Error Correction in ESL Class: When and How

In traditional instruction environments, because the focus of classroom instruction is on accuracy, errors are frequently corrected. Yet with the popularity of communicative language teaching in ESL contexts and the understanding of "interlanguage", the role of error correction has changed. Errors are considered natural products in language learning and in fact reflect the patterns of students' developing interlanguage system. Thus, errors are no longer the thorns in the teachers' flesh that need immediate picking. It is advocated that errors should be treated with care and in a humanistic manner.
First of all, it is important that the teachers form the concepts that not all errors need to be corrected right after they are made. To decide when to give corrective feedback, teachers can take the frequency of errors as a norm. Some errors are infrequent and may be slips of the tongue. These errors mostly can be corrected by the students themselves. As for persistent errors, especially those shared by most students, teaches should correct them consistently. Besides, teachers need to discern global errors, which interfere with understanding, from local errors, which may not hinder comprehension. Generally speaking, global errors should be corrected to further clarify speakers' intentions. Moreover, the timing of correction depends on the purpose of the classroom activities. If the goal is to have students express themselves, it is better that the teacher do not interrupt immediately. If the focus is on form, then it is useful to correct errors to enhance students' accuracy. Another consideration concerns students' individual reactions towards error correction. Some students may emotionally over-react to this kind of face-threatening act. If teachers are able to expect students' individual reactions towards correction, he or she can have great timing of correction.
Teachers should not only know when to treat errors but also how to do error correction. On a humanistic consideration, it is essential to convey the message to the students that making errors are not unforgivable or shameful. Positive affective feedback should be offered first to encourage students and to decrease the tension caused by error correction (e.g. students' fear of losing face). To avoid potential risk of discouraging students, students' self correction with teachers' or peer's help is encouraged. By doing so, students are provided with more opportunities to accomplish his or her task and thus to obtain a sense of achievement. This kind of approach creates a friendlier atmosphere than teacher correction. However, this does not suggest that teacher correction would always hurt students' feelings and should always be eschewed. Teacher correction can be beneficial when errors are repeatedly made by most students. In fact, it can be applied without necessarily making students feel embarrassed or threatened. For example, teachers can postpone the correction till the end of an activity or a class period and discuss with all the students in class.
Understandably, it is not easy for teachers to resist the temptation of correcting every error because we feel responsible for preventing the fossilization of errors. However, as we all know, excessive error correction could frustrate students and even smother students' motivation of learning the language. Therefore, it is really important for teachers to have "good timing" and use "appropriate" correction strategies when giving error correction.