短文改错作为写作测试的一部分,用来测试学生运用英语表达意义的准确性,即发现、检查错误和改正错误的能力。短文改错福建省的英语教师并不陌生,2009年以前福建卷也一直使用这一题型,只是福建省当时的做法是每行一处错,其中有一行没错,而全国卷则没有规定每行一处错,而只是要求找出10处错误。如:
Nearly five years before , and with the help by our father, my sister and I planted some cherry tomatoes (圣女果) in our back garden, since then—for all these year—we had been allowing tomatoes to self seed where they please. As result, the plants are growing somewhere. The fruits are small in size, but juicy and taste. There are so much that we often share them with our neighbors. Although we allow tomato plants to grow in the same place year after year, but we have never had any disease or insect attack problem. We are growing wonderfully tomatoes at on cost!
短文改错选材最好来自学生的“原创作品”,内容应为学生所熟悉的学习和生活,所设错误应为中国学生常犯的运用错误,而且应具典型性和普遍性。然而,不少测试却把短文改错用来“大考特考”语法知识,有的选用材料不当,内容太偏太专,其错误设置随意性大、难度高。有些学生由于原本头脑中尚未形成正确的表达形式,却不得不面对种种错误,结果造成思想更加混乱。教学过程中的日常测试可根据不同的学习阶段,改用句型转换、组词成句、汉译英等题型,这样能更直接有效地测试写的能力。还可结合单词、语法教学设计单句改错,但应该是平时学生常错的点,不能刻意设置错误。