错误在语言学习中的作用

苗淑华

If one had a choice between saying a sentence correctly and saying it with a mistake， no-body in their right mind would choose saying it with a mistake—and no teacher would recom-mend that. Similarly， no teacher would give a higher grade to a student who made more mistakes than another one.

如果一个人可以在正确说出一个句子和错误说出一个句子之间做出选择的话，那么任何心智正常的人都不会选择把错误的句子说出来——而且没有老师会建议这样做。同样地，没有老师会给犯更多错的学生更高的分数。

The reason teachers sometimes say that mistakes shouldnt be avoided is that they believe one of two things （or both）：

教师有时会说不要避免犯错的原因是，他们相信下面两点之一（或都相信）：

1. That mistakes are an inseparable1 part of the learning process; therefore， the only way to avoid language mistakes would be to avoid speaking and writing in a foreign language， and that would be bad. （the “Mistakes are inevitable” group）

1. 这些错误是学习过程中不可分割的一部分。因此，避免语言错误的唯一方法是避免用外语说和写。但这样做会很糟糕。（“错误不可避免”组）

2. That making mistakes， and having them corrected， is a good way to learn a language. （the “Mistakes are good” group）

2. 犯错并纠正错误是学习语言的好方法。（“错误有益”组）

“Mistakes are an inseparable part of the language learning process”

“错误是语言学习过程中不可分割的一部分”

Its obvious that learning a language is not an “unknown” area like research or marketing. No one is asking learners to invent anything （indeed， they should not invent their own grammar and vocabulary）—they just need to do things exactly the way the native speakers do it.

很明顯，学习语言不像研究或营销这样的“未知”领域。没有人要求学习者发明任何东西（事实上，他们不应该发明自己的语法和词汇）——他们只需要按照母语人士的方式来学习。

Language learning is not like learning to swim， either. In swimming， you can remember very well how your coach moves his arms， but still be unable to recreate that motion. Knowing the right way is not enough. You need to train your muscles to react in a certain way， which is a long， error-prone2 process. First you make a lot of mistakes， then fewer and fewer， until you are error-free.

语言学习不像学习游泳。在游泳时，你可以很好地记住教练如何挥动手臂，但仍然无法再现那个动作。知道正确的方法是不够的，你需要训练肌肉以某种方式作出反应，这是一个漫长的、容易出错的过程。一开始，你会犯很多错误，然后越来越少，直到没有错误。

“Making mistakes is a good way to learn a language”

“犯错是学习语言的好方法”

Those who believe mistakes are a good way to learn probably picture the following model：

那些认为犯错是学习的好方法的人可能会想到以下模式：

The learner says a sentence， makes some mistakes， the teacher corrects them， and the learner memorizes the proper way to say the sentence. Next time around， the learner will hopefully make fewer mistakes. The process is repeated until the learner is error-free.

学习者说出一个句子，犯了一些错误，老师纠正了这些错误，学习者记住所说句子的正确表达方法。下一次，学习者希望减少错误。重复该过程直到学习者没有错误。

Why doesnt this model work so well？

为什么这个模型不好用？

It requires a competent3 teacher.

需要一位称职的老师。

As the method is based on errors and feedback， it requires a competent feedback-giver. It is not clear where the learner is supposed to find such a person outside of the classroom. If he tries to interact with native speakers in real life or on the Internet， he will find that native speakers generally wont correct his mistakes， as long as they can understand him.

由于該方法基于错误和反馈，因此需要有能力的反馈者。目前尚不清楚学习者应该在教室外的哪些地方找到这样的人。如果他试图在现实生活中或在互联网上与母语人士互动，会发现只要能理解，母语人士通常不会纠正他的错误。

There is also the problem of finding good teachers. While I have so far assumed that teacher feedback is perfect， the reality is that teachers will ignore many mistakes due to insufficient4 attention， knowledge or time. Non-native teachers will sometimes object to correct sentences， or their “corrections” may be wrong themselves.

找到一个好老师也有问题。虽然到目前为止我认为教师反馈是完美的，但现实是教师会因为注意力不足、知识不足或时间不足而忽视许多错误。非母语教师有时会反对纠正句子，或者他们的“更正”本身可能就是错误的。