Teachers do not correct my mistakes and say it is normal practice

I would also like to point out that even though you are making some basic mistakes, the main purpose of speaking a language is to communicate. So if your meaning is being communicated, clearly that is a win. However, if you are looking to be more fluent and make less errors than yes, you need to make that clear to teachers and they need to step up their error correction game.

It's impossible to know without personally hearing you speak whether or not your errors are worth interrupting you over or not, but I understand where they're coming from and it is possible that they're right about it. While I was still much less advanced of a student in Spanish than I am today, I had one teacher who fixated intently on correcting my accent. The percussive r in particular. I just couldn't do it (it's still very tough) so I would go with a rolled r every time. He would interrupt after *every single word* containing a percussive r and make me repeat the word until I got it right (which didn't happen, he just eventually got bored until the next word with one in it). I told him over and over I wanted to practice flow, not my accent, I was far from trying to appear as a native speaker and as long as people understood what word I was saying that was good enough for my purposes. He never listened. So I stopped hiring him. It's a balance. If they don't correct anything, you might as well just talk to yourself. But you only have so much time and correcting things that are too insignificant will bite into that time. You seem very competent, in writing, what sort of corrections are you asking for that they will not provide for you?

I teach English to Brazilian students of all ages and levels. My approach varies from student to student depending on their individual needs. For most I do not, in fact, correct every mistake they make, either because it might be discouraging, especially when they're at a point where they make a lot of them, or overwhelming, it would be too much for them to retain and it's more worthwhile to focus on key aspects and repeat offenders. For more advanced students, who can already communicate and have a good vocabulary, I know they have space in their minds for a bunch of gramatical rules and at that point that is, in fact, what they're looking for. They want to sound more natural, to speak like a native, and by then I'm scrutinizing the shit out of their English and, unlike what would happen if I tried this with the previous group, they're actually learning. It's not set in stone, as I said, my approach varies from student to student. Maybe they're a beginner but retain information more easily than others, or maybe they're advanced but very self conscious. No two people learn the same. If you're learning at an English school, then your teacher's likely got a set of guidelines to follow and it's probably something along those lines. If they disregard it and it causes a student to complain about them or quit altogether, that'll cause problems for them, while if the students complain/quit but the teacher is following the guidelines, they're technically not at fault. There's no one-size-fits-all for learning anything, but in a school you only have one size, one that fits as many as possible. If you'd like an experience tailored to your needs, private lessons are the way to go.

I guess a lot depends on whether you are learning 1 - 1 or on a class. To answer your question, from a pedological perspective, it is extremely important to provide feedback, so that learners know when they are making an error. Failure to provide feedback is a missed opportunity to learn. It can lead to habitual errors which are almost impossible to change. As to why this happens, the dominant perspective in English language teaching is a communicative approach. This is about motivation - providing a context where learners have to communicate motivates them the use the language and practice. During initial teacher training, this approach is given a lot of emphasis. In addition, some learners are very sensitive to being corrected, especially in front of the class. However, I agree with you that this is a sub-optimal way to teach. Your teacher should provide feedback. If they don’t, you are right to complain and to transfer to a different teacher. Feedback can be provided in a sensitive way - this is a matter of technique and a failure on the part of teachers to develop their professional practice. While the communicative approach is dominant, teachers should not prioritise their principles over the learners’s progress. Far too many teachers are more concerned with themselves and their ideas than with their learners’ best interests and progress. This is a failure to focus on the learner as an individual. Finally, and few teachers will admit this, it’s easier not to provide feedback and error correction. The role of teacher is not that if the learners’ friend - they are there to teach and help learner improve their language. I would suggest a one to one class and making it clear you want immediate, on the spot correction of errors. If the teacher won’t or doesn’t do this, change teacher.

It sounds like you're too concerned about the technicalities of grammar. You'll learn more effectively if you concentrate on practising as much as possible. The grammar will come naturally. > they insisted that such corrections can disrupt the flow of the lesson and cultivate the fear of speaking They're absolutely correct. > Some of them even told me that after some practice almost all mistakes will magically disappear. They will.

Think about how the native English speakers learned how to SPEAK, they repeat after other native English speakers (their parents, their friends...) when they were kids. Imagine the kids getting criticized all the time, soon you will see the kids won't talk at all. And remember that not all native English speakers score the maximum points on ESL tests.

None of them corrected my mistakes during lessons nor provided any feedback at the end of the lesson...

