Free thoughts: The stupidity of error correction codes

FREE THOUGHTS

The stupidity of correction codes

1 Lots of people in EFL use correction codes on student writing primarily because other people seem to be doing it rather than because it’s an idea that makes much sense. Oh, and it looks sophisticated so it must be a good idea.

2 The idea of correction ideas is that what learners really want from teachers regarding their writing is not feedback but a guessing game; I have had feedback from learners in the school where I work that they dislike this approach because they aren’t getting any information about their writing.

3 I have found that simply by highlighting errors in yellow learners are quite capable of working out what’s wrong with their writing without the symbols. So that’s less work for you as a teacher and more work for the learners in trying to figure things out for themselves.