The document discusses strategies for teachers on how to respond to oral errors in language learning, emphasizing the importance of positive reinforcement and avoiding humiliation. It highlights the differences between mistakes and errors, guiding teachers on when and how to correct students while maintaining a supportive classroom atmosphere. The text also addresses the significance of fluency and accuracy in language use, suggesting methods for correction that encourage cooperation among students.

1. Presented to : Dr. Khaleel Al Bataineh
By : Hasan Alomari
Department of English Language and Translation
RESPONDING TO ORAL ERRORS

2. -
Error correction should be positive .
Why ?! To Encourage the students to
concentrate on what they have to got
right .
Praise : Teachers should praise students for
correct and partly correct answers .
Why ? To Make them feel they are making
progress .
RESPONDING TO ORAL ERRORS

3. RESPONDING TO ORAL ERRORS
Teachers should avoid humiliating their
students or making them feel mistaken
or making a bad error .

4. RESPONDING TO ORAL ERRORS
Teachers should be aware of :
Effect on each individual learner of correcting the errors . By :
flexible and use different strategies according to the kind of error.
The ability and personality of the students .
The kind of activity .
The general atmosphere in the class .

5. RESPONDING TO ORAL ERRORS
The difference between mistakes and errors has to be clarified ,
because the kind of error will determine what correction strategy is
to be employed .
The teachers have to make their decision about correction quickly ,
that’s why several of them consider oral correction is more difficult
than written correction , In addition to that the teacher cannot
spend too much time in correcting errors because it gives them too
much importance and holds up the class .

6. RESPONDING TO ORAL ERRORS
Teachers have to consider several factors :
What to correct . ( the nature of error or mistake ).
When to correct . ( students purposes in speaking ,
concentrating on fluency or accuracy ).
How much to correct . ( selection of errors to be
corrected , individual or common problems ).

7. RESPONDING TO ORAL ERRORS
The ease with which the error or mistake can be
corrected , avoidance of overcorrection .
How to correct . ( indication of the error , person providing
correction , personality of the student ).
a mistake is usually inadvertent and can quickly be noticed
and corrected. For example, one could miss a letter or a digit
when writing. On the other hand, an error is something done
wrong due to lack of knowledge.

8. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ERROR AND
MISTAKE

9. ACCURACY & FLUENCY
The issue of when and what to correct is related to
what the focus is at the time accuracy and
fluency it depends on :
the kind of activity we are doing .
The aim of the activity .
* We want students to produce accurate language or to
express themselves freely and develop fluency .

10. ACCURACY
Accuracy is important for learners in the accurate
reproduction stage .
Two basic stages :
The teacher indicates that something is wrong .
ask for correction .

11. INDICATION OF INCORRECTNESS
Several techniques were suggested by Harmer :
Repeating .( repeat what she / he said ).
Echoing . ( questioning intonation )
Denial . ( Simply the answer is not right ) .
Questioning . ( is that correct ?? ) .
Expression . ( facial expression or gesture ).

12. WAYS OF CORRECTION
Self correction : when student recognizes what is
correct in his/her response , she / he should be
able to correct him/herself .
Peer correction : if the student cannot correct
him/herself the teacher can encourage other
students to supply correction .

13. WAYS OF CORRECTION
Advantages of peer correction method according to edge
(1990) :
Its encourages cooperation , students get used to the idea
that they can learn from each other .
Both learners who made the error and correct are involved
in listening to and thinking about the languages .
The teacher gets a lot of important information about the
learner's ability .
If the students learn to practice peer correction without
hurting each other's feelings , they will do the same in pair-
working activities .

14. WAYS OF CORRECTION
Teacher correction : if no one can correct the
teacher must realise that the point has not yet
been laernt probably .
In this case the teacher can re-explain the
problematic item of language , especially if the
teacher sees that the majority of the class has the
same problem . ( there might be more repetition
and practice necessary ).

15. FLUENCY
There are Several occasions when students are trying to use
language more freely and fluently for communication .
The teacher has to encourage fluency why ? this will allow
learners to experience uninterrupted .
The teacher has to accept that making mistakes in language
use is necessary to language learning .
That’s why the teacher doesn’t
Correct linguistic mistakes
Immediately .

16. FLUENCY
Gentle correction : means that the teacher doesn’t want
to seriously intervene and spoil the atmosphere of pair-work or
free conversation, so the teacher just indicates the student that
a mistake has been made, gives the correct form but does not
spend too much time on it and doesn’t make the student
repeat it .
Although in communicative activities students are allowed to
use any language they like, it doesn't mean that the teacher
cannot use any form of correction when fluency work is taking
place .

17. FLUENCY
guidance and correction cannot be given during the
activity, only afterwards .
While the students are involved in communication
activities in pairs or in small groups :
teacher can monitor their performance by walking
round making notes of the mistakes and errors,
and after the activity give individual students notes with
the errors they have made indicating the way of correction
or discuss the errors with the class.

18. FLUENCY
If there are common mistakes, they can be
written on the blackboard and corrected by the
students , It might be necessary to have more
practice in the given structure.

19. CORRECTION OF WRITTEN ERRORS
Some times teacher concentrate on accuracy .
Written work is to be marked according to the purpose : if
the aim is communication, the written work should not be
marked according to e.g. spelling
The great number of corrections will discourage the
students.
It is better to reduce the amount of underlining
and write corrections in the margin this way the
page will look less heavily corrected.

20. CORRECTION OF WRITTEN ERRORS
The same stages are to be followed in the
correction of written work as in oral correction.
The teacher indicates where the student has
made important errors .
The teacher can use a system of abbreviations or
symbols to indicate the line or the place in a line
where the mistake occurs.
the nature of the mistakes: Sp for spelling, Gr for grammar,
WO for word order, T for tense etc .

21. CORRECTION OF WRITTEN ERRORS
The use of correction codes by the teacher
instead of giving full correction is a widespread
practice, the rationale behind it is that it
encourages students to think about their writing
and correct themselves.
The teacher also can ask students to exchange their
pieces of written work and discuss them in groups so
that they can correct each other’s errors.

22. CORRECTION OF WRITTEN ERRORS
some learners may prefer their errors to be
corrected in full, saying that they are unable to
correct some of the mistakes they made
themselves.
Teachers can vary their approach according to
the wishes of individual learners.

23. QUESTIONS ?

24. This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
Source: Sárosdy, Bencze, Poór and Vadnay. 2006. Applied Linguistics I for BA Students in English