Error correction - fossilised errors

Error correction - fossilised errors

Thanks for a great lecture. Lots to think about and digest. I wondered what people think about the correction of fossilised errors. If the student persistently makes the same error, after many months, or even years, is there a case for deciding not to correct those errors? I'm not sure how I feel about it. I guess if it's not obstructing meaning, then I let it go after a while.

What do you think?

Comments

  1. Penny UrNovember 23, 2017 at 8:45 PM

    I'd keep trying! Maybe take the student aside for a quiet talk about it, raise awareness. If the student him/herself says that he/she is happy to continue making the error, knowing it's wrong, then OK. If they want to correct it, we should help.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marwa TalbiNovember 25, 2017 at 5:40 AM

    I have faced the same problem for the last couple of months. However, after the last lecture, I decided to correct their mistakes. In fact, other teachers advised me to use different techniques (I was using recast).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Julia BlinovaNovember 26, 2017 at 2:56 AM

    Francesca Di Mambro Fossilised errors are very tricky. I would agree with Penny Ur that first the student needs to be motivated to deal with them. If yes, then I use several techniques. I can remind the student about their mistakes before they do an activity. I can ask them to record themselves and try to catch their own errors. For writing, I can offer them a check-list to self-check. So in short, my strategy is raise awareness and teach to self-correct. And keep doing it because what obstructs meaning and what doesn't depends not only on the language, but also on the situation the student has to communicate in. In other words, what might be OK and quite understandable in an informal conversation can cause all kinds of trouble if the student is doing a presentation.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Francesca Di MambroDecember 2, 2017 at 3:23 PM

    Thanks so much for all your replies. Apologies for not responding earlier (I was seeing my sister through an operation...but all good now!)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thanks Penny for sharing an interesting topic: error correction.

Image
Thanks Penny for sharing an interesting topic: error correction. Allow me to share with you what my students and I have done with the error correction practices in our essay writing class. 1. I have encouraged my students to do peer-review as a part of writing cycle before submitting their final drafts. We did that using Google doc. I see this peer-review activities worth doing at least based on the following considerations: a. Learn how to read carefully, with attention to the details of a piece of writing (whether their own or another writer’s); b. Learn how to strengthen their writing by taking into account the responses of actual and anticipated readers; c.Learn how to formulate and communicate constructive feedback on a peer’s work; d. Learn how to gather and respond to feedback on their own work. 2. Before the peer-review session, I taught some techniques of correcting their peer's to them: make the errors explicit so that the writers knew about what and how to improve the e...
Read more

Title

Konnichiwa, everyone! My name is Anne, and I'm waving to you from rural Japan, where I have lived for alllllllmost one year teaching very young learners (ages 2 and up). I have been teaching since 2002, mainly in South Korea and recently in Japan. I am here because I want to teach better, get new ideas and learn new ways to use old ones, and help my littles be more comfortable with their English-speaking selves. I’m also interested in creating non-competitive activities and other strategies to help learners who need a different class structure. In my non-teaching time, I do freelance writing and proofreading and study Japanese. One of these days I’ll have free time, and then I’m going to read the piles of books that keep stacking up, do some baking, and take long bike rides. It’s a pleasure to meet you all, and I look forward to learning together!
Read more

Hi Everyone.

Hi Everyone. I've been incredibly busy this week, so this is the first chance I've had to read everyone's comments and add my own reflections. I enjoyed last week's session and I'm looking forward to the next one! Last weekend (on Saturday) I went to a conference in Taipei. Stephen Krashen was speaking, and he highlighted a lot of rules and guidelines that are commonly used by language teachers but which, in his view, need to be reconsidered. They are: 1. If you don't understand, signal (often an agreed-upon signal is used) 2. If I am speaking too quickly, slow me down (with a signal or short utterance) 3. Don't repeat what I say. 4. Don't worry, I won't call on you. 5. When you speak in class, you won't have to use full sentences. 6. Don't worry if you can't easily retrieve words you think you know. 7. Don't worry about making mistakes 8. Look at my facial expressions and body language 9. You don't have to understand ev...
Read more