Different learning contexts allow for varying depth to a teacher’s comments on a student’s work.
In larger groups in a public school, for example, or if writing is a neglected part of the curriculum (which it often is), our learners might not receive regular, thorough FEEDBACK on their WRITTEN work, except for perhaps some superficial error correction.
However, learners will typically benefit more from more detailed written feedback as well.
Preparing for IELTS requires a lot of effort and organization both from the learner and their teacher. While on a regular general English course students might not be assigned any writing tasks or writing homework at all, a key component of most IELTS preparation courses has to be the management of the writing tasks both in class and as self-study.
In either case, it is crucial that the learners receive REGULAR and RELIABLE feedback on their writing.
Depending on such factors as the SIZE of your group, your learners’ language LEVEL, GENRE awareness, level of AUTONOMY as well as your learners’ self-study habits and preferences, you may decide to give feedback in any of the following ways (then perhaps let them choose which method(s) they prefer and use that from then on).
Do you use
• correction codes
• error correction
• criteria correction
• insert personalized comments
• give an estimate of the IELTS band scores they would have scored for this piece
• only write a few global comments at the end
• propose specific (e.g. grammar or vocab) areas for study
• something else? What?
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Hi. I’m Fatime. I’m an IELTS Teacher Trainer, helping CELTA-qualified English language teachers become better at teaching SKILLS, as opposed to just testing them.
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