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Thoughts on correcting someone while speaking

(edited July 2024)

This morning in class, the question of correcting came up again. 

A colleague, who subbed for me while I was on vacation, seems to have a noticeably different practice from my own concerning ‘corrections’ and three of us started talking about this after class. They asked me if I could correct them more. My colleague was said to have corrected them quite extensively.

The issue of correcting someone while speaking raises a lot of questions. Most importantly: How do we learn? But also: what is it that we are actually learning? What is or should be in focus?

Speaking practice, knowledge of structures and grammar, vocabulary improvement, specific topics (keyword: content based language teaching); everything has its place in language classes. We can focus on any of them at any given time as long as our choices make sense and fit the needs of our learners. 

One thing that became clear to me is that every once in a while it is of utmost importance to clarify – or discuss – these questions and to reflect on how each of us believes we learn best; to clarify what it is we want to do with the language. And to talk about our language learning concepts, and what we believe is important for us to learn and how.

It is also important – and interesting – to talk about how we believe we can best reach our goals and what we believe how we learn best. And although I have some background in Language Acquisition/Learning studies and (some) ideas on ‘How Languages are Learned’ (or ‘learnt’), there is no one answer, one concept, one way. And if someone feels he or she would greatly profit from being corrected more often, my second thought – admittedly not my first – was to willingly give them what they want.

However, my third thought was ‘no’ again. Corrections during communication not only have no learning effect concerning the corrected, they distract from the actual intention of trying to convey thoughts.

When asked which language items my substitute had corrected, my course member remembered only one.  Our memories are tricky things and what we don’t need or use any time soon gets lost rather quickly.

I have already commented on the issue of accuracy versus fluency (see post from July 7, 2013). When asked to correct more often, my first reaction – emotional reaction I must say – is always reluctance. Then, after a brief consideration, I point out that I do, occasionally (maybe more often than people realize), correct (trying not to sound too defensive as I find feed back of any kind essentially valuable).

And I do indeed correct, but mainly pronunciation when what is being said is not clear, or when a chosen word or expression is not the appropriate one. In situations where someone is concentrating on getting their thoughts across, my corrections only occur when necessary for clarification. I try to keep any communication situation as natural as possible. And correcting others while they are trying to convey thoughts is not only unnatural, but can actually disrupt their thoughts.

The class member who brought the issue up believed that being corrected on the spot might help him better to remember his mistake as it would be closer in time to him making it. However, how something sticks is not a matter of ‘when’ but of ‘how much’ you focus on something. The exposure time to a correction on the spot during communication is way too short to have any memorable effect on the brain. So focussing on the issue later in a more extensive and elaborate session is more likely to have a more lasting effect.

Many people have problems learning a foreign language not because they wouldn’t be able to, but because they are afraid of making mistakes. I find it more important to dare to communicate with others than to worry about native-like accuracy.

So no, I will not correct mistakes during communication.