Error Correction and the Improvement of Language Form!

In the classroom I was strict. The chatter was held to a minimum and even in spontaneous conversation I corrected their errors. I encouraged them to repeat sentences in the hope that they would begin to develop their own internal "monitor" system. As I look back through the diary I kept, I was encouraged by the number of times my students would stop and say, "Is that how you say that? No one ever told us that before." This was further proof I thought, that with more time and practice the old patterns would change. After about three months, there was a slight change when the students were in the classroom, however, in conversations at coffee breaks or on the street, I began to realize that nothing was changing . . . (Munro-deLeeuw, 1985)