correcting EFL work

Of course a spelling test or a grammar exercise is relatively easy to correct. The problem comes when the piece of writing is longer. It could be a piece of creative writing, a summary, expressing an opinion, a script, a portfolio submission or a test for example. The problem isn’t about correcting the mistakes although they need to be corrected with sensitivity. A page of red corrections isn’t inspiring and is de-motivating in my opinion. I correct in green because it is perceived as a friendlier colour than red. I also believe in focusing on one specific error with the hope of eradicating it by carefully selected and directed exercises starting with what amounts to a drill of some kind and leading up to open-ended use of the problem expression; working from convergent correction towards divergent use. Of course in the case of very able students or minor mistakes it is an option to focus on more than one point. The point to be borne in mind always has to be an answer to the questions: “What will the effect be on this student? What effect will my programme of correction have? Where do we go from here? What is the appropriate follow up?

I find all of the above difficult to envisage as forming part of a complete picture without detailed record cards. These need not be a chore as they can be completed quite naturally by the student in the classroom after the corrections have been successfully done. Each point needs to have a date, a title to describe the point corrected, a stage indication like gap exercise, repetition practice or free use and an indication of the degree of success – the last point being completed by the tutor as s/he checks the entry.

Another technique which works well is using a text marker to mark every error in a paragraph and leave the pupils to correct the errors themselves or in pairs using the teacher as a referee. It is amazing how many errors can be corrected in this way without teacher direction. In my experience often as many as 80 – 90%.