Errors and error correction

What and why?

Making errors is an inevitable and necessary part of language learning. It is only through making errors, and hearing the correct forms, that students can develop their own understanding of how English works. It is thus important that students have as much opportunity as possible to produce language and, with the focus on using English creatively (rather than simply repeating language), the number of errors that students make will inevitably rise. Teachers thus need to think carefully about how they will respond to these errors.

The process of absorbing a new language structure takes considerable time. Teachers cannot, therefore, expect that simply correcting an error will produce immediate results. Some errors can remain even up to very advanced levels (such as the 's' in 'she lives', 'he goes', etc.). A strong emphasis on error correction cannot be expected to produce students who make few errors. In fact, an over-emphasis on error correction is likely to be counter-productive as students become deterred from using - and experimenting with - new language and vocabulary. But students do need to have their errors pointed out to them. The key is to limit correction to a small number of points at a time and to judge when the right moment for correction is.

Practical ideas

• The HELP YOURSELF section in the Workbook includes ideas on students' checking of their own work.
• Correcting students when they are in the middle of saying something may produce students who are afraid to talk. You can make a note of the errors students make and go through them at the end of the discussion/lesson.
• Limit yourself to correcting only a few errors in written work or after the students speak.
• For errors in WRITING, students can be encouraged to build up a short list of their most common errors. The list can be arranged to form a mnemonic of things to check (e.g. PATTIBS = plurals, articles, tenses, 'there is/are', '-ing' form, 'be', spelling).
• In monolingual classes most students will make the same errors. You may want to have 'an error of the week' game. Choose an error which most students make, tell them what it is and write the correct version on a piece of paper on the wall. This raises the students' consciousness about this particular error. They then have to try not to make this error all week. The student who succeeds can choose the 'error of the week' for the next week.