TESOL/Errors in the spoken English of EFL learners

EFL, English as a Foreign Language, is for learners who rarely have contact with English in use. They are often people studying English in a country where English is rarely spoken. As such they lack the opportunity to develop a sense of what sounds natural and lack the chance to absorb fixed everyday expressions, so even advanced learners produce errors like "she go home" or "my glasses is expensive" because they don't get to hear "she goes" or "..es are" enough for it to become automatic.

Errors

Mistakes

Error	Correction	Weak point
It's really need	Word order
I was stolen my bag.	My bag was stolen.	passive verbs
you look run out of steam	you look like you've run out of steam	missing subject

Sometimes learners produce expressions which are correct but strange. They may lead to confusion since listeners are unaccustomed to hearing them.

Unnatural expressions

Error	Correction	Weak point
tell them this condition	Relative clauses	?
I'm looking for my mother's birthday present	I'm looking for a present for my mother for her birthday	?

Addressing weak points

Some errors indicate an area of weakness, which the teacher can address with instruction targeted to that weakness. Many teachers employ drills to teach specific language skills such as grammatical skills.

Drills

Passive verbs

"I gave him a present" is the same as "He was given a present by me."

(write this down)

I will say a sentence, and please change it. Ready? Okay.

• I found a ring.
• I ate a cake.
• I made dinner.