(This posting includes a handout which you are welcome to use with your students.)*

Because this technique gives students a chance to discover their own grammar errors, we’ve found that it greatly improves their self-editing skills. Those skills will continue to be valuable as students move beyond their ESL courses.

The difference may seem small, but it changes the student’s role. Instead of simply correcting errors the teacher has identified, the student has to find the error and figure out how to correct it. That’s what makes the technique so useful for developing self-editing skills.

Below is a description of the technique, along with a handout exercise that introduces students to it.

This posting is discussed on my YouTube video YouTube discussion of Most Effective Technique for Marking Grammar on Essays to Develop Self-Editing Skills

To illustrate the technique, I’ll juxtapose it (Type 2 below) with a commonly used one (Type 1 below) for identifying grammar errors on assignments.

Type 1: Teacher directly indicates the mistakes.  Less effective for self-editing-skills development:

As you can see, the student has missed the opportunity to discover his mistakes.  To revise this, the student doesn’t need to apply editing skills since the teacher had directly indicated what needs to be changed. When the student corrects the errors, however, we don’t know whether the original mistakes resulted from poor proofreading or a lack of grammatical knowledge.

Type 2: Teacher gives hints in the margin.  Most effective for self-editing skills:

By putting codes (hints) in the margin, the teacher has given the student a chance to find the errors on his own.   If the student is able to do this, we can feel quite confident that the mistake was caused by poor editing or proof-reading rather than a lack of grammar knowledge.

What if the students can’t find their mistakes with the hints?

When conferencing with the student, the teacher gives additional hints to lead the student to the mistake.  For example, let’s say the student can’t find the NF (noun form) mistake in the first line.  The teacher could say, “Underline the nouns in this line.”  After he underlines “friend,” the teacher could ask, “Do you have one or more than one friend?”  Almost always, the student will realize that he needs to change “friend” to “friends.

After several of us teachers changed from directly indicating the mistake above the word to giving hints in the margin, we noticed a great improvement in students’ ability to self-edit.

Also, we found students interest in using the hints to correct their mistakes increased.   It’s often amusing to see their reaction when they ask for an addition hint and then realize that they could have found the error on their own.  “Oh, no.  That was a foolish mistake.  I should have found that.”   It’s almost as if they feel like they missed a chance to score points in a game.”

Finally, many of us have used the codes-in-the-margin technique successfully with students ranging from high-beginner to advanced levels.

As with any new technique, an introductory exercise is important. I use the exercise below with higher-level students to introduce them to the technique. Feel free to use it with your students.

As with any new technique, though, an introductory exercise is important.  I use this exercise with higher-level studens to introduce them to the technique. Feel free to use it with your studens.   Correct coded grammar mistakes Exercise

For more information about conferencing techniques using hints and leading students to discover their errors, see How to lead ESL Students to Discover their Grammar Mistakes on Writing Assignments

Also, for a technique for giving POSITIVE comments on essays, see Writing class: Easy, focused, POSITVE feedback on essays.

David Kehe
Faculty Emeritus

*About the free-download materials. During my 40 years of teaching ESL, I have had many colleagues who were very generous with their time, advice and materials. These downloads are my way of paying it forward.