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Error Correction in foreign language classes is something every teacher must do at one time or another. After all, there is a right way, and countless wrong ways, to say something.
Like almost everything else we do in the classroom, it's not always what we do (in this case, correcting incorrect student production), but how we do it. This post will give several examples and a brief explanation of Error Correction or Feedback for individuals (Teacher-> Student), and at the end give an example for Error Correction with the whole class.  A more thorough discussion of Error Correction and Feedback will follow at a later time.

There are 2 major divisions in Error Corretion in published literature:

1. Implicit vs. Explicit Feedback, and
2. Corrected vs. Uncorrected Feedback.

Explicit feedback is thought to be less communicative in nature, and tends to draw students' attention more to form.
Implicit feedback is thought to be more communicative in nature, and so, while still giving corrective feedback, to encourage more and continued focus on meaning.
Corrected feedback, like explicit feedback, is thought to draw students' attention more to form, and less to meaning.
Uncorrected feedback tends to promote learning through student self-reflection.

Given these features of the 4 types of corrective feedback, the order of preference for using these kinds of feedback in a meaning-centered, communicative langauge learning-based class would be:

1. Implicit, Uncorrected feedback (more communicative, less focus on form);
2. Explicit, Uncorrected feedback (more focus on form, but emphasizes student reflection for learning) OR Implicit, Corrected feedback (more communicative, though more direct focus on form);
3. Explicit, Corrected feedback (less communicative, more direct focus on form).

Examples of Feedback

(S= student; T= teacher)

Implicit, Uncorrected feedback

• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T (emphasized)- ‘LIke.’  Or, like a question, T- ‘lIKE?’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘He LIKE dogs.’ T- ‘He LIKE dogs?’ 
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘Try again!’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘Pardon me?’; ‘I don’t understand.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘Did you say ‘like’ ?’ 
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘Try again.’ or
  T- ‘Heee.......?’ or ‘He what?’
  Or T- ‘He playS tennis.  He LIKE dogs?’

Explicit, Uncorrected feedback

• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T - ‘Not like.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘That’s not right.
  (That’s not how we say it.)  Try again.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘He LIKE dogs?’
  (That’s not right.)  Not LIKE.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘Did you say ‘like’ ?
  That’s not right.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘Try again.’ or
  T- ‘Heee.......?’ or ‘He what?’ 

Implicit, Corrected feedback

• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘He likes dogs.’ or
  T- ‘He likeS dogs.’, with verbal or gestured emphasis.
•   S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘He LIKE dogs. He LIKES dogs.’ or
  T- ‘He LIKE dogs?  He LIKES dogs.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘Do you mean ‘likes’?’.              
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘You said like.  Do you mean likes?’

Explicit, Corrected feedback

• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘You should say, He likeS dogs.’
  S- ‘He like dogs.’ T - ‘Not like.  Likes.’   
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘No. Not He LIKE dogs.   He LIKES dogs.’
  or T- ‘Did you say He LIKE dogs?  It’s He LIKES dogs.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘He LIKE dogs?’
  ‘He LIKES dogs.’ is the right way to say it.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ T- ‘(No.) You should say ‘likes’ ’.  or   
  T- ‘You said like.  It’s likes.’
• S- ‘He like dogs.’ ‘Not LIKE.  HE is the third
  person singular, so it’s not like, it’s LIKES.’

A less direct method of error correction is to make mental note of common mistakes heard during speaking activities, and then to write the incorrect pattern on the blackboard. Then, ask the whole class what is wrong, and also what is the right way to say something. AND THEN WRITE THAT ON THE BLACKBOARD, TOO. 

In this way,

• students are asked to reflect on what the correct form is; 
• no one student is singled out (limiting individual student stress); 
• communicative- (ie., a meaning-) focus during the speaking activity is maintained; 
• and all the class participates in a learning experience.

What, How and WHEN

What we do, and how we do something are important. The other pervasive choice is WHEN to say something. In the Eigo Noto classes especially, the focus is on COMMUNICATION. If the students are speaking in Japanese, English, another languauge, pointing, gesturing, or in any other way making you understand, and you actually understand, for that moment, perhaps no error correction is necessary. Then you can think about making the mistake a learning experience later, for the whole class.