Correction and Evaluation (Penny Ur)

Feedback is the information given to the learner about his performance of a learning task. It
has two components;
Assessment​: the learner is informed how well or badly he or she has performed. A
percentage grade on an exam would be an example.
Correction​: Specific information is provided on aspects of the learner’s performance. It can
be through explanation or elicitation from the learner.

We can give assessment without correcting but we can’t comment on what’s right or wrong
without conveying some kind of assessment.
Feedback always involves judgement but teachers have to try this more positive because
mistakes are a natural part of language learning.

Approaches to giving of feedback

Audiolingualism: ​negative assessment must be avoided. Positive assessment

provides reinforcement and promotes learning.

Humanistic methodologies:​ assessment must be positive or non-judgement.

Promotes a positive self-image of the learner.

Skill theory​: the learner needs feedback on how well he or she is doing.
Assessment must be honest.
Correction of mistakes.

Audiolingualism:​ People learn by getting things right in the first place and having their
performance reinforced.

Cognitive code-learning​: Mistakes are regrettable. They should be corrected to prevent

them from occurring again.

Interlanguage:​ Mistakes are not regrettable. Correcting them is a way of bringing the
learner’s interlanguage closer to the target language.

Communicative Approach:​ not all mistakes need to be corrected. The aim of language
learning is to receive and convey meaningful messages.

Monitor theory: ​The main activity of the teacher should be to provide comprehensible input
from which the learner can acquire language, not to correct.

● There are two types of evaluation:

Formative: this one is the type of evaluation in which we give students correction and
assessment and it’s called formative.
Summative: the teacher evaluates how well or bad is a student at a certain point in time. She
evaluates how he has progressed during a particular course:

● Gathering info for assessment:

-Test: the most common way of gathering information is through tests.

-Teacher assessment: the teacher gives a subjective estimate of the learner’s performance.

-Continuous assessment: the final grade is a combination of the grades the student received
for different assignments during the course.

-Self-assessment: the learners evaluate their own performance.

-Portfolio: the learner gather a collection of assignments done over a long period.

Criteria (how we decide how good it is)

Criterion-referenced​: how well the learner is performing according to their age, (....) or
level.

Norm-referenced:​ how well the learner is performing according to others in his group.

Individual-referenced:​ how well the learner is performing compared to his previous

performances.