Error Correction for Students

[Niko]

Correcting Students the Right Way

Being a teacher, you will no doubt be bombarded with incorrect grammar, missing vocabulary and incorrect pronunciation. It is your job to improve these aspects for benefit of students. So what is the correct way of improving our students' English ability?

Error correction depends on the situation:

- Who are your students?
- How old are they?
- What is their English level?
- Are you teaching group or private lessons?
- What about the personality of the students? Are they easily embarrassed?

These are just some of the points you need to consider as a teacher, and then you can tailor the way you conduct error correction for students.

Methods of error correction are:

• Correct directly
• Correct by using anonymous indirect teacher / peer correction.
• Paraphrase correctly the students' erroneous utterances under the guise of ascertaining understanding.
• Elicit peer / self-correction.
• Allow student's the opportunity to use language clarification.

The ESL classroom generally presents aggressive and co-operative students. So it is your job to ensure they do learn. Don't forget to also consistently compliment student's for desirable student behaviours.