English Teaching

ELT365 · Day 188 — Error correction in fluency tasks: the delayed rule

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Idea — During fluency tasks, correct errors after the task, not during. Immediate correction interrupts communication, raises anxiety, and trains learners to speak in short, safe sentences.

Example — A learner is mid-story about her weekend when you stop her to fix ‘I seen.’ She loses her thread, the story dies, and the class learns: speak carefully, not freely.

Try — Practice delayed feedback: write two student errors during a speaking task. After the task, write them on the board. Ask: ‘Anything wrong here?’ Let learners self-correct.

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