highlighting the rule, then practicing and revising). Keen students may catalogue error types with their corresponding rules on dedicated pages at the back of the journal, becoming more aware of the errors they routinely make and monitoring them in future entries.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Journal examples must be modified to maintain confidentiality when analyzed as a class

Constraints¶

• The teacher must balance attention to form with the overall intention of meaningful dialogue and communication

Target Learners¶

• adult ESL students

Target Learning Goals¶

• recognizing and self-monitoring recurring error types such as verb tense, word usage, and article usage

Related Strategies¶

• Start grammar instruction from the problems learners notice in their own written output
• Provide incidental corrective feedback through clarification requests, recasts, and a P.S.
• Put students in charge of soliciting grammatical feedback through pre-taught correction questions
• Classwide Peer Editing
• Creating a Culture of Error
• Pre-teach target language forms deductively before journal entries incorporate them
• Use sample journal entries to inductively highlight target language elements

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Kimberly Miller Linnell. (2010). Using Dialogue Journals to Focus on Form. Journal of Adult Education Information Series, No. 1, Vol. 39. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ891083