LLFE-T07 · Fixing Errors — On-the-Spot vs Delayed Correction
✅ Fixing Errors
⏱ 5 minutes · 📚 CELTA methodology · 🏫 Micro-lesson
📖 From the teacher’s desk: When I first received feedback on my own teaching in Landerneau, my tutor noted that I was interrupting students mid-speech to correct them — which was killing the fluency phase of the lesson. Learning when NOT to correct is as important as knowing how to correct. This micro-lesson is the one I most needed as a trainee teacher.
🎯 By the end of this micro-lesson, you can: choose the right error correction technique for the right moment in a lesson.
🔥 The Core Question (1 min)
Should you correct this error? A student says: “Yesterday I go to the market.”
It depends. Ask yourself:
🔹 Is this a fluency activity or an accuracy activity?
🔹 Will correcting now damage the student’s confidence?
🔹 Is this the target language of today’s lesson?
📖 Two Types of Error Correction (2 min)
Use during ACCURACY work (grammar drills, controlled practice). Correct immediately but gently.
Use during FLUENCY work (discussions, role plays). Note errors, address at the end.
On-the-spot techniques:
- Recast: Repeat correctly without drawing attention. Student: “I go yesterday.” Teacher: “You went yesterday — interesting! Tell me more.”
- Finger correction: Use fingers to show where the error is in the sentence. Student self-corrects.
- Reformulation prompt: “Can you say that again?” or raise an eyebrow — student tries again.
Delayed correction technique:
During fluency activity, write errors (anonymously) on the board. At the end, ask: “What was wrong with these sentences? Can you fix them?”
✍️ Practice (2 min)
For each situation, decide: on-the-spot or delayed correction? Which technique?
- During a speaking role-play, a student says “I am not agree with you.”
- During a grammar exercise, a student writes “She don’t like coffee.”
- A student repeatedly uses “make” instead of “do” in all activities.
🔟️ Answer Key
- Delayed — it is a fluency activity. Note the error, bring it up afterwards: “I heard: I am not agree. How can we say this?” (I do not agree / I disagree)
- On-the-spot — accuracy activity. Finger correction or recast: “She does not like coffee — good, continue!”
- On-the-spot + later focus — this is a fossilised error. Address it in a focused accuracy stage using minimal pairs and drilling.
Cambridge CELTA course completed — 120 supervised teaching hours, 4 written assignments passed at the required standard.
Independent project; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or accredited by Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Confers no qualification.
✉️ Questions? sourovdeb.com
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