Diagnosis and Remediation of Sentence–solving Error Patterns

Abstract

When you grade a set of arithmetic test papers, how often do you notice that you seem to be marking the same items incorrect on one test paper after another? You know the feeling; as your pencil moves down the set of answers—right, right, right, wrong, right, wrong, right, … —you know that you've graded two or three other papers with exactly the same incorrect items. You might even make a mental note of the students' names, trying to find a reason why they all missed those particular items. And if all these students happen to have mastered basic arithmetic skills, you might check to see if they were all out of class for some reason (such as a meeting or chorus practice), or you check over the test items to see if they are misleading or poorly reproduced on their test papers. There is a nagging feeling that something is causing all those good students to miss the same items. Yet since they all passed with 80s or better, the feeling goes away until next year when that topic is encountered and you promise yourself that when you have time you'll take a closer look.