Making mistakes is an integral part of language learning. Crucially, ESL teachers must know how to provide the right language feedback in order to improve learner performance and prevent fossilization of errors.

Here are 6 types of corrective feedback that ESL teachers employ in the language learning classroom:

1. Explicit correction - Indicate the mistake by offering the correct answer

S: He go to school.

T: He goes to school.

2. Recast - Do not indicate the mistake directly, but reformulate what the student said.

S: He go to school.

T: Yeah, he goes to school by himself.

3. Clarification request - Signal the message is unclear and encourage students to self-correct.

S: He go to school.

T: Pardon?

S: He goes to school.

4. Metalinguistic cues - Ask questions or provide information to lead the student to the error.

S: He go to school.

T: 3rd person '-S'?

S: He goes to school.

5. Elicitation - Pause, then allow the student to reformulate the answer.

S: He go to school.

T: (pause) He...?

S: He goes to school.

6. Repetition - Restate the mistake but signal through intonation that something was wrong.

S: He go to school.

T: He go to school?

S: He goes to school.

Here's a non-exhaustive list of what ESL teachers need to consider when deciding how best to correct the learner's language error:

• Does the mistake affect communication?

• Are we concentrating on accuracy or fluency at the moment?

• Why did the student make the mistake?

• Is it something the students have already learned?

• Is this a mistake that several students are making?

Well, they do say that teachers make over 1,500 educational judgements in a single school day, don't they?