A DESCRIPTIVE MODEL OF DISCOURSE IN THE CORRECTIVE TREATMENT OF LEARNERS' ERRORS1

The reaction of the target language speaker to the L2 learner's errors may play an important role in developing awareness of norms of correctness. Corrective feedback functions in different ways to guide the learner towards preferred performance. Based on the corrective portions of classroom interaction in French immersion classes, a model for this kind of discourse has been developed. Different types and features of correcting acts combine into a structural model that can describe actual corrective interactions for a given error or set of errors. Use of the model in description helps isolate ambiguities; it highlights special features of corrective interaction that are likely to be more effective in eliciting correct performance. The example of various types of “repetitions”, or “response modeling”, is taken to show which types appear to lead to more successful correction. The model may be of use to both teachers and students in learning to identify corrective techniques and to be sensitive to the function of various kinds of feedback.