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November 5, 2019 at 2:30 am #8810
communityadminKeymaster- How accurate do your students need to be?
- How do you feel when they make errors?
- How do you react to their errors?
Post your ideas in a reply below and comment on other teachers’ ideas.
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November 14, 2019 at 9:18 pm #8890
Barbara BujtásParticipantMy business English students should be fairly accurate, as they want to make a good impression.
My exam prep students’ priority is the efficiency of communication, a variety of vocabulary and structures, fluency in many areas, some mistakes or errors are excusable.
Teenage and young learners are trickier, it’s not yet clear what they are going to do with the language, accuracy is of high importance.I feel quite bad, to be honest, especially when I hear my own errors in recorded lessons 😀 But a large number of errors are developmental, so if errors occur, development is happening.
I usually pick on recurring errors and draw my students’ attention to them. In the case of younger but fluent learners, who most probably have picked up the language from various sources, I present and make them practise the language structure they use with mistakes (typically over-generalizations).
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November 16, 2019 at 7:05 am #8901
Steven HerderKeymaster- How accurate do your students need to be?
I think it completely depends on the context, the personality of the learner, and the individual’s goal. - How do you feel when they make errors?
I’m only concerned when the error affects meaning. If I can’t understand or respond to the learner, then I hope they will try again. - How do you react to their errors?
It always depends on the personality of the student, the context we are in, and the level of the student.I do my best to get to know as many students as I can, in order to have as individual approach as possible.
- How accurate do your students need to be?
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November 16, 2019 at 10:11 pm #8928
Rhett BurtonParticipantI want my students to be very accurate because they are imitating me (pre a1 level). If they can’t do it with accuracy, I will tailor my language so that they can. I am flexible with the language if it has a higher probability of being learned. I do sometimes over-simplify. I will present, practice, and produce language until I start to get the desired results.
I am not too concerned when they make mistakes because I know that I can provide additional activities, tasks, and exercises to provide intervention. My learners are in a developmental stage. I am more concerned when they aren’t using any l2 language during tasks and activities.
How do I react to errors?
I usually provide them the input required to change. I sometimes ask corrective questions, but it depends on the level and the ability of the student. I believe it is more constructive to help them say it correctly than teach them the meta language to make the changes themselves (in pre a1 only). A student who has learned the language to a certain level are expected to incorporate several meta language processes to help scaffold error correction. I talk more about it in the next forum post.
I am very interested in learning more about this at different stages. -
November 28, 2019 at 1:53 pm #8956
Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)KeymasterI teach and have taught a wide range of learners with significantly different abilities, needs, goals, and motivations.
How accurate do your students need to be?
Some students only need to be communicative for travel or simple social purposes. Young kids mostly want to enjoy playing with friends, playing games, watching cartoons, singing and listening to music. At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve taught teenagers and adults facing high-stakes exams, managers who need to negotiate successfully in business, diplomats who want to engage in polite small talk at official functions, and doctors who need to explain medical procedures precisely but also show empathy towards patients.
How do you feel when they make errors? How do you react to their errors?
Mostly, I’m not thinking about how I feel since I’m trying to identify the cause of the error and see if it’s something the student can correct themselves, something they need to review, something they haven’t studied yet.
However, with students I’ve taught a long time (or my own kids) I notice I can feel a sense of frustration. But if I feel frustrated, how must they feel? The only time I’ve admittedly lost my patience and temporarily stepped away from helping a student is when they’ve not made any effort and/or been rude – which is very rare, fortunately.
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July 22, 2020 at 4:10 am #11327
Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)KeymasterHi Masatoshi. Whose post/comment do you agree with?
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July 20, 2020 at 6:13 am #11188
Masatoshi ShojiParticipantHow accurate do your students need to be?
It depends on the student’s goal and his/her circumferences.How do you feel when they make errors?
I do feel they made a mistake. However, I try not to interfere unless that utterance is meaningless.How do you react to their errors?
As in the above, I will try not to interfere unless the utterance is meaningless.Post your ideas in a reply below and comment on other teachers’ ideas.
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July 22, 2020 at 4:14 am #11328
Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)KeymasterYes, each student has their individual circumstances, but how about the students in your current classes? How accurate do they need to be? And is it different for each class or for different activities?
For example, in conversation, I also focus on the communication of meaning. However, in practice activities, the focus may change to fluency, pronunciation or accuracy, so my feedback and correction will reflect that.
