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5. Specificity of feedback and error correction in the context of 
approaches to FLT 
Different opinions according to the audio-lingualism, 
humanistic methodologies and skills theory can be distinguished in 
the context of assessment and defining its peculiarities (See; Ur, 
2003: 243).
1. Audio-lingualism supposes that negative assessment is to be 
avoided as far as possible since it functions as “punishment” and 
may inhibit or discourage learning. Positive assessment provides 
reinforcement of correct responses, and promotes learning.
2. According to humanistic methodologies, a crucial function of 
giving an assessment is to preserve and promote a positive self-
image of a learner as a person and language learner. Assessment 
therefore should be positive or non-judgmental. 
3. In skills theory the main attention is focused on successful 
acquisition of a skill, a learner needs a feedback on how well he/she 

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is doing; hence the importance of the provision of constant and 
honest assessment. 
In the feedback the correction of mistakes is needed. There 
are also different opinions on this question (See: Ur, 2003:244).
1. Within audio-lingualism. Learners mistakes are avoided by 
limiting the progress to very small, controlled steps: hence there 
should be little need for correction; the latter is, in any case, not 
useful foe learning; people learn by getting things right in the first 
place and having their performance reinforced.
2. From the position of cognitive code-learning. Mistakes are 
regrettable, but an unavoidable part of learning; they should be 
corrected whenever they occur to prevent them occurring again. 
3. Within inter-language mistakes. They are not regrettable, but 
an integral and important part of language learning; correcting them 
is a way of bringing the learner’s “inter-language” closer to the 
target language.
4. Within the Communicative approach not all the mistakes 
need to be corrected: the main aim of language learning is to receive 
and convey meaningful messages, and correction should be focused 
on mistakes that interfere with this aim, not on inaccuracies of 
usage. 
5. Monitor theory. Correction does not contribute to real 
acquisition of the language, but only to learners’ conscious 
monitoring of speech or writing. Hence the main activity of a 
teacher should be to provide comprehensible input from which a 
learner can acquire language, not to correct. 
We see that there are different opinions towards handling 
errors. Current practice seems to suggest that in communicative 
phase comprehensibility of utterances should be monitored and 
incomprehensible or ambiguous utterances should be verified, 
expanded, or reformulated. It will be useful for a teacher to make 
notes of formal errors made in communicative activity. In lesson 
phases when the focus is on particular forms, and where errors occur 
in the areas being concentrated upon, form-focused correction is 
necessary. It must be remembered that the accumulation of errors 
make students speech extremely irritating for native speakers to 
have to listen to. While errors may not appear to be important in 

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themselves, in quantity they reduce the overall comprehensibility of 
speech.
The following instructions help you organize error-correction 
work.