© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
The lexico-grammatical continuum viewed through student error
Ilana Salem is a high school teacher of EFL, and a lecturer in teacher development progrmmes in Israel. She holds an MA in TESOL and Applied Linguistics from the University of Leicester, UK. Her present research interests are in teachers' attitude to student error, L2 effect on L1, grammatical and lexical collocations, and construction and evaluation of classroom tests
Email: ivalen{at}netvision.net.il
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Abstract |
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As language teachers, we realize that some mistakes found in our students' output are more serious than others. What may be less obvious, though, is that our judgement of learner error can yield linguistic insights, and that sharpening our error-analysis skills might improve the quality of our error feedback. This article presents an error-gravity study, in which written errors made by Hebrew-speaking EFL learners were judged for severity by English teachers in Israel and abroad. The findings show that errors can be viewed as occupying various positions on the lexico-grammatical continuum, and support the claim that lexis and grammar should be considered as interdependent, rather than as two separate entities.