MISTAKES AND CORRECTIONS

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MISTAKES OF MEANING AND MISTAKES OF FORM:

Mistakes are usually considered as part of learning but we also agree that correction is a part of teaching If making mistakes is a part of learning, and correction is a part of teaching, how do the two of them go together? 

Teachers should know that the most important sort of mistakes are only those  that lead to a misunderstanding.

There are two types of mistakes which students usually made:

•       The mistake that occurs when a speaker uses a correct piece of language (linguistic form) that doesn't mean what the speaker wanted to mean;
• ·      The mistake which occurs when the speaker uses a correct linguistic form which is socially unacceptable – the big problem here being one of politeness.

As teacher, we should:

• ·                              Not to rush into correction before we know what someone wants to mean, 
• ·                                To think about politeness as well as corrections.

We have also seen that meaning and communication are affected by mistakes of language form.

When we talk about mistakes of form, we are comparing something in the student’s English with Standard English. For example, if a student says,

I am come yesterday.

We would probably compare that with the standard form and correct it as

And call it a mistake:

I came yesterday

The causes of mistakes are:

·      1:   One cause of mistake in speaking a foreign language is the influence of the speaker’s first language.

·     2:   A second cause of mistake is when learners think they know a rule, but in fact they don’t know quite enough.

·      3:   Thirdly, people may say things that they know are not correct, because this is still their best chance of getting their message across. This is another intelligent use of knowledge about English in order to communicate in English.

·       4:  Fourthly, mistakes can happen because someone is in a hurry, or tired, or thinking about something else

Kinds of linguistic mistakes:

we can divide linguistic mistakes into:

·          **  Slips:

          which a student can self-correct;

·         **   Errors: 

          which a student can’t self-correct, but where it is clear which form the student wanted to                          use, and where the class is familiar with that form;

·       **Attempts:

           where students have no real idea how to structure what they want to mean, or where meaning and structure intended are not clear to the teacher.

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF MISTAKES? WHAT IS ACCURACY AND FLUENCY?

THE IMPORTUNE OF MISTAKES:

Mistakes should not be considered as failure but as "learning steps". Mistakes actually show growth in learning.

For Example the following two sentences present a  different picture. As a teacher we should change our perspective about mistakes.Mistakes actually are ‘learning steps’ and they signal the growth of learning.

My students make a lot of mistakes

My students make a lot of “learning steps”.

Mistakes are Learning steps

                WHAT SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES SAY ABOUT IMPORTANCE OF MISTAKES:

When 

Krashen theory consists of five hypotheses which are the Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, The Monitor Hypothesis, The Natural Order Hypothesis, The Input Hypothesis and the Affective Filter Hypothesis.  Let  see what “Acquisition- Learning Hypothesis” and “Monitor Hypothesis " say about mistakes.

ACQUISITION – LEARNING HYPOTHESIS:

 Krashen differentiated between acquisition and learning. According to him acquisition is “unconscious process” while learning is a “conscious effort” .Krashen said that adults can also acquire second language just like children.

What is acquisition	What is learning
Learner makes mistakes. It is an unconscious process.	This is conscious effort learners are not allowed to make mistakes.
Focus is not on grammatical correction or linguistic form of the language	Students have knowledge of grammatical forms and they are conscious about grammatical mistakes
Focus on  communicative function of language
No correction. Mistakes are appreciated.	Mistakes are considered as failure.
Focus on fluency of language.	Focus on accuracy.

   It is teacher's duty to make their students to acquire language, not learn language. They should not correct their students at every step if they are using ungrammatical forms. Their students should have new experience of language. They should be risk takers. As a teacher their job is not to discourage “learning steps” in students. If they are saying “sister-husband” instead of “brother-in-law” then they should not be discouraged. They will acquire language only if they will make mistakes just like a child makes a mistake while learning mother tongue.

WHAT IS FLUENCY?

•          More attention on communicative function of language
•         Less focus on grammatical correction of language

In the following example the teacher is discouraging fluency in students

KRASHEN MONITOR HYPOTHESIS:

Monitor  hypothesis is related to fluency of language. He said in his hypothesis that whenever an individual say or write anything he/she correct edit or plan it.

            According to him this correction or monitoring should be of appropriate level. If the person correct or monitor himself so much then he cannot speak a language with fluency and it also depicts that a person lacks self confidence. It is job of a teacher to make his students optimal user of monitor.

WHAT IS ACCURACY?

 Accuracy is just the opposite of fluency.

• ·          Students are corrected whenever they make a mistake.
• ·         The focus is on linguistic form of language.

She told them that our teachers also demand accuracy in examination. The correction should be positive not criticism or punishment.

