The role of error

Traditionally, mistakes in language learning were seen as negative. Research has shown however, that mistakes are a natural and necessary part of the learning process as they show that we are practising the language, experimenting and attempting to communicate.

In TKT we divide mistakes into two broad categories: slips and errors.

Slips are mistakes which a student can usually correct themselves. Perhaps the student is tired or under pressure and often, when they realise their mistake, they can self-correct. For example: "He come....sorry, comes from Korea".
Errors are mistakes which students can't correct themselves. They are usually because a student has tried to use language beyond their current level or perhaps it is a mistake in language processing.

Can you recall the two main reasons for errors? One relates to the students' L1, for example, a Korean student using an incorrect subject-object-verb structure instead of the correct subject-verb-object. What is this type of error called?
The second is related to processing, e.g. an elementary level student making a mistake with the past tense. What do we call this type of error?

Other key terms in this unit include interlanguage, overgerneralisation and fossilised errors. If you are not confidant that you understand these terms, please refer to the TKT glossary.

Here is an extract from www.onestopenglish.com where a teacher has posted the following question:

How can students overcome fossilized errors? … by the time they get to upper-intermediate/advanced level....they are reluctant to sacrifice fluency at the expense of accuracy. I guess this latter is an attitude problem so how can I as a teacher convince them to value accuracy?

Brainstorm some ideas before clicking here to see what Scott Thornbury suggests. Notice his use of the term interlanguage.

A typical TKT task would be to categorise a list of learner mistakes into either slips or errors and then to further categorise them into a system e.g. grammar, lexis and/or into developmental or fossilised.
How do you think you can practise for a question like this?