BACKGROUND TO LANGUAGE LEARNING
Error A mistake that a learner makes when trying to say or write something above their level of language or language processing.
A developmental error is an error made by a second language learner which could also be made by a child learning their mother tongue as part of their normal development. A second language learner might make the error because they are applying a rule they have learned that doesn’t work for this particular case e.g. I goed there last week (I went there last week).
A fossilised error is an error that has become (almost) permanent in a learner’s language and has become a habit. Fossilised errors cannot easily be corrected. For example, a B2 learner might habitually not add an ‘s’ when saying third person singular present simple verbs. Learners at this level do not usually make this mistake, but, for this learner, the error was not corrected early and it has become habitual. See fossilisation.
A slip is when a learner makes a slip they make a language mistake but they are able to correct themselves, e.g. Learner: He like ice-cream, I mean, he likes ice-cream.
Talking about correction we can start considering the following strategies:
Echo correction – When learners make a mistake, the teacher repeats the mistake with rising intonation encouraging learners to correct themselves, e.g.
Learner: Teacher: Learner:
He don’t like it. Don’t?
He doesn’t like it.
Finger correction – A way of drawing attention to where a learner has made a mistake. The teacher counts out the words a learner has said on her fingers. The fingers represent words and the teacher can show clearly in which word (finger) the mistake was made. A teacher may use finger correction to show that a mistake has been made with word or sentence stress, word order, grammar, pronunciation of sounds etc.
Peer correction – When learners correct each other’s mistakes, perhaps with some help from the teacher. Self-correction – When learners correct language mistakes they have made, perhaps with some help from the teacher.
Correction code
A series of symbols a teacher may use to mark learners’ writing so that they can correct mistakes by themselves, e.g. P = punctuation mistake, T = tense mistake.
Ignore errors to choose not to pay attention to something; e.g. a teacher may choose to ignore an error made by a learner in a speaking activity because he/she wants to help the learner with fluency, not accuracy. See correction.