Just one word before we start
When I was a teacher trainee, I was trained, among other things, in "error correction". Recently, I came across a synonym I personally find a touch overblown: "mistake management". Things may be reinvented and renamed, but we're still talking about good old error correction. It is, however, important to distinguish between a mistake and an error.
Errors occur through a lack of knowledge of the correct form (students haven't yet been introduced to the structure, so they use another, familiar one instead), whereas mistakes are the inaccurate use of previously taught language, caused by a lack of concentration or other physical and psychological factors (nervousness, distraction, tiredness, and so on). This being the case, the term "error correction" is somewhat inaccurate when applied to mistakes. Errors — inaccuracies in structures that haven't yet been taught — should be dealt with subtly: the teacher can repeat the utterance in its correct form, or even ignore it, so as not to confuse students. Mistakes, on the other hand — inaccuracies in theoretically familiar structures — should be "managed". One point to "mistake management".
Mistakes are good, if not ignored
Students make mistakes, and these help teachers understand what they need to teach or revise with the class. However, some teachers — often less experienced ones — feel as though correcting students shows a lack of respect towards them. So they always give immediate positive feedback ("Great", "Very good", "Excellent"), ignoring the mistakes altogether.
Needless to say, error correction makes a teacher, and, above all, it helps students grow. So let's take a look at some ways to correct mistakes.
There are two main types of mistake correction: immediate and delayed.
Immediate correction: the teacher corrects mistakes right after the incorrect utterance, interrupting the student.
This type of mistake management works well in accuracy exercises, where using the target language correctly is the aim of the activity. In fluency exercises, however, constant interruption can reduce students' focus on content and lead to frustration. Here is a list of the most common types of immediate mistake correction:
Rephrasing: the teacher gives the student no chance to self-correct, simply repeating the utterance in its correct form. Students might repeat the corrected sentence or phrase, but they're unlikely to remember the correct form in the long run.
Non-verbal signals: using yellow cards, knocking on the desk or board, raising a hand, or any other non-verbal signal, indicates to students that they've made a mistake, prompting them to go back and rephrase. Naturally, the student may not understand exactly what the mistake was and might need further support.
Interrogative intonation: the teacher repeats the sentence or phrase containing the mistake with a questioning intonation, so the student knows something was wrong and has the chance to correct it.
Using metalanguage: the teacher explicitly asks about correct grammar (e.g. "Yesterday I have met my best friend." Teacher: "Can we use the present perfect with 'yesterday'?"). This method works only where students are already familiar with linguistic terms such as "present perfect".
Asking for repetition: the teacher simply asks the student to repeat their last sentence, hinting that a mistake was made ("Pardon?", "Go again?", "Repeat that, please", "How was that?", etc.).
Asking for peer correction: the teacher asks other students to correct the mistake, either in open class discussion or by calling on someone by name. This can involve the rest of the class and encourage them to listen closely to their peers; however, it may also leave the student who made the mistake feeling embarrassed or intimidated. It's best to give students the chance to correct their own mistakes first, and only turn to the rest of the class if they cannot.
Writing the incorrect utterance on the whiteboard: while a student is speaking, the teacher writes down some of the incorrect utterances and asks for corrections afterwards. This can, however, interrupt the student's train of thought, causing them to stop talking and go back to the point where the mistake occurred.
Delayed correction refers to cases where the teacher doesn't interrupt the student while speaking, but instead notes down the most relevant or recurring mistakes, saving them for a later point — right after the exercise, at the end of the lesson, in the next lesson, or at the latest, in the next revision session. This is an effective approach for fluency exercises, where the aim is to let students speak freely, mistakes and all, in order to build up their fluency. Teachers can also collect examples of mistakes while marking written work, and discuss these with students rather than simply correcting them outright.
Teaching Italian students? Watch these useful videos of some typical mistakes:
How to...
That said, teachers still need to think carefully about how they give feedback on these mistakes. Here are some ways to handle delayed correction:
1. You are the teacher
The teacher types up what students wrote or said (or part of it — this can be done after recording them), or compiles a list of incorrect utterances and hands out a copy to students. Mistakes can be highlighted (underlined, or in a different colour) or even labelled (GR for grammar, V for vocabulary, SP for spelling, etc. — though be sure to introduce these abbreviations to your students first). Students are then asked to correct the mistakes, individually, in pairs or in small groups.
