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A few days ago I wrote a short post about correcting errors in spoken English.

This morning I received an email with a teacher's thoughts on this subject which I have included here as a guest post.

Khazin teaches English in Indonesia and we have had some very interesting chats by email and Skype.

I hope one day he will also write a guest post about his experiences as an English teacher in Indonesia.

Thank you, Khazin, for your permission to include your thoughts on error correction here.

Correcting Students’ Speech Errors (by Khazin)

All people sometimes make speech errors caused mostly by Shift, Exchange, Anticipation, Preservation, Addition, Deletion, Substitution, Blend or other causes.

For example, one of my students said, ”Ok my friends, I am going to talk about regelion now" (religion). During the 1992 campaign, President George Bush began his remarks for one speech by saying, ”I don’t want to run the risk of ruining what is a lovely recession." (reception) (Newsweek,1992).

Many teachers are trying to find a model of correcting the students’ speech errors. The problem is when and how they should correct the speech errors of learners in their classroom. This problem has also become the most difficult question among teachers.

Teachers must be careful to administer students’ error treatment. If the teachers make too much correction of the students’ speech errors, the students will feel that their English is too bad, making them unmotivated to go on speaking. But if the teachers do not correct their speech errors, especially their pronunciation, I am afraid the wrong pronunciation will fossilize.

Brown (2000) stated that too much negative cognitive feedback – barrage of interruption, corrections, and overt attention to malformations – often leads learners to shut off their attempts at their communication. They perceive that so much is wrong with their production that there is a little hope of getting anything right.

On the other hand, too much positive feedback – willingness of the teacher-hearer to let errors go uncorrected, to indicate understanding when understanding may not have occurred – serves to reinforce the errors of the speaker-learner. The result is the persistence, and perhaps the eventual fossilization of such errors.

Some students like and hope their errors are corrected as soon as possible but the others do not. Some students do not like to be interrupted when they are speaking. They think that the interruption will make what are in their mind disappear. Krashen and Terrell (1983) recommend no direct treatment of errors at all.

In short, I would like to say that teachers ought to be close to the students in order that they know who the students are. They should know what the students are like and what they expect from the teachers. Never let the students make wrong pronunciation to avoid them from wrong pronunciation fossilization. And don’t “kill” the students’ willingness to express their opinion.

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Today is European Day of Languages.

European Day of Languages (EDL) was started in 2001 by the Council of Europe and is celebrated every year on the 26th September.

Many events are organized across Europe in schools, colleges and language classes, and on television and radio stations, and Europeans are encouraged to learn other languages, and to have fun promoting intercultural understanding and celebrating cultural and linguistic heritage and diversity.

You can learn more about the European Day of Language on the Council of Europe web site.

Many people are inspired to begin learning a new language on European Day of Language, and others find it is a good time for setting goals for their language learning. So, wherever you are in the world, if you have been thinking about improving your language skills perhaps now is the perfect time to sign up for a new course or, if you’re already learning a language, to think about your strengths and weaknesses, and to plan or review your personal goals and draw up an action plan.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting some ideas to help you plan and review your goals for your language learning: ideas that will help you stay motivated and focused and on track.

I’m about to start on my own journey with a new language and next week I’ll be starting Russian language lessons. I’m very interested in Russian literature and I would like to be able to read some of the great works of Russian literature in their original language.

I would also like to learn Spanish and Polish one day, plus improve my very basic German and not-quite-so-basic French. There are over 6000 languages spoken in the world – and so little time to learn!

What languages would you like to learn, and why?

In my English lessons I sometimes I find there is a tension between the correction of errors on the one hand, and the desire for communicative fluency on the other, and it can be relatively tricky to achieve a balance between the two.

It is difficult (and often counter productive)to interrupt group discussions that are in full flow in order to correct grammar or pronunciation and, although it can be much easier to correct errors when working one-to-one with a student, even then it can be distracting for the student to be stopped, corrected, and then have to continue where they left off.

Making a note of errors during activities for follow up work in successive lessons works to an extent, but I find this is not always satisfactory either.

I recently asked one of my student’s opinions on this, and she said that she much preferred to be corrected as soon as it was clear she had made a mistake. She felt that going over corrections at a later date was not very useful because the mistakes had often been forgotten by then, and discussions about the ‘mistake’ were out of context and consequently of little use.

How do you feel about error correction?

Do you prefer it if your teacher stops you immediately she or he recognizes an error, and then explains the language point to you?

Or do you prefer to carry on talking and then discuss any grammar or pronunciation problems when you have finished your speaking activity?

Photo by *clairity*

Do you want to learn English:

• For work or business?
• For travel?
• To prepare for exams?
• To enter Further or Higher education?
• To prepare for your Citizenship Test?
• For personal development or to find new friendships?

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