How Much Should Your Language Teacher Correct Your Errors?

One of the most common frustrations I hear from language learners is about correction – or rather, the lack of it. Judy from California recently asked me a question that I think many of you will relate to:

“As I work with tutors, even if I send them vocabulary lists or guidelines, I'm still not corrected very much. I feel as though I'm just kind of blubbering along. What exactly can I expect in terms of correction with a tutor?”

It's a brilliant question, and it gets to the heart of something that teachers think about a lot. Error correction in language learning is a big topic in teaching, and there's no simple answer. But let me share some thoughts that might help you navigate this.

Why Teachers Approach Error Correction Differently

Any teacher worth their salt thinks carefully about the issue of correction.

There's a related concept known as TTT in the trade – teacher talking time – which refers to how much of the class time the teacher spends speaking themselves as opposed to letting the student speak.

Along this continuum, you have teachers who speak a lot out of nervousness (yes, teachers get nervous too!) and the feeling that they need to teach.

At the other end, you've got teachers who focus on allowing the student to speak, creating space for them to practise. And then the question becomes: well, how often do I correct?

I remember when I was learning to teach, I used to go through phases. All teachers do – you learn about new methods, get new ideas, have new experiences, and you experiment.

I remember walking out of one group class in Japan once and talking to another teacher in the staff room afterwards. I was pretty much gloating about the lesson, saying something like, “I think I said about 20 words in that whole lesson.”

The point was that the students were speaking all the time. In that particular context, those students in Japan would only speak English once a week when they came to this lesson on a Saturday morning.

So for me, one of the priorities was allowing them to speak as much as possible. My job was to find ways to encourage discussion and then get out of the way.

When Less Correction Makes Sense

That decision I made in Japan was appropriate for those students. It's very common in Japan that people can hear English on the TV or read it in books but never get the chance to speak.

So I took the view that one of the best services I could give those students was to allow them to speak.

But I did realise at one point I'd gone a little bit too far in that direction. I was allowing them to speak so much that I wasn't correcting enough.

As one of my own teaching mentors used to tell me, we have a responsibility to correct as teachers. It's not good enough to let students just speak, because there are very simple things we can do to correct.

We have an obligation to correct students because we can raise awareness of fossilised errors. We can, relatively simply, by just interjecting or highlighting an error, fix things that are going wrong in a student's language.

Not to mention the fact that it's what students expect – as Judy articulated. Students expect to be corrected.

Is There A Right Amount Of Error Correction?

The reason I told that story is because I don't think there's such a thing as a right or wrong amount to be corrected. It depends very much on your circumstances.

For example, if you went to your teacher and said, “Look, I speak Spanish every day. Speaking a lot isn't my issue. My problem is accuracy – I just keep making mistakes.” Well, in that situation, your teacher should be correcting you as much as possible.

On the other hand, if you went to your teacher and said, “I'm studying every day, doing my grammar books and taking courses, but I simply don't have any opportunity to speak” – well, if I were the teacher, I would be thinking that I need to give you as much speaking time as possible.

Because if you're studying a lot by yourself, the way that filters out into your ability to speak is by having the opportunity to articulate yourself and use the language you've been studying in conversation.

So there's no right or wrong way. It always comes back to having the conversation with your teacher.

How To Talk To Your Teacher About Correction

Teachers are often as nervous, or more nervous, than the students. They want to impress. They want the student to feel like they're getting their money's worth. All kinds of things go on in the minds of teachers, and I think as students we don't really appreciate that.

In my own teaching, the best thing a student can do is just tell me what they want. Then we can get rid of all the nonsense and get down to business.

It may be the case that what the student wants isn't the right thing for them – but then at least you can have a conversation along more honest lines about the real issue, rather than this game of “I want the teacher to correct me more but I'm too polite to say” while the teacher is guessing all the time.

Have the conversation with your teacher. Say something like, “I'm wondering if you can correct me a little bit more.” See where it goes. That will provoke a reaction of some kind.

It might be that they've intentionally decided not to correct you so much, or it might give them a bit of a jolt and make them think, “Actually, I haven't been correcting her all that much – maybe I should do that more.”

Either way, it's going to move you one step closer to getting what you need.

Different Methods Of Error Correction In Language Learning

There are lots of different ways teachers can correct you, and it's worth knowing about them so you can discuss what might work best for you.

• On-the-spot correction is when you make an error and the teacher jumps in immediately. If you say “I gone,” they might interject with “I went.”
• Echoing is when the teacher repeats back the error to raise your awareness of it. So if you say “I gone,” they might repeat “I gone?” with a questioning tone, prompting you to self-correct.
• Delayed correction is when the teacher takes notes of your mistakes while you're speaking, and then after you finish talking, they run through the errors and help you correct them.

When I'm working with a language partner, I often say to them, “What I'd really like you to do is just make little notes of my mistakes, and then we'll talk about them later.”

That's because what I'm looking for is the opportunity to speak as much as possible. But I had that conversation with them. I asked them for what I wanted.

It all comes back to the conversation.

Error Correction In Language Learning FAQ

Finding The Right Balance For You

Error correction in language learning isn't a one-size-fits-all matter.

The amount and type of correction you need depends entirely on your individual circumstances – how much speaking practice you get elsewhere, what your main challenges are, and what stage you're at in your learning journey.

The key takeaway here is that teachers aren't mind readers. Many of them are actively trying to balance competing priorities: giving you space to speak, building your confidence, and helping you improve accuracy.

They may have made deliberate decisions about how much to correct, or they may simply not realise you want more feedback.

Don't be afraid to advocate for yourself. A simple conversation about your expectations can transform your lessons. Tell your teacher what you're struggling with, what you want to focus on, and how you'd like them to help.

That honest dialogue will serve you far better than silently hoping they'll guess what you need. The best learning relationships are built on clear communication – which, after all, is exactly what you're trying to master in your target language.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.