Hi students! How do you prefer to be corrected when speaking?
Do you prefer to be corrected immediately after making a mistake or go through your mistakes after speaking? Which helps you remember your corrections better?
13 answers from our tutors
Best answer
I prefer to be corrected immediately with the writing!
Let's face it! Mistakes are part of the learning process. When students are engaged in a speaking activity, the teacher should not stop them. Interrupting students while they are talking will negatively affect their self-confidence. Let the students express their own ideas first, and then you can simply repeat what they have just said correcting the mistakes that they have made while talking. For instance: I asked one of my students the following question: "what time did you go to bed last night?" The student answered: 'I go to bed at 10 PM last night." I said, 'That's a bit early I guess. Last night I WENT to bed at midnight.' This way, the student will realize that they have just made a mistake, and they will learn from the teacher's feedback.
If it's 1 mistake correct immediately if its many, it needs to be prioritised to make sure at least one thing is learned from the feedback and there is no confusion.
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- John Kenmuir(AKA John Connor) Cambridge certified teacher since 1998, former IELTS speaking examiner
Another tool at the student's disposal is to record their conversation, either by video or audio. When they're finished, they can review the recording with their teacher or on their own, to discover mistakes and work towards correcting them. Often the mistakes they make are caused by L1 (first language) interference to the grammar or pronunciation. Students who are aware of this are even better equipped to correct their mistakes.
- John Kenmuir(AKA John Connor) Cambridge certified teacher since 1998, former IELTS speaking examiner
When I was teaching English in South Korea, I was attempting (ahem!) to learn spoken Korean. My grade 7 students would often correct my pronunciation ("It's Taejon, not Taejon"... "But that's what I said?"). There is nothing more formidable than being corrected by children, lol, but I think it has a lot to do with personality types. People who are more extroverted (outgoing) are generally less affected by direct or immediate correction, whereas introverted (shy) people might feel intimidated. There isn't any one correct answer & it does depend on the student. I would say whatever helps to build their confidence is probably the best solution.
Being corrected after speaking will allow me to realize my mistakes and as a result I will be in a better position in future to use my language well.
I prefer to go through my mistakes and be corrected after speaking
In my opinion, for first time correction should make after conversation to buckup the speaker,to speak. Then after some time corrected the speaker when speaking.
As I am learning Spanish as well as teaching English, I don't like it when I am being interrupted all the time as it makes me nervous. I prefer to be corrected when I have finished speaking on the main issues.
In my opinion, they should be corrected instantly.
I prefer to be corrected immediately after making a mistake.
