苗淑華

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.

如果一個人可以在正確說出一個句子和錯誤說出一個句子之間做出選擇的話，那么任何心智正常的人都不會選擇把錯誤的句子說出來——而且沒有老師會建議這樣做。同樣地，沒有老師會給犯更多錯的學(xué)生更高的分?jǐn)?shù)。

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

教師有時會說不要避免犯錯的原因是，他們相信下面兩點之一（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. 這些錯誤是學(xué)習(xí)過程中不可分割的一部分。因此，避免語言錯誤的唯一方法是避免用外語說和寫。但這樣做會很糟糕。（“錯誤不可避免”組）

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

2. 犯錯并糾正錯誤是學(xué)習(xí)語言的好方法。（“錯誤有益”組）

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

“錯誤是語言學(xué)習(xí)過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，學(xué)習(xí)語言不像研究或營銷這樣的“未知”領(lǐng)域。沒有人要求學(xué)習(xí)者發(fā)明任何東西（事實上，他們不應(yīng)該發(fā)明自己的語法和詞匯）——他們只需要按照母語人士的方式來學(xué)習(xí)。

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.

語言學(xué)習(xí)不像學(xué)習(xí)游泳。在游泳時，你可以很好地記住教練如何揮動手臂，但仍然無法再現(xiàn)那個動作。知道正確的方法是不夠的，你需要訓(xùn)練肌肉以某種方式作出反應(yīng)，這是一個漫長的、容易出錯的過程。一開始，你會犯很多錯誤，然后越來越少，直到?jīng)]有錯誤。

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

“犯錯是學(xué)習(xí)語言的好方法”

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

那些認(rèn)為犯錯是學(xué)習(xí)的好方法的人可能會想到以下模式：

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.

學(xué)習(xí)者說出一個句子，犯了一些錯誤，老師糾正了這些錯誤，學(xué)習(xí)者記住所說句子的正確表達(dá)方法。下一次，學(xué)習(xí)者希望減少錯誤。重復(fù)該過程直到學(xué)習(xí)者沒有錯誤。

Why doesnt this model work so well？

為什么這個模型不好用？

It requires a competent3 teacher.

需要一位稱職的老師。

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.

由于該方法基于錯誤和反饋，因此需要有能力的反饋者。目前尚不清楚學(xué)習(xí)者應(yīng)該在教室外的哪些地方找到這樣的人。如果他試圖在現(xiàn)實生活中或在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上與母語人士互動，會發(fā)現(xiàn)只要能理解，母語人士通常不會糾正他的錯誤。

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.

找到一個好老師也有問題。雖然到目前為止我認(rèn)為教師反饋是完美的，但現(xiàn)實是教師會因為注意力不足、知識不足或時間不足而忽視許多錯誤。非母語教師有時會反對糾正句子，或者他們的“更正”本身可能就是錯誤的。