In this guide
Cambridge Veritas · Original TESOL self-study resources
Understand the idea
Choose feedback according to the objective and learner’s ability to revise. Direct correction, a marked error location or a familiar code can each be useful. A code is ineffective if learners cannot interpret it or do not get time to act on it.
What you will practise
- Explain the key idea in “Corrective feedback and correction codes” using a concrete example.
- Choose a teaching response that fits the learner and the purpose.
- Identify evidence you could collect to evaluate that response.
A closer look at the teaching
Choose a feedback method the learner can act on. A correction code may work for a familiar pattern but not for language the learner has never encountered. Combine attention to meaning with a manageable form focus. Include an opportunity to revise and check whether the learner can explain the change.
Writing instruction makes the process of creating a message available for learning. A writer must select ideas, organise them for a reader and revise language and content. Models can support these decisions without dictating every phrase. Feedback needs to give the learner something manageable to do, and the lesson must leave time to act on it. Evaluate the revised text against its communicative purpose as well as its selected accuracy focus.
In the classroom
A teacher marks every error with unexplained abbreviations.
Before choosing an activity, identify what the learner needs to understand or communicate. Separate the language demand from other demands such as reading instructions, managing equipment or speaking to a large group.
A teaching sequence you can adapt
Use these stages as a starting point for this topic. Keep the language goal visible, and change the support when learner responses show a different need.
- 01
Define the reader, purpose and response expected from the text.
- 02
Examine a useful model and help learners generate and organise their own content.
- 03
Draft with suitable support, then obtain focused reader or teacher feedback.
- 04
Revise the text, explain an important change and check whether the intended message is clearer.
Check a revised sentence and a new example to distinguish learning from copying a correction.
A common mistake to avoid
Do not mark more problems than the learner can reasonably investigate and revise.
When reviewing the activity, distinguish what you observed from what you inferred. Use the task outcome and a fresh example to decide whether another explanation, a different scaffold or more independent practice is needed.
Adapt it for your learners
Make the task accessible.
Provide a paragraph frame, a relevant model and a small checklist that makes essential information visible.
Extend the thinking.
Change the audience, add a competing viewpoint or require the writer to justify a tone and organisation choice.
Keep the intended outcome consistent when comparing responses. Record which support was available so you do not confuse a supported performance with the same task completed independently.
Try it, then compare.
Take a moment to make your own decision. Compare your reasoning with the example, then adapt it for a teaching context you know.
Try it in a teaching context
Propose a more useful approach.
Your questions, answered.
What is a common mistake with Corrective feedback and correction codes?
Do not mark more problems than the learner can reasonably investigate and revise.
How can I check whether the teaching worked?
Check a revised sentence and a new example to distinguish learning from copying a correction.
How can I support learners who find the task difficult?
Provide a paragraph frame, a relevant model and a small checklist that makes essential information visible.
How can I add a useful extra challenge?
Change the audience, add a competing viewpoint or require the writer to justify a tone and organisation choice.
Quick revision
- The key idea: Choose feedback according to the objective and learner’s ability to revise.
- The context to remember: A teacher marks every error with unexplained abbreviations.
- A useful next step: Propose a more useful approach.
For your teaching portfolio: keep a brief plan, a note of what learners actually did and one change you would make next time. Use anonymous examples.
Take the module self-checkSources and authorship
This module maps to the supplied syllabus PDF, Focus on writing skills (5 pages). The study notes, examples, application tasks and self-checks on these pages are original Cambridge Veritas resources.
View the supplied PDF ↗ · Publication reference: source chapter
Written by Cambridge Veritas. Updated .
Use these resources for preparation and reflection. Browser self-check results are for personal study and do not award a qualification or replace observed teaching practice.