Error Correction Techniques In Teaching

The aim of this thesis was to establish whether there is a connection between teachers’ experience and error correction techniques preferred by them. The research, which concerned secondary school teachers, suggests that there may be a relation between these two factors. However, teachers’ personality traits may also influence error correction strategy. Since the sample was very small (it consisted of only four teachers), it is not possible to draw any general conclusions. Moreover, the material covered by the teachers during the lessons observed was diverse, which could considerably bias the results, as the teachers themselves claimed that they adapted different error correction techniques while teaching different language skills and areas. The first research questions concerned the different types of error correction techniques used by novice and experienced L2 teachers, namely, what kind of error correction strategies do the experienced and novice teachers of English use when they correct students’ oral mistakes? The data show that both novice and experienced teachers use a wide range of techniques.

Even though it would undoubtedly boost their confidence, it may also prove to be problematic during official exams, e.g. Matura exam. A student who has rarely been corrected in the classroom may feel cheated by the teacher and disappointed with the results of the exam. However, while practicing for oral Matura exam, Teacher C and D were observed to intervene students’ speaking and got out of the role to help them. This was used by the students who, instead of utilizing communication strategies, kept on asking the teacher for help. A solution to this problem may be delayed feedback, that is discussing strengths and weaknesses of student’s utterance after it is