Chapter 7: Giving Correction and Feedback 113
✓ I agree!
✓ You surprise me!
When you continue your rapport with a student in writing, the teaching envi-
ronment becomes friendlier and more encouraging.
Exposing Progress
Quite a number of course books in TEFL have progress tests built in after
every three units or so. Such evaluations can be useful for you and the stu-
dents to see how well you’re covering the syllabus. Also the way that you
handle the students’ errors can lead to more learner independence.
I recommend the kind of procedure listed below for good teamwork and turn-
ing the negatives (errors) into positives (reviewing):
- Prepare the students to expect the test and encourage them to revise.
- Give them the test.
- Allow the students to compare their answers in small groups and
enter into discussion about who’s right and why.
- Give each group a copy of the answer key so they can mark their
answers.
- Allow the groups a further 5–10 minutes for comparison and dis-
cussion.
- Encourage the students to consult their course books and clear up any
doubts.
- Have a class feedback session where students ask the class for help
with any outstanding problems.
- Make sure that everyone in the class understands their errors.
Apart from tests, another way to measure progress is by continual assess-
ment. This means that you regularly evaluate how each student is performing
in class and keeping up with the course. It’s very useful to note errors regu-
larly and compare them every few weeks or so to see whether you’ve remem-
bered to deal with the error and whether the student is improving. In Table
7-2 I show a system you can use for making notes on an individual student’s
errors. Categorising errors in this way helps you identify particular areas of
difficulty for the student, as one column may have more xs than others.
