Toolkit 2:

Focusing on Language
Chapter 14
 Errors and Correction
Student errors are evidence that progress is being made.
Errors often show us that a student is experimenting with
language, trying out ideas, taking risks, attempting to
communicate, making progress.

In dealing with errors, teachers have looked for correction

techniques that, rather than simply giving SS the answer on
a plate, help them to make their own corrections.
 Sometimes language can be grammatically correct
but completely inappropriate in the context in which
it is used. Errors can also be made in intonation and
rhythm; in fact, wrong intonation seems to cause
more unintended offense to native speakers than
almost any other kind of error.
Five teacher decisions have to be made when
working with oral errors in class:
What kind of error has been made (grammatical?
pronunciation? etc.)

Whether to deal with it (is it useful to correct it?)

When to deal with it (now? end of activity? later?)

Who will correct (teacher? student self-correction?

other SS?)

Which technique to use to indicate that an error has

ocurred or to enable correction.
Some considerations when deciding if a
correction should be made:
Am I correcting
Will it help or hinder
something they don’t
learning?
know?

What is my intention
How will the student in correcting?
take the correction?
 When to correct
• Immediately;
• after a few minutes;
• at the end of the activity;
• later in the lesson;
• at the end of the lesson;
• in the next lesson; later in the course;
• never.
Main objective of
When to correct
speaking activity

• Focused immediate correction

Accuracy • Later
• Not at all

• Later
• Brief, unobtrusive, immediate correction
Fluency
(scaffolding)
• Not at all
 One strategy used by
many teachers during
fluency activities is to
listen in discreetly
and collect a list of
overheard errors.
Later on, you can use
that list to provide
sentences to discuss, to
set an exercise, to plan
the next lesson, etc.
 To encourage student self-correction or student-to-student
correction you can follow two steps:
• Indicate that an error has been made. You may also indicate
what kind of error it is, where in a sentence the error is, etc.
• Invite correction or help the student towards a correction.
Some ideas for indicating/correcting errors:
• Use facial expression.
• Use a gesture combined with facial expression.
• Use finger correction.
• Repeat sentence up to error.
• Echo sentence with changed intonation or
stress.
• Ask a question.
• Draw a timeline on the board.
• Do the chain.
 The Chain

It’s an important student-student

correction technique : if student A
makes an error, elicit a correction
from student B . If he also fails to
get it right, then get another student
to help him . This is where the chain
comes in: C corrects B, and only
when B has the idea does B then
correct A’s error. A then gives the
correct answer back to you.
Some ideas for indicating/correcting errors:
Another correction technique that may be the quickest, most
appropriate, and most useful way of helping would be:

Say the corrected

sentence yourself

However, many teachers prefer to use it only when the other

techniques don’t seem to work.
 Testing
Progress Tests Proficiency Tests
 Testing (cont.)
• You can test anything that has been
studied (the four language systems and
the four language skills).
• Traditional “pen-and-paper” tests are
usually made up of types of questions:
– Discreet item tasks which are likely to be
marked objectively.
– Integrative tasks which are likely to be
marked subjectively.
 3 Characteristics of a Good Test

1. A good test will seem fair and appropriate to the

SS (and to anyone who needs to know the
results, e.g. head teacher, employers, parents,
etc)
2. It will not be too troublesome to mark.
3. It will provide clear results that serve the
purpose for which it was set.
 Criteria Descriptors
Rather than Grades?

Give encouragement that Point out areas where

something is being done learners are not achieving
well as much as they could

The aim of
progress tests

Giving grades may not be the most effective way to assess, especially
when skills are being tested.
 Testing (cont.)
• An interesting alternative
option is to base the tests
around assessing if learners
are ‘successful’ when
compared or against some
‘can do’ criteria statements.
• These statements can reflect
the syllabus of the course, so
SS will have a clear idea of
what level of achievement
they are aiming for.
 Testing (cont.)
A criteria-based assessment scheme could measure
each ‘can do’ on a scale of four:
1. The candidate meets and surpasses the criteria.
2. The candidate meets all main aspects of the
criteria.
3. The candidate meets the criteria in some
respects, but with significant problems.
4. The candidate is unable to meet the criteria in
any respect.
 Some Common Discreet-item Testing
Techniques (1/5)

