Mod 1 Discussion: Classroom Implications of Linguistic Theory

If you, or the person listening to them, can understand what they are saying, there isn't necessarily a reason to correct the individual.  Thinking about this as a 4th grade teacher, I think of the importance of considering conversational mistakes versus academic mistakes.  If a student makes a mistake about an academic vocabulary term, I feel it's important to correct them--in a gentle, supportive way.  I always try to ease the correction with a statement about English being tricky to learn because there's so many rules and so many different ways to say things.  I read on someone else's post that they would want someone to correct them if they were speaking another language and said something wrong and I resonate with that, however, I can also understand how that may get discouraging to a young person who is trying their best.  We of course wouldn't want to continuously correct them. 

Alternative ways to help students become aware of their English language could be to have labels on items in the classroom, have vocabulary terms with pictures, guide them with scaffolding, and to support them in a positive, gentle way as they progress through their English language learning.