Correct Me If I'm Wrong

Mistakes can be a valuable source of information, but no one learns a language simply by being told what they are doing wrong!

     One of the greatest challenges I faced as a language educator was understanding a particular mindset that many individuals bring to the task of language study--- the mindset that supposes that the best way to learn a language is to have a native speaker point out every mistake the learner makes. 

Countless adult students, including those with whom I was fortunate enough to develop lasting friendships, came to me in earnest and pleaded, "Whenever I make a mistake, please just correct me."

When I first encountered this attitude, I thought for sure that no one could possibly want to be corrected all of the time--- especially not in the context of learning a language. But, I actually heard this same request over and over again.

Why didn't I oblige my students?  The answer is complicated:  I am not fully convinced by the research and data on the potential positive learning outcomes of error correction (see Second Language Learning Theories (2004) by Mitchell & Myles); also, I believe it is the case that error correction may have no or very minimal effect for learners who are in the early stages of language acquisition, and for some learners, such feedback may be counterproductive altogether. Moreover, I can't imagine a worthwhile conversation if one person is being corrected constantly:

Student: I'm not feeling good. Can you tell me where is the hospital?

Teacher: You should say, "I'm not feeling well, since well describes states such as health. Also, you should probably say "Could you tell me..." instead of "Can, " since the student-teacher relationship implies a certain degree of formality. Also, English moves the verb of a WH- question to the end of the clause when it appears as an embedded question, such as the one you asked."

Student: Uhh....sorry. Ok, but I see many blood---

Teacher: A lot of blood, not many. Blood is a non-countable noun. You need to use the right quantifier.  

  

Student: I'm bleeding and I'm starting feeling dizzy.

Teacher: Starting TO feel. You really need to memorize cases in which the infinitival form of the verb follows the gerundive.  

Timely feedback in some cases may be just the right kind of tool to help an individual improve their fluency. But when someone asks me to correct them when they're wrong,  I usually just say, "NO!" It's for everyone's health!