Can learners hear their own errors? data

This study investigated whether learners can correctly identify grammatical and ungrammatical items drawn from their own spoken production. It was hypothesized that participants judge items which are less well established more slowly, and conversely that entrenched items, whether target-like or not, would be more quickly judged. 20 learners at two proficiency levels judged audio recordings of themselves reformulating errors they had made in small-group conversations. The items were categorized according to reformulation accuracy and fluency, and the analysis investigated whether judgement accuracy and speed mirrored these categories. Results indicate clear parallels in reformulation and judgement accuracy, but much less clarity in the relationship between fluency of production and recognition. A category of “slow and incorrect” errors in both production and recognition, perhaps representing “attempts” at meaning-making (Edge, 1989), is proposed as the focus of future pedagogical research investigation. To this end, a pedagogical application of the self-judgement methodology is described.