Assessment and error correction

Reasons for assessment

a teacher is accountable for children’s progress to the children themselves, to the parents, the head teacher and the school authorities

need for tangible evidence of progress basis for monitoring performance and

difficulties

What to assess

the four skills (in an integrated way or each skill separately)

learning how to learn (e.g. using a dictionary or other resources, ability to organize learning…)

attitudes (e.g. through short conversations with children, observation…), how the child is interested in learning the subject

behaviour and social skills (teachers are responsible for educating the child as a whole)

How to assess - methods

Generally in a way that protects (or even enhances) the positive atmosphere in the class.

Portfolio: collection of work over a period of time, e.g. pieces of writing, tests, drawing activities, projects

Projects: good for mixed-ability groups, integrate language skills, promote creativity

Self-assessment: children asked to think about their learning and progress on regular basis; hard for little children

How to assess - methods Testing: e.g. multiple choice questions, true-false

statements, cloze tests; objective, easy to mark, easy to prepare, the only feedback is a mark, must be used together with other forms of assessment

Take-home tasks: one that children can complete at home

Observation: of the performance in groups, pairs of individually, children not aware of being assessed, also good for finding out about non-linguistic skills (interest, motivation, engagement)

Conferencing: informal and friendly chats with the children

Sources of errors

Errors arise from several possible general sources:

1. interference from MT 2. intralingual interference of TL 3. absence of language feature in MT 4. interference from another foreign language.

Did he came?I am doctor. We are fast finished. What’s on that picture?

FeedbackOne of the keys to successful language learning lies in the

feedback that a learner receives from others.

too much negative feedback (interruptions, corrections, overt attention to wrong forms) often leads learners to shut off their attempts at communication, may be discouraging

too much positive feedback reinforces errors

The task of the teacher is to find the right level of positive and negative feedback (enough encouragement and attention to crucial errors).

When and what to correctIt is not the teacher’s job to correct all the non-standard English that

learners produce but to help the learners improve their English. However, students in the classroom generally want and expect errors to be corrected.

It is suitable not to correct students when we are paying attention to what they want to say – when the aim of the task is to practise fluency.

• I have got two cat and one dog (inaccurate but comprehensible)• I have 7 years (inaccurate and incomprehensible)

Correcting errors is necessary when we focus our learners’ attention on accuracy.

Responding to errors in writing

Symbols for written correction:

Sp – spellingA – articleP – punctuationWO – word orderWW –wrong word T – tense^ – something missing

Responding to errors in speaking

indicate a mistake and do nothing (rephrasing) indicate a mistake and elicit acceptable version from the

same pupil indicate a mistake and elicit acceptable version from

another pupil teacher can make a note of the mistake and draw

attention to it at a later stage provide or elicit explanation why the mistake was made

and how to avoid it

Responding to errors in speaking

Generally speaking, the more the Ss are involved in the correction, the more they have to think about the language used in the classroom.

A teacher may start by giving a chance for self-correction, if the S cannot correct himself, try peer correction and only as the last resource, direct teacher correction.