Give 3 examples of how teachers can correct oral errors and the theory behind them. What should teachers consider before correcting oral errors?

Showing incorrectness: repeating; echoing;

Indirect methods: self-correction; group correction;

Direct methods: teacher correction-each correct sentence should be repeated by the student who made the mistake first and then by the whole class in chorus; Teacher should be tolerant of student;s mistakes; Never give up correcting the mistakes;

Ways to react to and correct oral errors
e.g. If one student says ‘My sister love Paulo Zulu.’ Obviously how you react will depend on who said it, when in the lesson, the size/level of the class, that day’s aims and so on, but here are fifteen options to choose from:
• Ignore (and praise), e.g. Good. Does she? And does he love her? This is very often the best option when the student is perfectly comprehensible.
• Pause / give another chance, e.g. ask Sorry? to see if the student corrects him/herself when saying it again. This is the fairest way to see if it is a slip or intentional, and if the student can repair the error for him/herself. If not, unless the 3rd person form is your accuracy aim for the day I suggest you make a mental note and move on.
• Ask the student to repeat the phrase and then you elicit correction non-verbally, e.g. counting out the words on your fingers, gesture, raising an eyebrow, etc.
•Offer to the student or class for correction without indicating where, e.g. Nearly, Anybody? and if they can’t then do so yourself. The problem here is that students don’t usually listen closely enough to each other, especially in larger classes and so you end up forcing the student to repeat the error (when he/she now knows it is wrong) or echo it yourself, which is probably better done as below.
• Echo to elicit correction from the student him/herself or class: She love Paulo? Many teachers are reluctant to echo students’ mistakes but if done gently, it immediately brings the problem into focus for all concerned, allowing for fast, efficient and effective correction. I only use echo for this purpose, never echoing their answers to my questions or exercises from the book, so students know that when I do echo, there’s an error to correct.
• Non-verbal correction
Non-verbal techniques are equally effective. For example, many teachers draw and point to a large S on the board, have a snake or spider which they throw at students, or just hold up three fingers to indicate the 3rd person S, to prompt students to self correct. One my best buys in Brazil was an inflatable, plastic Superman (5 reais outside Congonhas airport). For years I’d been searching the world for the famous 3rd person. ‘Who do they mean?’, I asked myself. ‘Where can this person be?’ Well now I’d found him - it was Superman all along! So I keep him hanging in my classroom and, whenever anyone makes an error with the 3rd person S, I just point at his chest to remind them that ‘he’ needs an S. The whole class notice the error, the student can correct him/herself if need be, either aloud or just under his/her breath, and we can move on without having to elicit and drill the correct form. Soon students begin to do this for each other and constantly seeing him on the wall helps remind them to self-correct when working in pairs too. Simple, quick and efficient, this works equally well for plural S and the possessive ‘S.
A good idea Jack Scholes gave me was the idea of ‘anchoring’ correction. He suggested always going to the same place in the classroom and assuming the same posture/gestures/facial expression when you want to correct. Once the students become aware that this is where/how you stand when you want to correct, you need only move there/mime your position for them to know that there is something wrong.
I also keep three quotes on my classroom wall to help students see that errors are natural and nothing to worry about:
1 - Learn from the mistakes of others: you can’t live long enough to make them all yourself!
2 - He who never made a mistake never made a discovery. (Samuel Smiles)
3 - If you’re not making mistakes you’re not trying hard enough. (Allan R Sandage)
Think for a second about the third one. Imagine a class where students weren’t making any errors. It’d be a waste of time. What would they be learning?
Oral correction: priorities
Oral correction is often a waste of time unless it makes an impact. To impact:
•Discuss correction with classes, e.g. ask them what they want / tell them what’s possible, eg negotiate a correction contract. I frequently correct as many errors as possible in one lesson, then leave all the errors I can uncorrected in the next, then ask classes which teacher they prefer: the ‘fascist’ or the ‘hippy’! They express their correction preferences, we negotiate what is/isn’t feasible or desirable, using Portuguese where necessary, and thus they understand and feel a part of correction policy. Make errors and correction a class responsibility, not just your job. The sooner you do, the easier it becomes to make good progress.
•Think twice before you jump in! Pause before you rush in and correct – once you’ve started, it can be very difficult to escape without losing several precious class minutes you’d intended for other activity. Uncorrected mistakes will not necessarily stick or self-propagate. It’s usually better to wait and see what happens next time.
•Invest more time in opportunities to get things right through a lot of varied practice rather than painstaking, repeated correction by you.
•Find ways to help students notice their errors, to ask themselves why it’s wrong and then provide plenty of personalised practice. Get students to record their errors too. Try to achieve as much self-correction as possible. It is easily the most powerful form of correction, as mistakes only disappear when an internal change has taken place.
•Above all, enjoy your teaching – if you don’t, who will?

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