To correct or not to correct?

Oksana Konoplia
∗ Over 10 years of experience
in ELT (corporate, kids,
teens, adults)
∗ 2013-2016 Head of Studies
∗ 2016-2019 Academic
Director at STUDY Academy
2018 – CELTA (pass A)
2019 – DELTA Module 1
IELTS AM Band score 8.0
TOEFL Ibt score 109
What is feedback?
Is it important in language teaching?
What kinds of feedback do you know?
Discuss in pairs
Feedback is information a teacher or another speaker,
including another learner, gives to learners on how well
they are doing, either to help the learner improve specific
points, or to help plan their learning.
(www.teachingenglish.org.uk)

FEEDBACK

CONTENT ACCURACY
 Feedback on content
FB on content is about validating what the students
have just done.
FB on content usually precedes FB on accuracy.
When giving feedback on content T focuses on the
ideas, discussed in the activity, summarizes them, asks
SS to find similarities / the most surprising facts etc.
FB on content should be time-efficient, but effective.
 Feedback on content

∗ The answers are provided on the board

∗ The answers are provided on the screen
∗ The answers are provided on the photocopy / handout
∗ Raise your hands if… (voting)
∗ Report what your partner said
∗ Report the most interesting / surprising fact your partner
mentioned
∗ Group competition with FB on board (e.g. which group can
name more clothes items)
∗ Comparing the answers – similarities and differences;
∗ Discussing the answers in an OC format
 © Speakout Pre-Int.,
2nd ed., Pearson, p.10

Which form of feedback

would you choose for:
1) Pre-listening discussion
(Speaking Ex.1)
2) Pre-teaching vocabulary
(Vocabulary, Ex. 2 a, b, c)
3) Listening for gist (Ex. 3 a);
4) Listening for details (Ex. 3
b);
5) Follow-up speaking (Ex. 3
c, d)?
Feedback on language (accuracy)

AN ERROR
or
A MISTAKE?

What’s the difference and

which do we usually
correct – a mistake or an
error?
 FEEDBACK ON ACCURACY
∗ “…error is a systematic
deviation, when a learner has
not learnt something and
consistently gets it wrong”
(Norrish(1987));
∗ Error - imperfect production
caused by genuine lack of
knowledge about the
language.
∗ Errors are produced as a
result of the lack or
misinterpretation of
knowledge, which, in turn,
may be a product of the
learner’s stage of language
development or of
inadequate teaching or
learning. Errors cannot be
corrected and need to be
dealt with by teaching or
reteaching.
 FEEDBACK ON ACCURACY

∗ Mistake – a slip of the ∗ Mistakes, on the other hand,

are products of the learner’s
tongue which the learner efforts to produce language
can self-correct when despite prior knowledge.
challenged because it is These may be due to a variety
of factors including over-
not caused by lack of enthusiasm, over-
knowledge. A mistake is generalization of rules and
sometimes referred to as interference from the mother
tongue. Once the cause has
a performance been established, mistakes can
error.(Contrast with be dealt with by a number of
error.) correction techniques.
FEEDBACK ON ACCURACY:

1) Immediate
2) Delayed
 FEEDBACK ON ACCURACY

∗ Are you teaching a skill or a system class?

∗ Does the activity focus on fluency or accuracy?
∗ Is it the first time the S is making this mistake?
∗ What stage of lesson is it?
∗ What’s the activity objective?
∗ Is it new material for the S / group?
∗ Has the S got sufficient language background to avoid
making this mistake / to self-correct?
∗ Does the S address another S (pair work), the whole group
or a teacher (OC)?
 FEEDBACK ON ACCURACY

IMMEDIATE (on the spot): DELAYED:

∗ It’s a language (system) ∗ It’s a skill lesson;
lesson and the mistake is ∗ It’s a FP stage of a
in TL; language lesson;
∗ It’s in CP stage of the ∗ The activity focuses on
class. fluency.
Immediate correction techniques:

∗ Echoing the correct sentence;

∗ Asking for a repetition / clarification;
∗ Repeat up to the error; eliciting self-correction;
∗ Metalinguistic feedback (e.g. preposition);
∗ Write options on the board;
∗ Gestures;
∗ Mouthing;
∗ Using fingers (word order);
∗ Write on the board, underline.
Delayed correction techniques:

∗ Echoing the correct sentence;

∗ Asking for a reformulation;
∗ Repeat up to the error;
∗ Ask a CCQ;
∗ Write options on the board;
∗ Write on the board, underline, highlight the issue.
 FEEDBACK ON ACCURACY

Delayed error correction:

∗ Write down at least 6
language chunks on the
board;
∗ Include at least 2 examples of
accurate language usage;
∗ Elicit corrections from SS
(never mention whose
mistake it was);
∗ Praise you students!
THANK YOU!

+38 097 944 76 68

o.konoplia@study.ua

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