2. Let's turn it into a competition
The exercise above can easily be turned into a game. The teacher selects some sentences containing mistakes (or rewrites sentences to include the most relevant and/or typical errors) and builds a game around them. Some of the most successful formats include:
- Noughts and Crosses: divide the class into two teams. Pick and number nine sentences, then transfer these numbers (in order or at random) onto a 3×3 noughts-and-crosses grid (students can draw this themselves). Teams take turns trying to claim one of the nine squares by correcting a sentence. If a team fails, the other team gets a chance. If neither succeeds, the teacher decides whether to restart or move on to another sentence. The winning team is the one that gets three crosses or noughts in a row, column or diagonal. The game becomes even more exciting with a larger pool of sentences, allowing several rounds.
- Jeopardy: write sentences on cards, each assigned a different value (e.g. 50, 100 or 200 euros), marked on the back. Place the cards on the board, and let the two teams choose a card based on its value. If they correct the sentence, they earn the points; if not, the other team has a go. At the end, teams add up their points, and a winner is announced (and can even be awarded a prize).
- Mistake auction: give students (individually, in pairs or in small groups) a set amount of money (e.g. 1,000 euros) to spend in an auction. After working through the mistakes themselves, the teacher opens each sentence up for bids. There's usually a minimum bid of 50 euros, and students may want to risk more if they're confident they can correct the sentence. Whoever places the highest bid gets to propose a correction — if it's right, they win the money; if wrong, they lose it. The game has two winning conditions: who earns the most money, and who gets the most sentences right.
- Mistake goal: draw a football pitch on the whiteboard and mark five positions students must move the "ball" through, from one goal to the other (one central spot, two on each side, plus one in each goal). Split students into two teams, and have them move the ball from the centre towards the opposing goal by correcting sentences on a worksheet (one sentence per position). A mistake lets the other team take possession and move the ball back, continuing until someone scores a goal or possession changes again. This game goes down particularly well with football-mad students.
- Catch Me If You Can (Ludo): use this classic board game with your students, following the usual rules and dice rolls — but before moving, each player must correct the next sentence on the worksheet. A correct answer lets them move forward by the number rolled; an incorrect one sends them back the same number of spaces! Students can play in pairs (you'll need a board and dice for each pair), in small groups, or as two teams on one large board.
3. Or keep them quiet, but active
If you'd rather avoid games, or are working with a large class, consider these approaches instead:
- Parallel texts: this exercise takes a little more preparation and works well for mistakes in one specific area (a grammar point or vocabulary field), such as simple past versus present perfect, or false friends. The teacher prepares two versions of a typed text or list of sentences, hiding different mistakes in each. Students then compare their two versions and decide which is correct, and why. There's a listening and pronunciation exercise hidden here too: ask students to read their sentences aloud without showing their sheets to their partner — one has to pronounce the words correctly, while the other listens closely. After students have spent some time comparing and correcting in pairs, go through the answers together as a class.
- Some parallel text worksheets from ELT-Tutor's Learning resources:
- Pick the incorrect sentence: a quick, low-preparation exercise that works well at the start of any lesson. Write three sentences on the whiteboard — two correct, and one containing a typical mistake (or several). Students find the incorrect sentence individually or in pairs, then discuss the answer as a class, or have the teacher reveal it.
- Pick a card: write incorrect utterances on index cards (preparing enough sets for the class) and have students work in pairs. They draw a card and try to correct the sentence; if successful, they keep the card and draw another, continuing until they get one wrong. If they make a mistake, their partner gets a chance to correct it and take the card (though in this case, the original pair doesn't get to see the correction). The aim is to collect as many cards as possible.
Think twice
There are two important things to bear in mind when planning delayed feedback sessions:
- Think it through. Plan which mistakes you want to focus on (less is more — don't try to include every mistake; pick the most relevant or typical ones); which sentences to use or rewrite (students shouldn't feel embarrassed about their mistakes, so adapt sentences where necessary, or keep only the incorrect part, so no one can be identified); how many worksheets, sets of cards, dice, etc. you will need; which social groupings your students will work in (individually, in pairs, in small groups or as a whole class); and even what the winner(s) will receive.
- Always provide the correct answers. Make sure students clearly understand what the mistake was, why it was wrong, and how to say it correctly. This might mean going through the correct answers in an open class feedback session at the end, or giving students a second worksheet with the corrections.
Finally, if you want your students to retain what they've learned, revisit typical mistakes regularly, in different forms and formats, and help students recall, remember and recognise a mistake — so they can avoid it in future.