ROLE OF A TEACHER

CORRECTION AND ACCURACY IN SPOKEN ENGLISH

 Teacher would agree that spoken accuracy is most important for learners when they are practising carefully something that has just has been represented to them,

CORRECTING THE GRAMMAR

Following are some of examples of correcting grammar for example

1: Greenland is the large island in the world.

2: The (hot) place in the world is Dallol in Ethiopia.

3: The (large) ocean is a Pacific.

The first thing to remember is that the best form of correction is SELF-CORRECTION.

SELF-CORRECTION

Learner usually prefers to put their own mistake right rather than be corrected by someone. Self-correction is easier to remember, someone has put something right in his or own head. Particularly it is important to give a chance for self-correction. Mistake is what we have called Slip

Don’t correct the mistake yourself, but show that a mistake has been made.

You can do this by the expression on your face, or by making a sign with your hand, or by saying something such as Errr….,or Mmmm,’ or whatever comes naturally.

Then give the student a little time to recognize the mistake and correct it.

PEER CORRECTION

Peer correction is particularly useful in the case of what we called errors.

There are four types of peer correction

·         Firstly when a learner makes a mistake and another learner corrects it both learners are involved in listening to and thinking about the language

·         Secondly teacher encourages learner to correct their mistakes so that teacher gets a lot of information about the student’s ability

·         Thirdly students become used to the idea that they can learn from the each other

·         Fourthly if students get used to the idea of peer correction without each other’s feelings

                                             Two problems with peer correction

·         Firstly when teacher ask for peer correction from the whole class,it might be that always same two or three people want to reply

·         Secondly if students are not used to correcting each other, they may find it very difficult to change their habit

Teacher Correction

The more the students are involved in correction, the more they have to think about the language used in the classroom. Self correction and peer correction at first, the teacher can sometimes help by focusing attention on the place where the mistake occurs.

                          

As teacher says ‘in….vent….,’she holds up three fingers of one hand to show that the word has three syllables in it. she points to the first finger she says, ‘in’ and the second finger as she says, ‘vent’. As she points to the third finger, she pauses and looks questioningly at the class, hoping that someone will add the ‘ed’.

Correction and fluency in spoken English

fluency in English language can be gain :

·         By using English in real situation.

·         By learning new phrases instead of new words. When ever come to meet to new word write it down in form of phrase and use it in daily language.

·         Must do practice of it because Fluency needs practice.

Difference between accuracy and Fluency:

DIFFERENCE IN ACCURACY AND FLUENCY

Some rules to be fluent while using a language:

• ·         Student needs experience of uninterrupted, meaningful communication.
• ·         Student needs to feel that people are focusing on what they are saying rather than how they are saying.
• ·         Students should not focus on accuracy of language but he should focus on fluency.
• ·         To learn a language efficiently student should not focus on grammatical errors it will make him confuse.
• ·         Student should keep it in mind that mistakes are the path of learning.
• ·         Error and mistake gives student opportunity to learn more efficiently.

Different techniques which a teacher can use to teach a language.

Delayed Correction:

When a student commits a mistake and teacher does not interrupt him at the spot and makes him correct at the end of the lecture that is called delayed correction.
When a teacher gives a student an opportunity to learn, to speak and to make mistakes without any fear and hesitation, student will learn more quickly.

But when there is a threat to student to be punished for making mistakes he will not learn. He will avoid speaking. He will never share his thoughts and ideas liberally.

Peer correction.

When a teacher gives an assignment to students and asks them to check each other mistakes in a positive way it is called peer correction.

Peer correction is done by class fellows or our fellow friends. Students check each other. It helps them to learn in a better way. It can be very helpful during pair and group working. We learn from our peers.

As shown in the figure;

Observer:

By using this technique students work in group of four or three. Three of them carry out the activity while fourth one listens and tries to note down some mistakes that the other makes. This student is the observer.

 Observer should do:

·         He should focus on group fellow mistakes.

·         He should Notice the errors and mistakes done by group fellow and note down them on a note book.

·         He should write down something that is incorrect and impolite.

·         He should Show those mistakes at the end.

Observer should not do:

·         He should not interrupt group fellows.

·         He should not try to catch every mistake.

·         He should not correct the other students in the group.

                                               

Advantages:

·                     Students are encouraged to make their own decisions.

·                     It makes them more responsible for their use of language.

·                     Observer reduces the amount of talk that goes on in the students’ own language.

Sensitivity:

We should make an important note there that peer correction needs to be handled sensitively. You do not want to highlight the fact that certain people in the class know less than everyone else. Be subtle when you use this technique.

Normal Conversation:

Student learns a language in a better way when he gets a chance to have a normal conversation.

The idea of correction is impossible in a conversation but there is something that a teacher can

do to help students in learning. Teacher should react normally to what a student say in actual

situation. Teacher should not correct them at the spot. He should avoid correcting some common

 mistakes that are not so important.