ERROR_CORRECTION TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING LANGUAGES

ERROR_CORRECTION TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING LANGUAGES

1. THE PEDAGOGY OF ERROR CORRECTION What’s the best way to correct student mistakes?

2. INTRODUCTION In the teaching and learning process , people are always complaining about students mistakes . They think that they are committing too many mistakes . Though different educational methods have been introduced , mistakes are still being considered rather as a negative phenomenon that one should avoid at any cost . This point of view , however , doesn’t mirror everyday life since it is by committing / making mistakes / errors that human beings are learning .

3. INTRODUCTION The notion of error seems to be having a negative connotation. Thus , lots of questions are preying on my mind so much so that we are wondering if all human beings are susceptible to commit mistakes , why is it difficult to accept them ? If we are all bound to make mistakes why are we doing our best/ the best we can to avoid them ? Let’s , first of all talk about some factors that can be the cause of students need to be corrected . And then give some tips .

4. LANGUAGE LEARNING SKILLS AREAS SPEAKING Pronunciation , vocabulary WRITING Grammaticality , spelling , cohesion LISTENING Identification of main ideas, critical thinking READING Identification of main ideas, critical thinking

5. STUDENT PREFERENCES PRONUNCIATION GRAMMAR VOCABULARY DISCOURSE TECHNIQUES FACT/ EVIDENCE Indeed , a ccording to Chenoworth , Day, Chun and Luppesco (1983 ) the skills areas that students most desire correction are in the order pronunciation , grammar , vocabulary , discourse techniques , facts .

6.   Part 1: While-speaking correction Correction symbols Some teachers use prompts for correction while speaking . Some well-known examples are : Make a ‘T’ with fingers to illustrate missing ‘the’. Show a small word missing by holding thumb and forefinger close together . Cross hands over to show wrong word orderTo these I would like to add some more prompts, using sounds , gestures and puns (jeu de mots): Pull ear to show irregular past tense : ‘ ear ’ sounds the same as the first syllable in ‘ irregular ’. ‘ With ’ and ‘by’ e.g .  with car  - teacher waves to signal ‘bye’, which sounds the same as ‘by’. Confusion of auxiliary e.g .  I aren’t like swimming  - sing ‘Do be do be do’ ( Strangers in the night - Frank Sinatra).

7. Missing ‘ ing ’ e.g .  I am wait for a bus  - T says ‘(t) ing ’ like a bell ringing . Unnecessary ‘to’ e.g .  I must to go  - draw -2 (minus t(w)o) on the board in the air . Where   would   is used wrongly , e.g . in conditionals , tap on ‘ wood ’ to show that ‘ would ’ is wrong . Wrong present tense e.g . simple vs. continuous : Use a circling hand motion to prompt continuous , use open arms to show wide , e.g . general time. Buzz like a bee to show missing verb ‘ be ’ e.g .  I going . Student says   For going   instead of  to go : Hold up four fingers and then cover two of them to show ‘for’ (4) should be ‘to’ (2). Make a scissors motion with fingers to cut out unnecessary words . e.g . … which I like it .

8. I don’t want no tea  - make two minus symbols with your fingers , then cross them to make a plus to show two negatives make a positive in English. On/in  - make an ‘o’ with your finger / thumb and change it to ‘I’ straight finger , or vice versa (if appropriate to your culture!). Adjective used instead of adverb . E.g .  He walked slow - make an L shape with your right index finger and thumb . This looks like both ‘l’ and ‘y’, so signifies ‘ ly ’. Close the thumb and finger to show that the ‘ ly ’ is unnecessary , i.e. adv. > adj , and open to change adj. > adv. You could invent own symbols . While students need to learn them , which may take time, it brings humour into the sometimes serious task of correction and avoids the need for words . Once the students have learnt the symbols , there is also potential for peer correction.

9. Correction table Draw a table on the board . While students are talking , point to the type of mistake , giving students a chance to self-correct. You could ask for volunteers to speak , e.g . a pair. Afterwards students could try it in groups, with two speaking and one listening and pointing . A table could look like this : Preposition wrong / missing Wrong tense , e.g . simple / continuous Article a / the missing / wrong Phonology , sounds e.g . silent letters Word stress Wrong infinitive form , e.g .  Let him to go. Simple present , 3rd person   -s,   e.g .  He go. They goes . Word order , e.g .  I speak well English . Wrong word Wrong form , e.g . adverb / adjective Wrong pronoun , he / she , we /us Irregular past tense , e.g . swimmed

10. Correction drill Choose a confident student who will not mind having mistakes corrected . Explain that you are going to correct him as he speaks , and that the purpose behind this is not to humiliate , but to help. The student should speak , e.g . tell a story about himself . You repeat each sentence. If there are mistakes , you repeat the sentence correctly and the rest of the class does the same after you . The rationale is 1) students get to hear how they should sound , 2) the rest of the class is involved , and they listen to the original and the teacher’s improvement . 3) By using intonation to show interest , approval , disapproval , and surprise in a light- hearted way , which can be echoed by the class, you focus on meaning as well as form . Example :

11. S1:  I stood up late . T:  Oh you got up late ! ( disapproving ) SS:  You got up late ! ( disapproving ) S1:  I got up late , then I eat big breakfast. T:  You had a big breakfast. ( amused ) SS:  You had a big breakfast. ( amused ) etc. S1:   Yes , I had a big breakfast then I went at the park .

