Comments on: When student-centred goes too far

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:13:48 +0000

Thanks for your comment. As I understand it, we agree that error correction is important but just choosing the errors that made in that same class (or worse in just the last activity) is not the best way of choosing which errors to go through

By: Jean DOSSOU

Jean DOSSOU — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:49:35 +0000

Error correction should be part of the teaching process. A teacher who neglects this section of the teaching is shirking is responsibilities as monitor in the class. But the real problem is how to go about it in such a way that learners should get rid of the same old habit. As an EFL teacher in a high school, I’ve found that helping students go over the mistakes they make quite often can help, especially when their environment is not conducive to the language acquisition. To wean learners from their mistakes, teaching should not be limited to the classroom situation. It should be made to happen beyond it and within circles familiar to the learners where they feel at ease to communicate their innermost feelings.

By: Sandy Mac

Sandy Mac — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:05:48 +0000

Any ideas? Just shout at the bastard. Insult him with a few well-chosen expletives.

Or tell him he sounds like a wind-up machine, and then he’ll soon change. Jut roll about with uncontrollable mirth every time he produces the offending phrase. He’ll soon get the message!

But he might not be grateful (miserable git!)…

By: Anne

Anne — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:55:49 +0000

Sorry, right, good point: Playing “gotcha!” with the students is definitely teacher one-upmanship and off-base. I know I did it way too often for comfort as a rookie, and actually catch myself doing it with that masochistic set of students who like to ask, so exceedingly perversely, “Oh, can we repeat the present perfect/ past?” Sure, dear slave, and would you like a bit of the whip, too?

But frankly, and seriously, now: At the beginning of one-to-ones in particular I do find myself collecting ye olde worksheets featuring some of the trickier aspects, to have ready to pull out of the bag, just in case those errors get made. You can cry foul, sure, but these expectations do come from a certain degree experience. As long as you don’t trick them into the mistakes…

This is a little off-topic, but related, somehow: One thing that really troubles me is how to do troubleshooting ethically. I like focussing on the building side rather than on the troubleshooting side in feedback, so I try to provide additional language when they get stuck on their old mistakes. But how do I help students to actually get rid of those deeply ingrained, fossilized mistakes except by pointing them out again and again? E.g., I have a C1 one-on-one who uses the phrase “It’s more that” as a discourse marker in practically every second sentence he utters. I’ve given him alternative markers such as “actually”, “in fact”, “you know”, “well”, “I don’t really think” etc, but they won’t take off in his word. It really bugs him, too, when he hears recordings of himself.

Any ideas?

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:49:46 +0000

Whoops, let that slip into the quickest written blog post ever whereas the main point was perhaps less interesting but entirely something else…

Have started but never finished several blog posts and articles on this, but my major point is- What are the chances that the errors they make in one five minute speaking activity are the ones that most need correcting at that time? And there’s the classic TEFL teacher’s thought “I really hope they say…, because I want to correct that”

To connect it back to the main focus of the blog post, there is a danger that teachers are doing it to keep themselves busy more than because it brings out the most relevant errors.

By: Anne

Anne — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 03:08:24 +0000

Oh, Alex, I don’t know – I think collecting their errors is still necessary. It’s the students assessing their own mistakes using their good old sixth sense that is essential – even if it does mean that you need to accentuate other things in the lesson to keep everyone from becoming bored. It’s how we reformat the task to allow them a second go at their formulation – the variety we provide – that is key. But I hear you loud and clear about the challenge it means.