Treacherous Allies: Foreign Language Grammar Checkers

This article discusses the use of a French computerized grammar checker as a learning and teaching resource. As is well known, foreign language grammar checkers can give unreliable, even farcical results, but that does not necessarily mean that they cannot be effectively used by foreign language teachers. After some discussion of the nature of foreign language grammar checkers, the article presents the results of a controlled series of experiments in which groups of students were given the task of correcting French texts containing grammatical, lexical, and orthographical errors by using either an on-screen grammar checker or grammar books and dictionaries. The study draws some conclusions about the advantages and pitfalls of using foreign language grammar checkers for teaching and learning.