Error: Interlanguage, Accident, and Transfer (David Bartholomae)
In "The Study of Error," Bartholomae builds on the pioneering work of Mina Shaunessy in many respects. While the approach recommended by Bartholomae is clearly labor intensive and is perhaps too challenging for any writing instructor working with dozens of students, there may be value in drawing from at least some of what he describes.
- "Studying their own writing puts students in a position to see themselves as language users, rather than as victims of a language that uses them" (Bartholomae 24). What does this mean in practice? Have you developed a classroom lesson or activity, perhaps one not focused on sentence level error, that you think works in a similar fashion? Describe that lesson.
- Bartholomae reports the disconnect between a student's (John's) written text and his oral presentation of that same text. His student makes numerous conscious corrections to the written text, misses some errors, AND makes corrections that he seems not to be aware of having made. The read aloud is a typical technique used to help students proofread their papers. What does John's experience tell you about the value of the approach? What do you think it can help with? What can't it help with?
- Over the next two weeks, develop and implement a lesson that draws from some aspect of "The Study of Error."
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