Transformative Teachers
Webinar 16 - Making mistakes
Summary notes
Thank you for participating in the Trinity College London teacher support webinar series. We are delighted to have over 1000 teachers from 70 countries participate in the series.
In this webinar, Trinity's Cathy Taylor, Senior Academic, Language, interviews Roopa Swamy, Senior Examiner, India. They discuss dealing with learner's mistakes.
If you were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch it again via the following link:
Webinar 16 Video - Making mistakes
Summary of questions and responses
Interview: Cathy Taylor and Roopa Swamy
Roopa, could you summarise what Robin was talking about in the video?
Robin mentioned that making mistakes is frustrating for both teachers and learners but emphasised that they are part of the language learning process and therefore we need to manage error correction.
He showed the ISE rating scales where errors are divided into those which impeded communication and those which don’t.
For teachers we shouldn’t be looking at the size of the errors but whether the listener can understand the message or not. This is an important distinction for us as teachers and what we decide to correct or not.
Robin called errors which cause a breakdown in communication – global errors and these should be corrected immediately. Errors which don’t cause a misunderstanding are classified as local and don’t need immediate correction or clarification.
However, he did point out that this doesn’t mean we should allow our students to talk inaccurately – in ISE, for example, a ‘good level’ of accuracy is required. Instead we should choose when and how to correct the ‘local errors’.
Robin further divided the errors into targeted and not targeted. He targets errors which prevent a good level of accuracy and usually relate to the current or recent unit in the course book or even errors which the students have identified themselves.
Errors can be any part of language, pronunciation, language functions, vocabulary – not only grammar. Robin advised that errors which don’t impede understanding and don’t impact on a good level of accuracy don’t need to be corrected all the time and we need to remember that errors are an essential part of the learning process.
Can you elaborate a bit on why it’s important not to correct every mistake our learners make?
- Correcting every last thing may reinforce reluctance to speak and could make the student diffident and inhibited.
- If the conversation is flowing effortlessly, the teacher should consider the intelligibility and make notes.
- If a student says something like “Today many people can to speak English” (as Robin mentioned being a local mistake) it’s not necessary to stop a spirited conversation just to correct something that still gets the main point across.
We say that errors are an essential part of the learning process – can you tell us a bit more about this?
- As teachers, we set the tone for how the students respond. Making it safe to make errors in the classroom starts with you. Avoid moving around the room until you find a correct answer. All this does is create the impression that you’re only interested in the right answer, and aren’t bothered about the students who made an error.
- First of all, it’s important not to be dismissive of errors or wrong answers.
- We make mistakes as we learn how to speak in our first language – so as we’re learning a new language we are bound to make mistakes as we acquire more complex vocabulary, grammar and language functions.
- We need to think about the timing of the correction and ensure it does not create a poor environment for learning, and perhaps the student will stop participating in the class altogether. It’s important that you make it clear from the outset that making mistakes is nothing to be ashamed off, and is in fact a really important way of learning and closing any gaps in learning.
- A good way to deal with this can be to discuss all the answers you get and as for the error you could make it feel that it just needed a little change and was partly correct and explain how it could be made right.
Robin mentioned that he corrects global errors (those which cause a breakdown in communicating the message) as soon as possible. How do you correct global mistakes?
Verbal and non-verbal corrections:
I agree it’s better to correct as soon as you can but remember to do this sensitively, it’s rarely advisable to interrupt suddenly, but if the learner stops talking then you definitely need to support them. Here are few techniques I use:
- Echoing (whole/part of utterance) - For example: The learner says 'I went to the ‘pol’ last week'. The teacher replies 'Where? The pool, the swimming pool? So did I'.
- Denial
- Writing a note on paper to remind you
- Gestures/facial expressions to question the student
What about local and targeted mistakes? Do you have favourite techniques for these?
Personally I like to use a mixture of the following
- Delayed correction
- Use a grammar flag
- Use visual reminders
- Finger correction
- Peer correction
Robin also pointed out that mistakes can be any facet of language – do you have any teaching tips for any of these areas?
Vocabulary:
Introduce adjectives, by writing the words on the whiteboard and asking the students to read them aloud together. This gives the students practice speaking the words aloud and pronouncing them correctly. Knowing how to say new vocabulary words is just as important as knowing how to use them in a sentence. Vocabulary activities, vocabulary journal, 2 words a day, reading books and so on.
Grammar :
- The first letter in grammar, g, stands for give, as in give students plenty of time to process what is being taught.
- The second letter, r, stands for review – to recall
- The next letter in the word grammar, a, stands for accommodate. Every student comes with his or her personal learning style and needs.
- The fourth letter, m, stands for motivate. Students, especially those with low self-confidence, need constant motivation.
- The second, m, stands for make, as in make grammar fun. As mentioned before learning grammar can be a tedious and monotonous task which is why it is important to make your lessons interesting.
- The sixth letter, a, stands for assessment.
- The final letter in the word grammar, r, stands for relevant. Making the lesson relevant to the students allows for comprehension to take place. When students feel what they are learning is relevant to their lives, then interest in the subject matter automatically follows.
- Play board games available on online. It requires a lot of practice in writing and speaking.
In the listening webinars we talked about building up the listening skill from the bottom up and looking at discrete sounds – can this be done with pronunciation? What techniques do you use?
- Teach listening first; pronunciation is one of the hardest things.
