Second edition

Ignoring errors. We ignore errors that are above the learners' language level. For example, an elementary learner telling us about what he did at the weekend might make an incorrect guess about how to talk about past time in English. We do not correct this mistake because the past simple is not a tense the learner has been taught yet. We might reformulate {see 10 below) part of the learner's utterance but we do not expect the learner to correct the mistake. We may also decide to ignore mistakes made by a particular learner because she is weak or shy. Finally, we often also ignore slips as learners can correct these themselves.

Reformulating. This is a technique which parents use when their young children make language mistakes. They correct the mistake by repeating the utterance correctly, without drawing the child's attention to the mistake. For example the child says 'We goed to the zoo yesterday' and the parent responds 'Yes, that's right, we went: to the zoo yesterday'. We can also use this technique in the classroom, particularly when we do not want to interrupt a learner or stop the How of the interaction.

Recasting. Sometimes we recast a student utterance by rewording it and saying it back to the learner in its improved form, for example the student says T am not of the same opinion as my friend' and the teacher says 'Oh, you mean you don't agree with him'.


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Unit 32 Correcting learners

12. 
    Giving the rule and an example or definition. In some situations, it can help
    

learners if we provide the grammar rule and then give or elicit an example and a definition. This would not be appropriate in a class of young learners but might be appropriate in a class of adult learners at an high intermediate language level.
Written correction
Look at this story written by a learner. In the margin, there is a code written by the teacher to show different kinds of mistakes. Can you work out what the code means?
My Best Friend

1. 
   к I I going to tell you about my best friend. Her name is Betty. She is tall I Wo I and has got long hair dark. Her favourite food is chocolate and her [Sp j favourite drink is cola. Her hobbies are writting short stories and [y ] looking at TV. At the weekend we go shopping in the mall and meet our |p I friends. Its fun!
   

The teacher has used a correction code to indicate the types of mistakes that the learner has made. This enables learners to make their own corrections. Here is an explanation of the letters and symbols:


к


Sp


p


= word missing
There is a missing auxiliary in the first line. The learner has written 'I
going' when it should he T am going'.
= word order
There is a word order mistake in line 2, The sentence 'She is tall and has
got long hair dark' should he 'She is tail and has got long dark hair'.
= spelling
There is a spelling mistake in line 3. The word 'writting' should be
'writing'.
- vocabulary
There is a vocabulary mistake in line 4. The learner has used looking at'
when the correct word is 'watching'.
= punctuation (comma, full stop, etc.)
The learner has used the wrong punctuation in line 5, The learner has
written 'Its' without the apostrophe. The correct version is 'It's'.


Other examples of symbols in a correction code are:


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