Download This PaperUsing Computer Software as a Tool of Error Analysis: Giving EFL Teachers and Learners a Much-Needed Impetus
International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, Volume 12, Issue 2, 2020
20 Pages Posted: 4 May 2020
Date Written: 2020
Abstract
Among educational technological tools, there is much discussion about using computers in detecting and correcting learner errors in English as a foreign language (EFL, henceforth) setting. Computer-aided error analysis can be a potent tool in classrooms in Saudi Arabia where the average student-teacher ratio is as lopsided as 40:1. Inevitably, the teaching-learning environment is not conducive to much of the behind-the-scenes teaching part such as correction work. Computer error analysis (CEA, henceforward) is a much-needed impetus for teachers to find errors and enhance their teaching methodology by devoting greater time and attention to real time learner interaction. This paper provides a theoretical framework for using computer software in error analysis with EFL writing output. It discusses the types of writing errors, which occur in EFL classrooms and how these writing errors could be detected and removed with the help of computer software. It examines and compares the error detection in manually processed learners’ academic writing with a small sample of twelve scripts from the second year Academic Writing students of English at Qassim University. It provides a ready database of freely available online error analysis tools from which EFL teachers at KSA may select the most viable, suited to their learners and their output. Finally, the study discusses briefly the pedagogical implications and puts forth some supportive recommendations that may allow for inclusion of computers in EFL classrooms in a bigger way than the current practice.
Keywords: Computer Aided Analysis (CEA), Error Analysis, Analysis of Writing Samples, EFL, Writing Essays
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