Why you shouldn't be corrected while you're speaking

When it comes to practising a different language, maybe you're at around A2 level. You have a few words and phrases, and now it's time to practise with a native speaker. Many people think it's best to be corrected and told what they're saying wrong in the moment.

I'm going to show you the psychological reasons why that's not good, and why you should ask your native speaker or teacher to explain what you did wrong after the session instead.

What's going on in your head mid-conversation

Imagine you're in a conversation with a tutor or native speaker. They say something and you're working out every word they mean. Then you form an answer.

As a native English speaker learning another language, my whole focus is first on understanding what's being said to me, and then on producing the words I want to say. All my mental effort is going into that.

Now imagine I get partway through a sentence, say it a bit wrong, and they stop me: "Whoa, no, you say it like this instead." I'd think, "Oh, okay, super." Then: "Right, what was I actually saying then?" The point is that if you're corrected or interrupted mid-flow by a native speaker, it stops you.

The better solution is for them to understand what you're saying, and that's what matters. The point is to be understood, not to be perfect, especially if you're trying to build confidence in speaking. Lots of people aren't confident speaking a different language because of experiences where they couldn't be understood.

The restaurant example

Think of being in a restaurant having a really nice catch-up with a friend. They've come to something important, maybe a big decision in their life. Then the waiter comes over and says, "Can I get you a drink?" and you say, "Oh, one sec, yes please, could I have this or that?" Then you have to go back into it and think, "What were we speaking about?"

That ruins the emotional connection you had in that moment. It might take a few seconds to get back into it. The more you're interrupted, the worse your emotional state.

For language learning, you want to be engaged and emotionally active. It's the opposite of how it was in school. If you remember school language lessons, they were disengaging and boring, and you didn't learn anything. When it's engaging and interesting, because you're talking about things you care about, it's much easier to stay engaged.

To stay engaged you need to focus your mind on understanding what's being said, thinking of a response, finding the words, saying them back, and not being interrupted.

What to do instead

Even when you're practising with real people, ask them at the start of the lesson: "Look, I'm just trying to have a conversation. I don't care about perfect grammar at the moment." If you're at a lower intermediate level, putting a few phrases and sentences together and trying to get a conversation going, ask them not to correct you while you speak. If you make mistakes, tell them to ignore them as long as they understand what you're saying.

Then, once the conversation's finished, ask: "By the way, you used this tense rather than that one," or "A better word for that is this."

Once the lesson's finished, I have so much more mental space to digest what I did wrong. "Oh, right, that word's better. Okay, cool."

I built this into Voco. Even if what I say is grammatically off, it works out the meaning from the context and responds as if I'd said it fine. Afterwards you see the transcript of exactly what you said, and it highlights a better way of saying it. That's after the session, when your mind is free.

Why waiting is better

There are two reasons.

1. It knocks your confidence. You're on a roll, feeling really good about speaking the language, and someone corrects you. "Oh no, I thought I was doing it right." You take a step back and feel embarrassed, and that's where a lot of the fear of speaking comes from.
2. Your brain is focused on communicating in the moment, not fixing mistakes. Wait until after you've finished speaking to do that.