Second edition

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Unit 32 Correcting learners

(See pages 243-4 for answers)


Read through the following classroom situations and decide which might be the most appropriate correction techniques to use. There may be more than one possibility.

1. 
   The teacher is presenting a new structure to an elementary class and is asking students to repeat the target sentence in small groups. She notices that some of the students are not using an appropriate rhythm in the utterance.
   
2. 
   A teacher is working with a class of young learners. He has asked them to take it in turns to talk briefly to the rest of the class about their favourite toy. Learners have brought in realia to help them. The first learner to speak makes mistakes with a dj ect: i ve order a nd со mpa ra live s.
   
3. 
   The teacher has collected an essay which her intermediate students wrote for homework. She wants the students to become more aware of their own errors and mistakes.
   
4. 
   Students in an intermediate young learner class are preparing posters on the unit topic for display. The teacher notices that there are several errors on the posters.
   

Think about these comments from teachers. Which do you agree with and why?
3 I'd like to use different strategies and techniques for correcting my learners, but I find that in the classroom I automatically use echo correction without thinking.

2. 
   My students are all teenagers. I encourage them to use peer and self-correction but. they prefer it when I correct them.
   
3. 
   f always correct all my students⁷ mistakes in their written work. I don't think it's a good idea to leave errors in their texts.
   

1 Try using some different correction techniques and strategies in your classes and write up in your Teacher Portfolio your reflections on how the learners reacted to them and how effective you think they were.

2. 
   For some more practical ideas on different correction techniques, look at Chapter 12 in Tasks for Teacher Education: Trainers' Book by Rosie Tanner and Catherine Green, Pearson Education Ltd 1998.
   
3. 
   Observe one or more colleagues and notice what correction techniques they use. Use or adapt the Observation Sheet on page 249 of A Course in Language Teaching by Penny Ur, Cambridge University Press 1996.
   
4. 
   Look at 'Correcting written work' at: http://www.cambridge.org/elt7tkt
   

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Module з

TKT practice task 32 (See page 245 for answers)
For questions 1=6, match the correction techniques with the teacher’s aims listed A~G. There is one extra option which you do not need to use.


Teacher’s aims


A to expose students to corrections without them being conscious of it В to focus on pronunciation G to focus on fluency and give students encouragement
D to develop understanding of language use by using a visual representation E to focus students on features of connected speech F to encourage self-correction G to encourage peer correction


Correction techniques

1. 
   The teacher decided to ignore the mistakes which she heard students making in their role-plays.
   
2. 
   The teacher used finger correction, highlighting what the missing word in the question was.
   
3. 
   The teacher reformulated a young learner’s utterance.
   
4. 
   The teacher put students into groups and asked them to read and comment on each other’s written summaries.
   
5. 
   The teacher pointed at a symbol on the phonemic chart.
   
6. 
   The teacher drew a time line on the board showing the difference between the present simple and present continuous after several students had used the wrong tense.
   

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