Some correction is good, but too much can be overwhelming. When I was learning Spanish, I asked my colleagues (I was using it at work) to correct me only when it messed up the meaning or when they caught me making the same error repeatedly, since that meant I didn’t know the rule. If I messed up a rule that I usually got right, I wanted them to ignore that so as not to interrupt the conversation and because it was most likely that I DID know the rule but was too overwhelmed with trying to figure out the rest to remember to apply all the rules at the same time. Perhaps similar guidance to your tutors would be useful. Also, I highly recommend writing practice and having that revised. Then there’s no concern about interrupting the conversation, and you can take your time figuring out how to express what you want without the time pressure of speaking. How will you do it in a time crunch before you can do it with time to think?

English teacher here, and this is one method of teaching, and one that I use in most cases (of course, it can depend on what a student's/class's goals are. I don't teach a TOEFL prep class in the same way I teach a class of beginners). There are problems with explicit correction. It can lead to problems where students feel like minor mistakes are punished and noticed more than they would be in a normal situation. They can try to self-correct instead of having confidence in their ability to communicate and doubt their ability to express themselves, and this can carry over outside of the classroom too. That said, that doesn't mean there's no correction. For example, if a student says "Bus was late today," I might ask "how late was the bus?" and "Is the bus normally on time?" to show the use of "the" before "bus" and invite the use of it. But I wouldn't explicitly correct it. I'd make a point of modeling the correct version of any issues a student has. It's not "just more practice." It's more targeted practice. It's more exposure to the target forms until they become more natural. Were you're teachers doing this? Because it may be that they just...were there for practice (it happens, sadly), but it may be that they were attempting to do this and you just didn't notice.

why take off points if theres no need to improve? If you approach them and ask why points were taken off and they still do not answer, this is careless and laziness. Though putting -1 on the paper with no further eval would make sense as they have a hundred papers to grade. (of course a little hint or notes would be nice)

I’m curious after reading your replies whether your spoken English is remotely on par with your written. Because if it is, how much casual conversation do you get in English? Your writing is very formal with “big” words that would make most people (at least in Canada) maybe do a double take. Yet, like you said, you do have mistakes in it. Like others have said, if your writing is on par with your English, you are too focused on the technical that you’re missing other aspects. Forest for the trees if you will.

I teach EFL and error correction and giving feedback is a huge part of the job so your teachers have been doing a shitty job teaching. If I’m teaching a larger class than I probably don’t stop class to correct every mistake but I call out the big ones or the ones related to the lesson that we are currently doing or things that we’ve gone over in that course or things that they already know, foundational stuff. For a one on one student one of the first things I ask in the first lesson is what type of correction they prefer. Then for each activity what kind of correction are we doing for this activity hot (in the moment) or cold (after the fact). Keep looking for a good English teacher and when you’re deciding on who to pick make sure that you emphasize corrections being important to you.

Totally get where you’re coming from especially when you *want* correction and aren’t getting it. That can feel super invalidating. That said… as someone who coaches advanced English learners, here’s something I’ve noticed: Many people hit a plateau not because of grammar mistakes but because they’re too focused on fixing every single one. Here’s the truth: native speakers make grammar mistakes *all the time*. What actually matters most is: * Are you clear? * Are your ideas organized? * Do you sound natural and confident? Yes, feedback is important, but the goal isn’t to eliminate 100% of mistakes. It’s to become a communicator who connects, not someone who speaks like a textbook. If you're already having conversations with PhDs and professionals from the UK/US, you're probably doing *a lot* right. Instead of obsessing over what still sounds off, try asking yourself: *What’s one habit or area that, if improved, would immediately make me clearer or more confident?* Pronunciation and rhythm often go further than grammar at this stage. And focusing on real conversations—not just technical corrections, can make a huge difference. So don’t stop asking for feedback, but maybe shift the goal? It’s not about perfect grammar. It’s about *effective communication*. You might be further along than you think. 😉

The premium plans on speakduo.com come with AI corrections. Probably not as good as a human teacher, but it costs a lot less and at least you will get corrections. Btw speakduo is an online speaking club where you get matched with other learners at your level for video chats.

I agree that teachers shouldn't correct all mistakes all the time, depending what type of activity you're working on, but I also think that it is important to correct you **most** of the time. Have your teachers been qualified teachers who fully understand English grammar? Maybe they're afraid of correcting you because they're not confident in explaining the rules about why you were wrong. If you like being corrected, you might like the app Spoken. You can see corrections for your Spoken English really clearly and and you can then try a speaking task again to see if you improve the second time. This video explains how it works: [https://youtube.com/shorts/WIuIOSnHN80](https://youtube.com/shorts/WIuIOSnHN80)

I don't correct students immediately to avoid disrupting the flow, but before each session ends, my students and I review the corrections I was able to note down. I messaged you in case you'd like to try it out for free.