Single sentence
Transformation Cloze
of a given word

1. GAP-FILL

Using other Using given

clues words

Multiple choice
Some Common Discreet-item
Testing Techniques (2/5)

Using given
words

2. Sentence
Transformation

Following a
given
instruction
Some Common Discreet-item Testing
Techniques (3/5)

Rearranging
words

3. Sentence
Situational construction & Using given
reconstruction words

Finding and
correcting
mistakes
Some Common Discreet-item Testing
Techniques (4/5)

True/False

4. Two-option
answers

Correct/Incorrect Defined options

Some Common Discreet-item Testing
Techniques (5/5)

Pictures and
words

Putting jigsaw Placing words

5. Matching in correct sets,
pieces together
lists, etc.

Grammatical
labelling
 Assessing Speaking
• Prepare criteria
• Explain criteria, set
the task and keep
track of individual
‘can dos’.
• Speaking tasks
• Self-assessment
Using the Learners’ First Language
There are many helpful ways of using L1 in
class:
• Community Language Learning (CLL).
• Variation.
• Mediation.
• English whispers.
• Diplomatic affairs.
• Diplomatic incident.
• Translation role-plays.
 Cuisenaire Rods
• There is no ‘right’ methodology to use them.
• The rods are a visual aid in the same way
that the board is.
• The difference lies in the fact that the rods
are tangible; you can pick them up, and
move them around; a picture or an
arrangement made with them can easily be
altered many times; you can make a scene
and later change it.
Some approaches and some examples

• Focusing on grammar
by restricting the
lexis.
• Making meaning
tangible and being
precise about
meaning.
• Clarifying structure.
• Contextualizing.
Focusing on grammar by
restricting the lexis
Clarifying structure
 Dictionaries

• Bilingual
They can be very useful at
lower levels since they offer a
swift way of getting an idea of
the meaning of some of the
flood of new words they meet.
However, they have some
limitations.
• Monolingual
They are very useful for ‘fine-
tuning information’ with
which to make an appropriate
selection for SS’ needs. If SS
can use them, they have a skill
that allows them to work more
independently.

Both kinds of dictionaries are useful depending on the purpose that

learners have.
You can actively help by
including systematic
training in dictionary use.
Two key general skills to
work on are:
• Knowing alphabetical
order;
• Knowing phonemic
script.
Some important dictionary-using skills include:

• Using alphabetical order to quickly find a keyword

entry.
• Checking whether your spelling of a word is correct.
• Using phonemic script to find which sounds are
pronounced.
• Finding how many syllables a word has.
• Learning where a word is stressed.
• Interpreting definitions.
• Selecting the word that best expresses the meaning
you want.
Short dictionary tasks

• Order
• Anagrams
• Guessing spelling
• Which word?
• Sounds to spelling
• Same sounds
• Where’s the stress
• Dictionary race
 Other suggestions:
Longer-term and less game-like work would
actively encourage SS to see their dictionaries
as a resource when writing, speaking, reading
and listening:

• Upgrading
• Alongside reading
• Explore
 Timelines
They are a tool for clarifying the ‘time’ of various verb
tenses.
NOW

PAST FUTURE

A timeline attempts to make the flow of time visible,

and thus enable learners to see more clearly exactly
how one tense differs from another, or how a single
sentence can refer to different “times”.
 Timelines

• Unfortunately, the • When you are asked

appealing clarity of for an explanation of
diagrams like these the meaning of a verb
may be an tense, try putting a
oversimplification. timeline on the board
• Timelines are one as a visual aid.
way of making • They are one way of
English grammar becoming clearer
more accessible. about meaning.
 A Useful Correction Technique:
Fingers
A simple but a basic
technique for clarifying
the structure of sentences
and for instant error
correction, especially
useful when you are
working mainly on spoken
English without
immediate use of written
models.
• The first time you use
‘finger sentences’ make
sure your SS are clear that
fingers represent words.
• Allow time to focus clearly
on the individual
words/fingers and clarify
the problem they have.
• Once learners have seen
the technique 3 or 4 times,
it soon becomes a valuable
tool.