Student Correction during Class

First thing teachers need to take into consideration ‘when it is a mistake and when it is an error?

Error and mistake are two different words that are actually synonyms of each other. They also mean the same thing, something that is done incorrect or wrong. This could be due to lack of focus and knowledge. Error and mistake can have several different origins.

A crucial issue for any teacher is when and how to correct students' English mistakes or error. When the learner produces wrong language the teacher can ascertain whether it is mistaken or error by indicating to the learners that something is not right.

Here are the main types of mistakes that need to be corrected:

·        Grammatical mistakes (mistakes of verb tenses, preposition use, etc.)

·        Vocabulary mistakes (incorrect collocations, idiomatic phrase usage, etc.)

·        Pronunciation mistakes (errors in basic pronunciation, errors in word stressing in sentences, errors in rhythm and pitch)

·        Written mistakes (grammar, spelling and vocabulary choice mistakes in written work)

With oral mistakes made during class discussions, there are basically two schools of thought: 1) Correct often and thoroughly 2) let students make mistakes. Sometimes, teachers refine the choice by choosing to let beginners make many mistakes while correcting advanced students often.

However, many teachers are taking a third route these days. This third route might be called 'selective correction'. In this case, the teacher decides to correct only certain errors. Which errors will be corrected is usually decided by the objectives of the lesson, or the specific exercise that is being done at that moment. In other words, if students are focusing on simple past irregular forms, then only mistakes in those forms are correct. Other mistakes, such as mistakes in a future form, or mistakes of collocations (for example: I made my homework) are ignored.

Finally, many teachers choose to correct students by use of facial expression, cupping the hand behind the ear, wrong word order. The learner then has the opportunity of self-correcting but if not able to do so, most likely does not know the correct language. The teacher can then throw the question open to the class and try to elicit peer correction to find out if this is a general problem that the whole class has or just an individual learner’s problem.

Teachers may correct mistakes using board to explain the correct language either by writing the incorrect sentence and underlining the error so that the learners can see the error and compare this to the correct form.

Many teachers feel that if they do not correct mistakes immediately, they will be helping reinforce incorrect language production skills. This point of view is also reinforced by students who often expect teachers to continually correct them during class. The failure to do so will often create suspicion on the part of the students.

A correction is necessary. The argument that students just need to use the language and the rest will come by itself seems rather weak. Correction is not an 'either / or' issue. A correction needs to take place, and is expected and desired by students. However, the manner in which teachers’ correct students play a vital role in whether students become confident in their usage or become intimidated. Correcting students as a group, in correction sessions, at the end of activities, and letting them correct their own mistakes all help in encouraging students to use English rather than to worry about making too many mistakes.

By, Aayeaha Qureshi