Error correction is a way to develop competence of language learners.

Errors are a
natural and indispensable part of the learning process. They can be used in order to attain
conscious knowledge of a foreign/second language, because errors provide feedback, they tell
teachers something about the effectiveness of their materials and teaching techniques, and
show them what parts of the syllabus they have been following, have been inadequately
learned or taught and need further attention. With a new group of learners, errors provide the
information for creating a remedial syllabus. Error corrections are very useful as a strategy
for learning a language. The best strategy to correct language learners’ errors is to let the
students correct their own errors with their teacher’s help. It is necessary for the errors to be
corrected. Correction should help students to become more accurate in their use of language.
The main function of error correction is to prevent mistakes from becoming permanent.

We can identify two types of correction: oral correction and written correction. Both
of them need to be evaluated and corrected, that can be realized by using qualifiers like “well
done”, “excellent”. Thus an important thing in both error corrections is that we should pay
attention to and emphasize not only what was wrong, but especially what is right, otherwise it
can cause demoralization and create frustration. Also if there are too many errors in both oral
and writing correction it is not recommended to correct them all, as it can discourage
students.The writing correction gives the possibility to evaluate and correct errors easier and
also it reflects them more clearly to the students, especially when using colorful pens. We can
emphasize the following strategies in oral correction: Recast is used without any comments
and is considered the easiest and fastest way to correct a student, but it is less effective,
because students may not pay attention to it and remember the error. Through elicitation, the
teacher helps the student to realize and to correct the error. Clarification request means the
teacher clarifying what the student meant when making the error. Repetition involves using
intonations by the teacher in order to make the learner think it over. All of these three
strategies are good strategies as they involve the thinking process of the student and give
her/him the chance to correct errors by themselves. Metalinguistic feedback is used to explain
the student the error he/she made using grammatical or linguistic terminology. Explicit
correction strategy highlights exactly the mistake that was made, and what is the right form.

In my opinion it's due to each teacher what kind of strategies they are going to use, as
it depends on the class and students they are teaching and the situation they are facing,
because one of them can help with some and not work at all with others.