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by nuhru_1098 Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:50 pmA well balanced use on Error Correction
There are many problems associated with error correction in the EFL classroom. For example, every student wants to improve their accuracy but not every student likes being corrected. Another common problem is that students and teachers often disagree on the amount of error correction that there should be in class. As should be clear from these two examples, for most teachers today it is not a case of deciding whether there should be error correction or not, but the much more difficult task of getting the amount of error correction just right for each individual level, age group, nationality, personality type, learning style etc. To help with this, below is a list of signs that you might not have the right balance of error correction in your classes yet and some hints on how to adjust your lesson planning accordingly.
Possible signs that you are correcting too many student errors
* 1. Students are losing their fluency when they speak because they are scared of making mistakes
* 2. Students keep stopping and correcting themselves
* 3. The accuracy of their speaking is improving much more quickly than their fluency, use of complex forms, speaking strategies etc.
* 4. Many of the errors you correct are things that won't come up in their classes for a long time or even until the next level
* 5. Many of the errors you correct are things they knew but were just slips of the tongue
* 6. Most of the errors you correct are things they would have stopped making errors with anyway eventually once their subconscious had fully dealt with the language
* 7. The amount of time you spend on student errors is cutting into the time you can spend on new language
* 8. Students who think they have done well at a speaking or writing task get depressed when you do error correction and they realise how many errors they have made
* 9. Feedback after a speaking or writing task means mainly error correction, with a lack of suggesting more complex language, making encouraging comments etc.
* 10. Written work is a mess of red ink when it comes back to students
* 11. You give them more corrections in one class than they can possibly learn before the next class
* 12. You correct the same language over and over, even though students' accuracy hasn't improved at all since the first time you corrected them
* 13. Students show with their facial expressions or body language that they are not open to correction
* 14. You are correcting because you feel you must, even though you have no confidence that it will have an effect on accuracy with that group of students
* 15. Students don't note down most of the errors you correct
* 16. There are more than one or two error correction stages in one class
* 17. There are more error correction stages in your lesson plan than there are on the lesson plan in the teacher's book
* 18. Students never have a chance to speak or write without correction
* 19. You never leave an error uncorrected to see if it disappears naturally
* 20. Students who particularly lack fluency and/ or confidence don't get less correction than other students
* 21. You correct well over 20% of all student errors
* 22. You correct over an average of 20 errors per class
* 23. You usually correct the whole list of errors you collect during pairwork and groupwork
* 24. Most of the errors you correct are ones that we know persist naturally in all kinds of people learning English, such as third person s
* 25. Your only idea on how to improve student accuracy is to correct their errors.
There are many problems associated with error correction in the EFL classroom. For example, every student wants to improve their accuracy but not every student likes being corrected. Another common problem is that students and teachers often disagree on the amount of error correction that there should be in class. As should be clear from these two examples, for most teachers today it is not a case of deciding whether there should be error correction or not, but the much more difficult task of getting the amount of error correction just right for each individual level, age group, nationality, personality type, learning style etc. To help with this, below is a list of signs that you might not have the right balance of error correction in your classes yet and some hints on how to adjust your lesson planning accordingly.
Possible signs that you are correcting too many student errors
* 1. Students are losing their fluency when they speak because they are scared of making mistakes
* 2. Students keep stopping and correcting themselves
* 3. The accuracy of their speaking is improving much more quickly than their fluency, use of complex forms, speaking strategies etc.
* 4. Many of the errors you correct are things that won't come up in their classes for a long time or even until the next level
* 5. Many of the errors you correct are things they knew but were just slips of the tongue
* 6. Most of the errors you correct are things they would have stopped making errors with anyway eventually once their subconscious had fully dealt with the language
* 7. The amount of time you spend on student errors is cutting into the time you can spend on new language
* 8. Students who think they have done well at a speaking or writing task get depressed when you do error correction and they realise how many errors they have made
* 9. Feedback after a speaking or writing task means mainly error correction, with a lack of suggesting more complex language, making encouraging comments etc.
* 10. Written work is a mess of red ink when it comes back to students
* 11. You give them more corrections in one class than they can possibly learn before the next class
* 12. You correct the same language over and over, even though students' accuracy hasn't improved at all since the first time you corrected them
* 13. Students show with their facial expressions or body language that they are not open to correction
* 14. You are correcting because you feel you must, even though you have no confidence that it will have an effect on accuracy with that group of students
* 15. Students don't note down most of the errors you correct
* 16. There are more than one or two error correction stages in one class
* 17. There are more error correction stages in your lesson plan than there are on the lesson plan in the teacher's book
* 18. Students never have a chance to speak or write without correction
* 19. You never leave an error uncorrected to see if it disappears naturally
* 20. Students who particularly lack fluency and/ or confidence don't get less correction than other students
* 21. You correct well over 20% of all student errors
* 22. You correct over an average of 20 errors per class
* 23. You usually correct the whole list of errors you collect during pairwork and groupwork
* 24. Most of the errors you correct are ones that we know persist naturally in all kinds of people learning English, such as third person s
* 25. Your only idea on how to improve student accuracy is to correct their errors.