Training
Module Four: Error Correction
One out of five aint bad!
Aims To recognise what corrections need to be made during class. To correct mistakes in a constructive and sensitive manner. To show our students that we care about their progress in English. To help the students feel that they are developing their language skills. To stop mistakes being fossilized.
Me talk pretty one day. Everyone who has studied a language hopes to speak it well, some day. Only a gifted few can become fluent speakers in a short span of time, becoming competent is usually a long and mistake ridden road. There is a lot that you can study by yourself, get yourself a good grammar book, vocabulary pages, audio files, etc... can help you learn structures and useful expressions. Unfortunately if this is all it took to become an advanced speaker we would all be out of a job, luckily for us students have worked out that it's good to study with a teacher. Ideally we would all spend some years in a foreign country to immerse ourselves but this isn't always an available option. So, we take classes and the overwhelmingly popular option in Korea is to take classes with a native speaker. Enter you! Although it can be nerve wracking being around a native speaker it's also comforting, because that person knows how the language should be spoken and as a teacher, should always be willing and able to help the student develop. While many non-native teachers can be absolutely excellent, they do sometimes lack a quality that you have; natural understanding of the language. In simple terms you know what is correct and you hear instantly what is incorrect. This give the student the chance to fill in many gaps, ask those questions that drive him crazy and receive as much error correction as possible. Here in Korea there is a palpable feeling that mistakes need to be fixed to feel that they are learning and you should respond to that as a teacher. Without proper feedback those little mistakes remain and students will exhibit frustration.
“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Training
Module Four: Error Correction
In practice Read through the following examples of error correction seen in classes. Number One: SLE 1B Ok let's take a look at these sentences that each have a mistake. In the first one it is confusing why?
I will like to …. If I am.......I would We must to …... Would you mind we …. I am exciting at ….
Number Two: SLE 2B Number one is missing the article and can should be could Was is ok but were is better and no to. I would buy a car if I were rich I went to Japan last year
If I was Superhero, I can fly. If you was her, you should to go. I would buying a car if I am rich I tripped to Japan last year
Number Three: SLE 3B Tomorrow he will have saw her and can ask her. I wanted to throw off steam with drinking. If I didn't study hard, I would have not gone to America.
Ok class, I have underlined a problem in each sentence, with your partner go through and try to correct it. Then we will check as a class.
Critique Number One: An all too common approach, the teacher has only written up half sentences that are incorrect, there is no context to them. The teacher then questions the students as to what is wrong with the sentences as a group Number Two: Here the teacher has put the complete sentences up on the board for the students to see and highlighted the mistake which would make the feedback more valuable. However the teacher then goes on to simply correct them by presentation, he gives no indication of why it is wrong. At this level the students should have begun to self-correct or have learned enough to try and work out the problem, much better to have them discuss them and then conclude as a class. Number Three: The teacher here does a very good job. At 3B we assume the errors are more spoken mistakes than a lack of knowledge, he merely highlights the part of the sentence that needs attention. The class will then conclude together to ensure everybody understands why.
Training
Module Four: Error Correction
To correct or not to correct? That is the question! Many teachers genuinely worry about the amount of correction they do in a class and what they should correct and it is true that this will depend on the class and level. The problem always comes from lack of correction, many teachers especially those who who have lived in Korea for some time have learned the typical mistakes people make and the meaning behind them. Therefore, a good number of teachers become 'over-kind' and allow their students to continually make 'small' mistakes that they can understand. However, if the students travel to a native speaking country with no knowledge of this 'konglish' or nonstandard use of English it will only result in confusion and possible embarrassment. So, how can we make error correction a permanent feature of our classes? TARGET LANGAUGE: When you planned the lesson there would have been a certain amount of vocabulary, grammar or expressions that you were going to teach. So the first area to focus on would be how well are the students using this, are they making mistakes? COMMON/REGULAR MISTAKES: As you spend at least 20 lessons with the students you will soon become aware of certain mistakes that seem to happen again and again. They might not always be related to what you are teaching that day but it can be worth investing some time to take care of these. LEVEL & EXPECTATION: When wanting to offer corrections to the students be aware of their level and what we can expect in terms of accuracy and fluency. Many teachers make the mistake of over-correcting low level students and trying to teach them to speak too 'natively'. It is far better that they master the skills necessary at their level (these can easily be found in the front of the SLE books) than trying to learn too many things and just making constant mistakes. PRONUNCIATION: Again starting with the target language, it is crucial that students are taught how to pronounce words so that they are understood. English is a devil of a language when it wants to be, it is not phonetic, does not follow any standard rules. Mispronunciation is a constant possibility and the students will look to you to correct them. You should also note down common problems for future study.
