ESL Article: The Role Of Correction

Hello everyone, today I will share with you something related to correction; its importance, and the way we can provide our students with the 'correct answer'.

First of all, why is it important to correct our students? Well, by correcting our students a) we avoid the fossilization of their mistakes, and b) we perfect the usage of the language that they have.

Of course, there are ways to do correct them and we should do it at the proper time. For instance, we should never correct our students while doing a 'fluency activity' (free or guided writing) because the purpose of the activity is to produce the language and convey a message in any possible ways. However, we do have to correct our students while doing an 'accuracy activity' (copying from the board or doing a worksheet) because the point of it is to use the language properly (grammatically, most of the time) and if we do not do it, that mistake we will appear as unimportant.

To continue, I am going to describe the types of correction that exist, or the most popular ones.

-Self-Correction-
Also known as 'noticing', this kind of correction needs a subtle suggestion from the teacher to the student. After that, the student corrects the mistake by himself / herself. However, the self-correction may occur even if the teacher does not point out the mistake, which mostly comes off in advanced learners.

-Peer Correction-
As its name suggests, this type of correction involves the participation of the whole class or a single student. Right away the mistake is made, the teacher evidences the error and asks to a student or to the class for the correct answer. By doing this, the learner who made the mistake does not feel exposed and learns by the cooperation of his / her classmates.

-Teacher Correction-
Perhaps, the most common way of using correction. As teachers, we are responsible for reshaping the students' 'correctness'. Our duty is to spot the mistake, and by either telling him / her right away or after his / her performance what he / she did wrong. After that, we should ask him / her to repeat what was his / her intention to say in order to check if it was understood.

So, by having said that, let us apply these techniques in our classrooms and avoid the fossilization of what we think are minor mistakes. We will be preventing embarrassing moments in their future.