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December 13, 2020 at 8:48 pm #13694
Rhett BurtonParticipantHow accurate do your students need to be?
How do you feel when they make errors?
How do you react to their errors?I expect higher levels of accuracy during different exercises, activities, and skills. Example – During phonics activities, I hope students to improve upon their listening and pronunciation slowly. I often interleave the exercises so that they get daily practice for years. This long-term approach eliminates many of my concerns that they won’t learn. However, I have had some students who take way beyond average amounts of time to hear the sounds.
My reaction varies by my attitude and emotional state of mind. I know I get triggered from time to time, and my reactions become hard and sharp. I usually feel this way when the content or skills is too difficult because the students haven’t learned it yet (not enough practice, motivation, etc). It also happened when I confuse the students’ playfulness with “just clowning around’.
I feel responsible as a teacher. I often wonder if I have been doing too much. Or Not allowing them to see or hear how they can make the changes to their development. It is tough to change your teaching style – especially if you aren’t exactly clear on why you are doing it. An emergent classroom experience isn’t about presenting, practicing, and producing language in tightly defined parameters.
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December 15, 2020 at 7:56 am #13711
Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)KeymasterI like how you appreciate the different needs/demands relative to the learning activity/process and the learners themselves.
Your reflection with regards to how you react is honest and valued. Indeed, we can all get triggered from time to time and have to manage ourselves, too. It’s really good to recognise some of those triggers, too, then be proactive about how you plan to address them. Having a ‘management plan’ can also help reduce our stress and be less reactive when we hit inevitable bumps in the road.
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December 17, 2020 at 6:31 am #13749
scott grayParticipantI am glad you are reflective and aware that they can get to you. That I think is important in a teacher. Keep at it.
As for changing teaching styles I think it depends upon your attitude more than anything else. Video is also a great help in seeing yourself and making the change just don’t beat yourself up over the mistakes we all make at one time or another.
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December 15, 2020 at 3:30 pm #13725
Jessica SohnParticipantI mostly teach elementary school kids.
How accurate do your students need to be?
The more accurate the better but I think it depends by class, for me. With my phonics classes(foundations), I feel it’s important they identify the exact sounds. So, those classes require accuracy and I’m more strict in teaching, whereas with my other classes like speaking class, grammar, reading I feel more flexible.How do you feel when they make errors? How do you react to their errors?
Before, I felt very frustrated and didn’t know how to exactly react. Sometimes I felt I was doing too much and sometimes not. But nowadays I’m more settled. I feel responsible and want them to have confidence in using the language. I want them to have the freedom. And, I started to use their errors as my check point so I can see where to go back.I also feel the same as Phil mentioned above in his comments. It’s just hard to keep my patience when the students don’t put any effort and be rude. It’s not them making the errors but their behavior/attitude that trigger me.
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December 16, 2020 at 2:44 am #13727
Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)KeymasterIt’s good to see that you’re finding a balance together with a more informed approach to error correction depending on the class and learning activity, as well as the learners themselves.
You’re definitely not alone when you find your patience being tested by students’ lack of effort or rudeness – learning how to deal with behaviour/attitude issues is probably one of the most challenging aspects of teaching!
Here’s a short article and video from edupotia that even if not completely relevant to our contexts, still lends pause for thought with good points based on research findings and experience:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/7-classroom-management-mistakes-and-research-how-fix-them
https://www.edutopia.org/video/research-backed-strategies-better-classroom-management
Which points resonate most with you?
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This reply was modified 1 month ago by
Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil).
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December 17, 2020 at 6:28 am #13748
scott grayParticipantI totally agree with you that the better the accuracy the better they will get and it is our job to balance that. It is never easy to not get angry when a student is not succeeding for lack of trying .
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December 17, 2020 at 6:25 am #13747
scott grayParticipantDepending upon the situation I hate to say. For communication they do not need to be so accurate but for University entrance exams and interviews they have to be spot on. I try to be nice and gentle but also they need to learn to deal with making a mistake is not the end of the world type of thinking.
I also find most of my students want correction just not to feel like they are beaten over their head with it. So getting the point across without pointing fingers is the most important.
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December 17, 2020 at 7:29 am #13755
Philip Shigeo Brown (Phil)Keymaster“Getting the point across without pointing fingers” is a very good way of putting it!
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