In this connection it is essential to resolve the question: what should be perceived as crucial or the most important? An answer can be found in a purely linguistic field of study. In other words, it depends on the type of linguistics that we rely on. Once we adopt a structuralist point of view, we will have a tendency to correct all mistakes, because we would perceive the language as a habit and the learning of the language as a habit formation. As a result, even small mistakes (e.g. omission of a third person singular “s”) would be considered as harmful and detrimental to the process of language learning. However, a functionalist approach is of the view that comprehensibility is essential and thus, only those mistakes that hinder communication (mutual comprehension between the listener and the hearer) should be corrected.
Knowing this, when should we do corrections? An answer to this question is that under the impact of communicative language teaching methodology, it is strongly recommended to pay an immediate and a considerable attention to global errors of students´ oral performance. These global errors must be corrected immediately without any delay. Global errors are those that make communication difficult and not paying attention to them can result in misunderstanding between interlocutors.
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