How does conversation help?

[jori]

I've been teaching English to university-level Koreans for five months in a language center. Our one by four classes engage in a lot of converstaion, but I wonder how conversation helps students to learn the language. Although they are talkative , I wonder if this activity improves their English over time and how. I correct their mistakes, but they seem to keep on repeating them in latter conversation. How can I improve this activity?

[FangWB]

I've been teaching English to university-level Koreans for five months in a language center. Our one by four classes engage in a lot of converstaion, but I wonder how conversation helps students to learn the language. Although they are talkative , I wonder if this activity improves their English over time and how. I correct their mistakes, but they seem to keep on repeating them in latter conversation. How can I improve this activity?

As a matter of fact, I think you have a very good start because your students are willing to talk. I believe that conversation is very important in language learning. It is very normal for students who are non-Ecnglish speakers to make mistakes while speaking English. The best way to correct their mistakes is to model it. For example: If they say:" I go to bed at 9:00pm last night." There's no need to expalin to give him/her a lecture on English grammar for it may discourage the student. You may respond to him/her like this:"You went to bed at 9:00pm last night?" Make sure you stress the word 'went'. Actually, if they are college students, they probably are able to self-correct their mistakes in oral Enlgish if they choose to.
However, language encompasses four aspects which are: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It seems that your students are doing fine with the first two aspects. It would be even better if they can write down what they discuss in the future.

Hope this helps.

[jori]

That was a very good suggestion in correcting students, because I used to explain grammatical rules when they make a mistake. Thank you very much FangWB. Your reply is encouraging.

[FangWB]

That was a very good suggestion in correcting students, because I used to explain grammatical rules when they make a mistake. Thank you very much FangWB. Your reply is encouraging.

Jori, I have to apologize for my last response to your posting because I was in a hurry to go to work and didn't even have time to check for spellings.

Just a few weeks ago, I read Krashen's language acquisition. Krashen stated that based on studies, people tend to be more careful with written language than with oral language. Many people are aware of the mistakes in their oral English but don't bother to make corrections simply because those mistakes don't intervene with comprehension. Listening is the first step of language learning. Human brain is like a memory system in computer. When it has stored a great amount of information, it starts to output gradually and oral language emerges. So, it actually is a great thing for your students to have the ability to speak. I think you are doing very well and believe it will get even better.

[jori]

Again thank you very much for your tip. That was again very helpful. Next year, I will take up a TESL course in a school near my house because I want to be a good teacher. To break from the routine of conversation, I give my students articles, which they read and then present in class. It turned out to be exciting.