Training
Module Four: Error Correction
When to correct? Lauren Baccall once declared; “The opportunity to undo the wrong is normally 5 minutes ago” However in the ESL class it is an ongoing activity and not every teacher likes to do it in the same way, this is fine as variety in the methods you use will keep it interesting for the students. Below are the most common moments teachers choose to offer corrections and a short critique of each. Time to Correct
Advantages
Disadvantages
On-the-Spot – The teacher will immediately correct any mistakes as they happen, this could be during a presentation or during pair/group activity.
The mistake is in context and the student can resume his conversation. Allows for direct questions and feedback for the student.
Can interrupt a good activity and cause some intimidation in certain students. Corrections are only oral and therefore can be easily forgotten
At the end of class as review – the teacher notes down all or many mistakes as they happen and presents them to the class at the end on the board.
Becomes a good study activity for the class as a whole. Mistakes are anonymous and students are not embarrassed.
If enough time has passed the mistake can be out of context and hard to correct. It can take too much time to get through and the teacher rushes.
Following each activity – the teacher gives feedback on the activity including error corrections
Error correction is expected and relevant. Students feel the teacher is focused on them.
Can become a bit tiresome if same method always used. Requires originality
As homework – The teacher has the student write down the mistakes and correct them at home
Students focus and study the language. They have a building record .
SLE students often don't do homework. Frustration with difficult problems and no teacher.
The following class as a review of what they were doing previously, usually at the beginning.
Students feel some continuity with the language and class. Allows the teacher to highlight certain structures.
Students may be absent or students who were absent are there. Might be harder to correct without the topic.
Training
Module Four: Error Correction
How to Correct Catalog the action: Notebooks are cheap and plentiful, or if you prefer use the class register or your i-pad but keep a record of mistakes made during the class. These could be ones you hear during whole group work or during pair/small group work. Writing them down and comparing them lets you see which errors have been made more than once. There will be usually be more than you could write down or correct so try to choose those you think most relevant. Put them on the board, have the students study them first and offer suggestions. Label fully. When I sawed the movie, I was scary. Irregular V, 'saw'
adj scared
I was exciting too go San Francisco. Adj excited
to (preposition)
I am always making the mistake. Present simple better 'I always make the same mistake'
Catch the mistake game. Where you think the students are at a sufficiently advanced level that they should be able to spot mistakes or at least have some ideas about how to correct them, then a game can be fun. Put the students into pairs or small groups and reveal the mistake one at a time, the team that rushes to the board and corrects it properly first gets a point. If a very large class it might be worth attempting a 'buzzer' style system. (each team could have make a different animal sound for example) Comparisons: For many mistakes in English, it is very useful to have students work together with two similar sentences with different meanings and try to conclude how easy a mistake is to make. These would include : If I move to France vs When I move to France, or I had a nice girlfriend vs I wish I had nice girlfriend or The train left when I arrived vs The train had left when I arrived. Worksheets The teacher writes down the mistakes that have been heard and creates a worksheet exercise for the students, this could be completed in the following class as a form of review or the students could do it at home and then email it to you. You should then plan some time for the next class to go over the answers and offer explanations. Mixing Correct & Incorrect Sentences Very apt for high level students in classes where the usual grammatical mistakes might not occur so frequently and the errors are more technical. Students work together going through the sentences and deciding if there is a mistake or not and then attempting to correct it. ďƒą Following the movie, we took up a coffee in our favourite cafe across from the cinema. ďƒą Prior to the movie, we met in front of the cinema and had a brief stroll. Wrong preposition
Training
Module Four: Error Correction Common Mistakes and how to avoid them
The Spotlight: Teacher: “Sun Min! You just said I did went to Thailand with family. Why is that not correct? Come on we covered this last class! What do we not do when we use an auxiliary verb?? Even though most students want to be corrected they don't like being called out on it in front of the class, especially if it sounds as if they are being chastised or made fun of. Make a discrete correction to the student or if it is going on the board keep them anonymous. The Pedant: We don't say Hi when we enter the classroom Ian, we say good morning Miss D'arsey. You go for a walk Sunny not go walking it sounds terrible. Can you come in? I don't know can you? No one in America says “Shall I” so don't say it. You may be well educated, you might have won awards for diction but you are not the guardian of your language you are a teacher. Be thoughtful about what corrections are important and necessary. The students are learning to communicate in English but this does not mean they have to talk like you. The Jellyfish: Gemma, please read your paragraph to the class. Gemma: Last week I did go... I..went to beach ...the beach and I play Teacher: I went...!. the beach! Played! Gemma: played with my old brother ...older brother, he like the.. Teacher: older or elder ! likes! If the student is making this many mistakes then the level of the activity was a little too high, be wary of constant corrections in this manner, it affects a student's confidence. Start with peer correction to improve motivation. The Ghost Teacher: Panil: Anywise, last two weekend ago I have gone to Myeongdong to shop and I eated a really good food. Yunhee: What is it you are eating? Panil: It is Spain food, name I think is Pella Yunhee: What is it? Panil: It (check dictionary) consisting rice and sea meat. Teacher: moooooooooOOOooooooooving on... The teacher could easily have given some useful on-the-Spot corrections without affecting the conversation, also there should have been some group feedback to correct and remind the students about appropriate verb tenses etc.
