Negative Feedback as Regulation and Second Language Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development

Abstract

enties, with the ground breaking publications of Pit Corder, Burt and Kiparsky, George, and Richards (14), one of the central themes of second language research has been the study of learner errors as a reflection of hypothesis testing on the part of second language learners (8; 15; 20; 23;).1 Eventually, the attention of those working on learner errors has moved away from the analysis of errors in their own right as indications of hypothesis testing and interlanguage development to concern with questions relating to the potential effects of corrective procedures on language learning. The fundamental question is: does error correction lead to learning, or are corrective moves by teachers or other caretakers ineffective? In addition, some corollary questions have also been addressed, including how and when errors should be corrected (7: p. 135). Research aimed at answering these questions has been carried out in either an ethnographic or an experimental framework.2 Those working within the ethnographic approach have conducted careful observational studies of corrective behaviors both in the classroom and natu-