In fact, it’s worse than useless. Error correction harms you by forcing you
to constantly think about grammar. Instead of focusing on communicating
your ideas, you increasingly focus on just the language itself. Doing so
usually leads to more anxiety, which we know slows your learning and
harms your performance. This is why you must never ask a teacher or
friend to correct your spoken English. It is a waste of their time and yours.
Error correction will also poison your relationship with English speakers
and drive them away, just as Seo annoyed the teachers at the school in
Korea.
This truth is a difficult one for many learners. Yet the research is clear.
You will get no benefit from having your spoken errors corrected (note that
writing is different because it is a slow process that can be done consciously
and methodically). So rather than ask for error correction, ask others to
avoid correcting your errors. If you pay a conversation partner, ask them to
avoid correcting your mistakes. If they notice an error, ask them to simply
restate the idea using correct English. By hearing your idea restated
correctly, you’ll intuitively learn to improve without thinking consciously
about English.
Listen During Most Of Your Speaking Time
When thinking of conversations, most learners focus on speech. They worry
about speaking correctly. They worry about remembering vocabulary
words. They fear making mistakes. In my experience, most English learners
focus 90% of their energy on speaking.
Yet, the true power of real life conversations comes from listening, not
speaking. Think about it. When you talk to a native speaker you have a
tremendous opportunity. Because they are a native speaker, they are
automatically the best possible source for authentic spoken English. They
will naturally use high-frequency phrases, idioms, slang and grammar.
If, during a conversation with a native speaker, you spend most of the
time speaking — you have missed a great opportunity. When you speak to a
