Greek Primary School Teachers’ Attitudes and Teaching Practices Towards Students’ Oral Errors

Abstract

According to the communicative approach, the principles of which are integrated in modern curricula, errors serve as useful tools for educators to assess student achievement. They may also give an indication of the students’ gaps in knowledge and/or the challenges they face during the learning process. In this paper, we aim to investigate the attitudes of Greek primary school teachers towards students’ oral errors and the teaching practices they employ towards error management. To achieve the aforementioned research objectives, we collected data via questionnaires and class observations. Questionnaire data allowed us to assess teachers’ attitudes, whereas the observation data shed light on the teaching techniques they use in error correction. Both the teachers’ perceptions as well as their teaching practices generally demonstrate a moderate attitude towards students’ oral errors. Based on the research findings, the teachers do not strictly correct every single mistake students make but they focus on specific types of errors. Moreover, they tend not to correct the errors in a direct way; rather they first provide hints and instructions to the students who try to correct their mistakes on their own. In this way, students may discover knowledge themselves. Finally, it can be concluded that the findings reflect a shift towards modern linguistic approaches, and more specifically towards the communicative approach, as far as error management is concerned.