Training
Module Four: Error Correction
Feedback and Assessment It is essential to always give feedback to your students during the class as this is their main avenue for knowing how they have done and what they need to work on for the future. It is not enough to simply correct errors and hope that this results in learning. If this were true, it would mean we would only ever need to be corrected once. This is obviously not correct. The following are the main opinions given by teachers on feedback. Opinion
Critique
Assessment is potentially humiliating
It can cause stress and anxiety if a feeling of failure exists. The teacher must show a caring attitude towards their progress.
Teachers should only give positive feedback.
Positive feedback encourages but shouldn't appear fake. Negative feedback can be taken positively if constructive.
Praising fosters good teacher – student relationships
Very true as long as it isn't overused.
Very frequent approval loses its effect
It can devalue and become irritating if the teacher seems over-enthusiastic.
Peer correction causes resentment.
Very positive as long as the students are of a similar level. Use peer correction with guidance.
Both positive and negative assessments must be made available to the students. Feedback must be honest and given in a warm and supportive manner. Students must feel that the teacher's assessment will help them and not put them down, if negative feedback was given, what suggestions can you give to help the student improve. Most students want to be corrected as correction contributes to learning. Always keep an ear and eye out for repeated corrections.
Training
Module Four: Error Correction
Auction Game Split the students into pairs or trios and give each “group” the same amount of fake money. Tell them we’re going to have an auction. Elicit what an auction is and explain what it is if necessary. Teach students some related vocabulary (lot, bid, highest bidder, item, auctioneer). Tell them they’re going to be buying sentences. Some of them will be correct and some will not. An incorrect sentence can have just one mistake or more than one. They have to say whether the sentence is correct or incorrect. If they correctly identify which type of sentence they’ve bought they get 1 point for it. If the sentence is incorrect they have a chance to correct it and get an extra point for it. Tell, before you start the auction, how many sentences there will be, so they can plan their strategy. Start the auction and write one sentence at a time on the board . Now, I really get into the role of the auctioneer – it’s quite embarrassing actually: speaking fast, asking for bids, telling them “The next item is from a special vintage edition. Look at the lines…look at the design on this sentence… a great addition to anyone’s sentence collection” and so on - but each to its own. Do it as you feel comfortable with. After you’ve done the “going once, going twice and sold!” write the name of the buyers beside the sentence (I sometimes let them choose a name but many times I create a name by using the first syllable of each student in the group Collect the money and proceed. Students do not say whether the sentence is correct or incorrect right after they buy it. First all the sentences must be sold, and then they are delivered . After all the sentences have been sold (and are all on the board with the names of the respective buyers beside it), The teacher goes back, reads sentence #1 and then asks its buyers whether it’s correct or incorrect. If it’s correct, fine, they get a point for it. If it’s incorrect then I say “please correct it”. The group has to correct all the mistakes of the sentence to get the extra point. If they can’t do it, any of the other groups can give it a shot at correcting for 1 point. I make the corrections they say on the board, using a different color of marker. If a group doesn’t properly identify whether their sentence is correct or incorrect they don’t get the point. But if it’s incorrect anyone has the opportunity to correct it for 1 point. In the end, the group with most points wins. If there’s a tie, the group with more money left wins – this should be tole in the beginning of the auction, when you explain the rules. The sentences I use are sentences I collect from the students’ written work as I correct them, or sentences they have spoken and I’ve written down during a speaking moment or a project presentation. I have a page set aside for this on each groups file. I usually select sentences that have commonly made mistakes, mistakes regarding vocabulary/functions we’ve studied recently, or examples of sentences that were very well written. It’s funny to see the students’ reaction once they realize, after the first or second sentence, that these are their sentences.
Happy correcting!