Several months ago, I wrote about welcoming helpful correction. I would like to add some more thoughts to that post in light of the particular problems facing speakers as they advance in a language.
The more time that a person passes in learning a language the more risk there is of developing fossilized speech: making the same grammatical, vocabulary, intonational, and pronunciation mistakes without realizing. As learning progresses, so must the motivation and dedication to correcting mistakes.
Here are a couple steps I have taken in this direction:
1. A Correction Notebook: I am keeping a notebook dedicated to corrections I get in my writing and speech. I prefer to write the correct word or phrase and underline the part of the word or phrase that I produced incorrectly. Then I write a note beside it if necessary to remind me of the nature of the mistake.
Examples:
son édification
la pratique (pas de c)
constamment = répétitive, très fréquente (vocabulaire)
incessamment = sans délai, au plus tôt (vocabulaire)
possessifs (pronunciation "ss" pas "z")
2. During language sessions, I have started asking our consultants to take notes on mistakes that they observe rather than sharing them right away. This again allows for a log of the mistakes (I then add them to my correction notebook) and for me it makes the corrections more meaningful and memorable since we can analyze them together without interrupting my train of thought during speech.
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