ERROR CORRECTION

By David Arévalo

Beg your pardon?Listen to the question.Answer only if the questions is correct.If the question is incorrect, say, “Beg your pardon?”

In this session we will…

Discuss approaches to error correctionEvaluate when and how correctDiscuss effective ways to provide feedback

Approaches to Error CorrectionBehavioristic approach: Error correction is closely tied to it, especially in the positive and negative reinforcement.

Humanistic Approach: Error correction is relevant, since it sees students as “whole persons” taking into account his/her feelings, needs, personal situation, and own experiences.

Cognitive Approach: Error correction is useless and not relevant, due to the complex mental processes the student goes through when learning.

Communicative Approach: Error correction should be limited, since communicating the message is more important than a focus on structure.

What are the aims of error correction?

Building confidence

Raising awareness

Acknowledging achievement and progress

Helping students to be more accurate when using the target language

Attitudes to error correction

Discuss the following questions with a partner

What’s your students’ attitude to error correction?

How do you deal with it?

Learning Environment

Summative AssessmentMethods we use to find out how well someone is doing when they have arrived at an end point. They provide a judgment that summarizes someone's knowledge or ability at a given moment.

Formative Assessment 1) How we are doing right and what we need to improve 2) What students are doing right & they need to improve.

Formative Feedback: Buzz wordsFormulaic: Structures or communication patterns that are predictable and usually the same, such as greetings, shopping dialogues, etc

Summative feedback: Feedback that takes place at the end of a learning period to measure what has been achieved by the learners.

Pragmatic: Social and cultural aspects of language use

Error: Language production that is not correct. In applied linguistics research, it refers to patterns in production that shows incompleteor incorrect learning.

Mistake: Generally, a mistake is incorrect language production. In research, as opposed to the specialized meaning of “error” (see above), a mistake is the result of inattention or carelessness, rather than incomplete learning.

Formative Feedback• Understand why the error occurred. Did the student not know how to produce the correct language, or did they make a careless mistake?

• Determine the type of error. If it was a language error, what kind of error was it? Grammar? Vocabulary? Pragmatic in nature (inappropriate usage)?

• Make the feedback fit both the kind of error and the context in which it occurred. Avoid trying to correct every error. The teacher must decide whether the error is important enough to correct, whether it prevents understanding, or whether fluency is more important for this task, so some errors can be overlooked.

Formative Feedback Ct’d• Avoid over-correction and too much negative feedback. Whenever possible, use feedback techniques that allow learners to self-correct, either individually or in groups.

• Above all, encourage student learning through positive feedback. Tell students that making mistakeshelps them learn. Help students be successful and confident. Use positive feedback techniquesthat help to create a comfortable atmosphere in which students see making mistakes as part of thelearning process.

Learner Feedback: General Dos and Don’ts

Answer after viewingDiscuss the following questions in groups of 4

1. Who did the teacher give feedback to in order to increase student participation? Is this something you could do in your own situation? Why or why not? What techniques do you use to get learners to participate actively?

2. This teacher discussed two ideas related to classroom atmosphere. One was something she did, and one was a characteristic of the students. What were they? How are they related to giving feedback? How did the teacher’s beliefs and behavior encourage a trial-and-error process?

3. With a partner, write the step-by-step procedure that the second teacher followed in using groups. Do you believe the feedback in the procedure can be effective? Why or why not? Could you use this procedure for feedback in your own situation? If not, try to adapt this idea. How could you use peer feedback in your own situation?

Learner Feedback: Feedback on Oral Production

On-the-spot feedback.

• Delayed feedback.

• Relevance of the feedback to the task.

Learner Feedback: Feedback on Oral Production

Before watching second part of the Video, 1. With a partner, Provide examples of negative and positive

feedback.” As you watch, list the types of feedback (positive, negative) you see in the appropriate columns.

2. Determine what the task is and decide if the feedback given is appropriate for the task.

3. Look for things in the lesson to which the teacher does not draw attention that might be appropriate for delayed feedback.

Learner Feedback: Feedback on Written Production

As you watch the video, 1. List the different writing activities that you see students performing or hear

listed on the video.

2. Listen for feedback techniques that can be used with writing activities.After watching the video3. Compare your list of writing activities with a partner. Together, add to your lists.

4. After each activity, write one or two techniques that might be effective ways of giving feedback on the activity. These may be feedback techniques that you observed on the video, or they may come from your own experiences or reading.

Learner Feedback: Feedback on Written Production

After watching the video, 1. List the different writing activities that you see students

performing or hear listed on the video.

2. Listen for feedback techniques that can be used with writing activities.

Categorising Errors

Categorising ErrorsWe can categorise an error by the reason for its production or by its linguistic type.What’s the reason for the error?• It is the result of a random guess (pre-systematic).• It was produced while testing out hypotheses (systematic).• It is a slip of the tongue, a lapse, a mistake (caused by carelessness, fatigue etc.) (post-

systematic).To be sure about the type of error produced by a student we need to know where the

student’s interlanguage is (the language used by a student in the process of learning a second language). What type is it? We can classify errors simply as productive (spoken or written) or receptive (faulty understanding). Alternatively we can use the following:

• A lexical error - vocabulary.• A phonological error - pronunciation.• A syntactic error- grammar.

Correcting WritingA Model for Correcting WritingWhen writing we do not have the chance to rephrase or clarify what we are saying. Our

messagemust be clear the first time. Written errors are also less tolerated than spoken errors outside

the classroom.Look at this model for correcting written work and evaluate it for your teaching situation.1. Comprehensibility• Can you understand the output?• Are there areas of incoherence?• Do these affect the overall message?• Does communication break down?2. Task• Has the student addressed the task?3. Syntax and Lexis• Are they appropriate to the task?• Are they accurate?

Correcting Spoken ErrorsCriteria for Dealing with Spoken ErrorsIn ‘Correction’ by M. Bartram and R. Walton present these questions as a guide to deciding

whether to let an error go or not. Which do you consider to be the most important?1. Does the mistake affect communication?2. Are we concentrating on accuracy at the moment?3. Is it really wrong? Or is it my imagination?4. Why did the student make the mistake?5. Is it the first time the student has spoken for a long time?6. Could the student react badly to my correction?7. Have they met this language point in the current lesson?8. Is it something the students have already met?9. Is this a mistake that several students are making?10. Would the mistake irritate someone?11. What time is it?12. What day is it?13. What’s the weather like?

Practical ideas for correcting writing

Grammar Auctions (From Grammar Games by M.Rinvolucri CUP) Students receive a number of sentences taken from their written work. Some are correct, some wrong. Students in groups have to try to buy the correct ones in the auction. They have a limited amount of money. The team with the most correct sentences wins.

Letter to Camila: Focus: A review of wish sentences in the past and present Before the class, prepare a letter allegedly written by you (or a famous person!) to a loved one, containing a series of regrets in the past and/or present (see example).In class, students read the letter and work in pairs to express each of the regrets as a wish. Students can then write their own letters to give to other students, testing each other on wish sentences.

Let’s check some writing Assignments

Thanks for attending!!!!