correcting students

In conversation class, how much should we correct student mistakes? How should we correct them?Should we interrupt the students while they are speaking or make notes about their mistakes and correct them later?

What are your thoughts?

Use the word: I think it would be better if you will use "(correct word)" instead. This way the stud may not be offended.

Use the word: I think it would be better if you will use "(correct word)" instead. This way the stud may not be offended.

i preffer to make notes of their mistakes n corrrect them later because while speaking interruption make them confused and they might forget their other worlds too.

I think it is case by case… there are some students who wants to be corrected after they made a mistake and some of them doesn’t want to be corrected…. But I my case I correct my students in the wrap up and then give some quiz about the mistakes that they made… I think it is effective because on the next day they were avoiding to make those mistakes…

from my point of view

it depends in the speech

sometimes we want our students to focus on some parts of the language so we have to correct that part when ever they make a mistake so they will be familiar with it but of cource we are not going to correct everything just we will concentrate on the most important things and we can use different kinds of correction feedback. know your students well so you well know to correct and not and what strategy to use.

Wow, thanks for all your comments. They're interesting and helpful. I like Nofre's suggestion of modeling the right word or grammar. Taking notes is a great idea too. Thanks again!

ı do think that correcting srudent at the right time  and in the right way is important. ıf you correct every mistake, student will be discouraged.

So, we should correct him if the mistake is important; and we should correct him not telling the right answer but making him aware of the fact that "there is a mistake in your speach" by the way of using our mimics not by words.

Dilemma36, you are right, I think, but if you want them to tell a whole opinion, or an introduction you should wait till the end and make notes.

Nofre, the way you suggested is very polite, my French teacher uses it so, but I'm afraid some children misunderstand 'it would be better', because you don't utter clearly it's not correct. They may think they're OK, just there's a better solution. But that's just my opinion. We are different and English words translated to our languages mayhave a slight different meaning.

Feri

Three points:

1 – in conversation classes make a note of common errors made by the students and go through them after the activity, inviting students to correct the mistakes. Write them up. Let them see them. Correct them. Make a note of the mistakes and the corrections.

2 – for lower levels make sure basic mistakes with grammar are corrected; for higher levels, their basic grammar will be good and though they might struggle with more complex structures, actually the most important thing for these students is to have their vocabulary and pronunciation mistakes corrected. They appreciate this most of all, in my experience.

3 – remember how your parents corrected you as a kid when you made a mistake; they would sometimes just say "Nooo, that's wrong. It should be … what what what." I think if your students feel comfortable with you, then this form of direct correction can be beneficial. We don't always need to use self-correction as a technique; teacher correction with the right student, at the right time, and as one method among many can be helpful.

Good luck.