Error Correction

Error Correction

1. It’s always tricky to know when and if to correct students and how to go about it. The danger of over-correcting is that students will lose motivation and you may even destroy the flow of the class or the activity by butting in and correcting every single mistake. So, the question is; When and how should you correct your students?

   • Ask the students how they want to be corrected
     • One way to give students a choice on how much they want to be corrected in a particular class or activity is for them to make a traffic light to put on their desk. A strip of card with three circles (one red, one orange and one green) folded into a triangle with a bit of sellotape does the trick. Students point the circle towards you to indicate whether or not they want correction: o Red = don’t correct me at all (they may have had a rough day or be tired!) o Orange = correct things which are really important or things I should know. o Green = correct as much as you can, please.
   • Are you working on accuracy or fluency?
     • For a class discussion for example, fluency would be appropriate. The important thing is that students are expressing themselves and thinking on their feet.
   • Self correction / Peer correction
     • Students can often correct themselves when they realise they’ve made a mistake. Give students a chance, and time, to correct themselves. Often by just raising your eyebrows or repeating the mistake students will know what you mean and back track to correct the error themselves. Students can also correct one another.
   • Correction slots
     • Make a note of the mistakes that I hear; whether they are pronunciation, grammatical or lexical. I collect a selection of their errors and then stop the activity. I write a selection of the mistakes on the board and ask students to correct them. If students are working in pairs and you have a left over student, why not assign them the role of assistant teacher?
   • On the spot correction
     • Students often appreciate instant correction. Think about what type of activity it is before deciding whether or not it’s appropriate to correct on the spot.
   • New mistakes or the same old ones?
     • New mistakes are usually a sign that they are exploring new uses of language or experimenting with new vocabulary but if they are always repeating the same mistakes it’s not such a good sign!

2. Conclusion

   • Being corrected constantly can be a really de-motivating, as every language learner knows. As you are listening out for your students’ errors, make sure you also listen out for really good uses of language and highlight these to the group too. In the case of language learning I really do believe the classic saying, ‘you learn from your mistakes’.

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