Job Discussion Forums

[judyandherhorse]

Hi All,

I know this is a common problem in any ESL classroom, but I seem to be noticing it more and more with my students!

I'm teaching an EAP course at the moment, and my students are having a LOT of trouble with correcting their own errors in grammar...I've given then countless grammar "worksheets" in the vain hope that their grammar will improve - but no luck.

So I've started giving them error correction exercises - such as correcting the errors in their neighbours work etc. but this is also rather fruitless.

Does anyone have any good ideas for improving their ability in correcting their own mistakes? I'm out of luck!

Thanks guys.

[Glenski]

Assuming this is spoken English (written is different), how about recording them (video or audio only), then letting them judge for themselves?

Or if you see a common mistake (more likely, mistakes plural), point this out to the whole class and have a grammar lesson on it.

Also, realize that you shouldn't expect perfection. To do so will only aggravate you and frustrate and demotivate students. Accept communicative clarity first.

Depends a lot on who your students are and what the goal of the class is, too.

[spiral78]

Maybe try a 'common error of the week.' It can be more productive to single out one problem at a time than to try to correct a whole range of them constantly.

[kinlij]

Since it's an EAP course I assume there's a lot of writing. One activity I do which helps towards accuracy is collaborative writing. I put students in groups of 3 and together they write whatever the task is.

The ideas behind this are 1) that by talking about their languages choices as they write they can collectively pool their linguistic knowledge to make better choices and 2) the process of talking and making choices about what language to use makes them aware of 'gaps' in their knowledge. So it makes them more aware of where they make errors. They won't be able to self correct if those areas aren't noticeable to them.

When the group is finished I point out any errors they've made and they correct them before handing it in. Later on (in a separate lesson) I get students to individually complete the same task with the hope that the results of the collaborative writing has transfered to their individual work.

I know this is not the same as self correction, but it does lead to students being more aware of certain errors. The important thing is to give them time to talk through what they want to write and how they want to write it. They'll often get into quite detailed discussions of what grammar/vocab to use.

However, as Glenski said, you can't expect perfection. I see it as a very slow, accumulative process.