- Let your students look at your mouth, sing songs, tongue twisters. – use phonetics and incorporate them into your lessons when teaching new vocabulary. It’s also useful to teach the features of connected speech so when your learners learn new functions, phrases and grammar structures which are a few words and more it’s useful to know how to put them together. The British Council has some useful ideas, but you can find plenty of ideas on the internet: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/connected-speech-2
- Read – aloud
Pronunciation errors can often be a cause of communication breakdown but an accent e.g. a regional or national accent can be part of our identity and learners may not want to alter how they speak. What’s your take on this?
- Know cultural pronunciation patterns,
- When a sound doesn’t exist in a student’s native language, they always find a substitute sound that they are familiar with.
- As English is an international language and most communication is between speakers whose first language isn’t English it’s important that an ‘intelligible’ model is adapted. So it doesn’t matter if you have an accent what’s important is that you can communicate your message without causing the listener ‘undue’ strain.
There are a lot of varieties of English – for example Hinglish – what’s your opinion on this for language learners?
‘keema’ (minced meat), ‘funda’(basic) and ‘chamcha’(sycophant/flatterer) – Hindi words in the Oxford dictionary
- Where do you put up?” = Where do you live/stay
- What’s your good name?” = translated from Hindi Aapka shubh naam
- “He is my real brother” = Mera saga bhai hai
- These small things really matter = These small things matter
These are translated literally from the native language and would influence the learners.
Again it’s about intelligibility. Many learners need to be able to switch to a variety of English which is understandable beyond their immediate community so as teachers we need to give them the range of vocabulary and functions which allow them to communicate with ease across cultural boundaries.
Language learning theory has defined fossilised errors which are errors which have become habit and can’t easily be corrected. Typically these can be lack of distinction between he/she. Do you think we should tackle these errors in our classes? Any ideas?
Fossilised errors come about through L1 interference and errors which haven’t been corrected in the learning process and some may even have come about through teacher error. Many fossilised errors do not impede, which is why they haven’t been corrected, and therefore may never actually need correcting. Having said that, if learners are aiming to communicate in contexts which require a high level of accuracy and sophistication, then teachers need to tackle this type of error and help the learners re-establish ‘good’ habits.
Learners can set their own goals and if they wish to be corrected every time they make a particular mistake then other students or the teach can correct them. It may be by a gesture rather than a verbal interjection in order not to hinder the communication flow. After a while the student will probably correct themselves. Students can always record themselves to identify fossilised errors which will them re-learn the correct version.
The article referenced below, from ELT Chat, gives some useful guidelines.
Questions from the floor:
I don't know to what extent "can to" is not considered to be a serious error when a person is taking an advance or proficiency exam.
This isn’t a serious error in everyday speech and therefore in an assessment situation it wouldn’t be considered serious either. Trinity assessments don’t consider each individual utterance but assess the whole performance. ISE speaking and listening categories are: Effective communication, Interactive listening, Language control and Delivery. There’s more information on the website. https://www.trinitycollege.com/site/?id=3192
Is it better to address mistakes to the person who made the mistake or to the class in general?
Generally, it’s better to involve the whole class so you can encourage peer correction, build confidence and more supportive relationships within the class.
Can the same mistake have a different importance according to the form of language used (oral or written), or its level of use ( formal, informal).
Speaking and writing are of course different ways of presenting the language and consideration needs to be given to audience, context and purpose of speaking and writing. Ultimately, the mode of language production and the context in which it is used will render a mistake more or less important, there is no single level or degree of importance given to a particular mistake.
You mentioned some of the techniques teachers can use to correct errors. What other classroom techniques can teachers use to current students’ mistakes. What techniques do you think work best?
There is no ‘best’ way but we need to use techniques depending on the concepts and grade/age levels, and those that are suitable for our specific teaching content. Below are a range of links that I (Roopa) have found useful in approaching mistakes. Please note these are not hosted or endorsed by Trinity College London.
- http://www.onestopenglish.com/methodology/methodology/classroom-management/classroom-management-speaking-correction-techniques/146455.article
- https://www.englishuk.com/uploads/assets/training/conferences/2016/teachers_conference_2016/1G_Beth_Davies_correcting_spoken_errors.pdf
- https://owlcation.com/academia/ESL-Coaching-Techniques-Error-Correction
- https://www.getadministrate.com/blog/dealing-with-errors-in-the-classroom/
- http://redi.ufasta.edu.ar:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/877/2014_ING_004.pdf?sequence=1
- http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/error-correction-1
- http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/error-correction-2
- http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/correction-codes
Is it easier to correct mistakes in monolingual classes or multilingual?
I think there are positives to both situations. In multilingual classes you have a ready-made group who need to make themselves understandable to each other and not just the teacher. It does help lesson preparation to research what the common problems are for each language group in your classes.
In a monolingual classroom, all the students speak the same first language and they are all learning English.
The second type of classroom, the multilingual class, describes a salad bowl of students who speak several different first languages. The following website gives suggestions on methods to use in both classes:
Topic for the next webinar
We look forward to welcoming you to our seventeenth webinar on Wednesday 10 October at 13:00 UK time, when Head of Validation, Voula Kanistra, will be talking to Ben Beaumont, TESOL Qualifications Manager, about 'Speaking, Purpose, means and opportunity'.
Click on the 'Join Webinar' link below at the appointed time for the next webinar.