12. Teacher’s shadow Put students in groups for conversation. Choose one student to shadow you while you walk around , monitoring. When you hear a mistake , correct it and replace the student who made it with your shadow , so that you have new shadow . Continue until you have had a number of different shadows . Shadows can help you listen for mistakes , too . The aims are: to give the students a teacher’s view of the class, to make students aware of mistakes . Also it should show it's not only weak students who make mistakes . As we noted in the introduction, ‘good’ students who speak more and try to use more complex language make mistakes , so stress that being a shadow is not a punishment .

13. Part 2: Post- speaking correction Speaking graph Ask for a pair of volunteers to speak on a certain subject . While they speak , draw a line on a graph which represents the students ’ level of speaking quality . When mistakes are made the line goes down. When the students are speaking well , it goes up. Make a note of the positive things as well as the mistakes . Here’s an example of a feedback commentary . After a slow start , this conversation picks up. The teacher notes the correct use of ‘ used to’. However a tense mistake is made. This is followed by a minor mistake , a missing preposition . Then there is a fluent stage with both students speaking well . Unfortunately one student uses a wrong word . However , contractions are well used . A mispronunciation towards the end is the only slight problem in the last stages.

14. An eminent scholar said one can use the below map to point out the student’s problem .

15. To give students encouragement, note that most of the time they are above the line of clear communication, only a couple of mistakes cause confusion for the listener , while other mistakes do not interfere with comprehension . Of course, not every mistake needs to be noted ; in fact as the purpose is to encourage, over-correction would be counter-productive . Note: if writing on the board distracts students , do it on paper and transfer to the board when they have finished .

16. Part 3: Students look at their own mistakes Two speaking , one secretary Getting students to focus on each other’s mistakes can be useful , if done tactfully and the reasons explained ( it is sometimes easier to see other people’s mistakes other than your own .) While two students speak , a third makes notes of anything that he or she thinks may be wrong . Afterwards the three students can discuss it .

17. Manual chat Instead of speaking to each other , students quickly pass pieces of paper back and forward with a written conversation in groups, a bit like chatting on the Internet. This has the advantage of being similar to spoken conversation, but leaving a written record that can be analyzed by students themselves .

18. Part 4: Written correction exercises Written correction exercises can raise awareness of errors made in speaking , and can be chosen to reflect students ’ common mistakes .

19. Booing and cheering correction Write six or so sentences on the board , some of which should contain mistakes . Students locate the mistakes as follows : As you point to each sentence, get the class to cheer or boo , according to whether they think it is correct or not. Put a cross next to the sentences the class thinks are incorrect. Point at these word by word until the mistake is located , again by booing and cheering .

20. Rule and mistake sentences To help students remember not to make mistakes , write sentences which both give and break the rules . Try getting students to correct these examples : 1. When you writing a present continuous sentence, always include the verb ‘to be ’ ( When you are writing …) 2. For making sentences expressing purpose , use an infinitive. 3. You know how to use an auxiliary verb in present tense questions? 4. If I you will tell me how to use ‘if’ with present , I will not make a mistake .

21. 5. I forgetted that some past tense verbs are irregular . 6. Teachers should not to let students use unnecessary words . 7 . When use an adverb clause, don’t forget to use a participle . 8 . Use a preposition when you listen the radio, don’t when you watch to the TV. 9 . He’s never used a past time clause with present perfect until last week . 10. Use ‘a’ the first time you introduce a word , but use ‘the’ for a same word later .

22. Conclusion: Turning a blind eye In the introduction we noted that while correction was necessary to prevent fossilization , over-correction could be demotivating . This means that teachers need to be selective in correction. Some students may notice that some mistakes are not being corrected . Here’s an activity you can use to explain this . Record students ’ mistakes and write them on the board , which you divide into two . Write on the right side if they are serious , i.e. interfere with communication, and on the left side if they are not. Ask students to help you decide . When finished , tell students that ‘to turn a blind eye ’ means to ignore something wrong , and this is usually done where to do something would be worse than to do nothing . The original expression is reputed to come from Admiral Nelson, who ignored a signal to retreat , by ‘ looking ’ at it with his blind eye , and then won the battle . Like battles , speaking a foreign language is a risky business, and in the interests of encouragement, mistakes are sometimes overlooked . Ask your students to cover their left eyes and concentrate on the mistakes on the right.

23. REFERENCES Chenoworth , NA , Day , RR , Chun , AE and Luppesco , S (1983), ‘Attitudes and preferences of ESL students to Error Correction’, University of Hawaii at Manoa . www.journals.cambridge.org DOI:http :// dx.doi.org/1,0.1017/S0272263100000310 Guenette , D . (2012). The Pedagogy of Error Correction: Surviving the Written Corrective Feedback Challenge . Revue Tesl du Canada . 30, 117-126 . Lederer , R ., ‘Jest for Fun: The World According to Student Bloopers’ , e-Perspectives, May 2009, www.hpisum.com/17LedererStudentBloopers.pdf. Accessed D e Silva , Connie . Error Correction Strategies for the MEB Classroom , Monash University English Language Centre, Victoria, Autralia Anna Gadd , Minimising Same Error Repetition and Maximising Progress in SLA: An Integrated Method , t he University of Western Australia, Australia

24. INTERNET REFERENCES http://www.onestopenglish.com/methodology/methodology/classroom-management/classroom-management-speaking-correction-techniques/146455.article

25. Thank you for your attention