Some thoughts on Anthony Bruton’s critique of the correction debate

In a recent paper, Anthony Bruton argued that correction receives too much attention and that the debate over it (which he calls “the Truscott debate”) is “a rather tedious sterile academic debate” that has harmed the field. He dismissed the case against correction, based on arguments that uncorrected students do not improve, some general objections to the research evidence, and a claim that in presenting it I omitted troublesome information and misrepresented one of the relevant studies. His alternative view is that common sense tells us correcting students’ errors is appropriate. In this response I address these points, emphasizing his comments on the evidence and the way I presented it. I conclude that he has not provided any substantive support for his claims and that his comments do not alter the conclusion that correction is a failure and has no place in second language writing classes.