How to Use Tutor Feedback: Turn Corrections into Better English

Feedback creates progress only when you do something with it after the lesson. A corrected sentence that you never revisit is information; a corrected pattern that you retrieve and reuse becomes learning.

1. Separate mistakes from slips

A mistake reveals a gap in knowledge or control; a slip is something you already know but failed to produce accurately. Repeated mistakes need study; slips may need slower monitoring or more fluency practice.

2. Record the correction as a pattern

Do not write only I did a mistake → I made a mistake. Record the wider pattern: make a mistake, make progress, make a decision.

3. Reproduce the correct form

Close your notes and say the corrected sentence from memory. Then create two new examples. This moves you from recognition to production.

4. Prioritise

Do not try to fix twenty patterns at once. Choose two or three errors that are frequent, important for meaning, or directly connected to your current goals.

5. Bring the pattern back to the next lesson

Tell your tutor: “I’m working on article use and question word order. Please notice those today.” This turns feedback into a continuing loop.

6. Measure recurrence

If an error happened six times last month and once this month, that is visible progress even if it has not disappeared completely.

Feedback cycle: notice → understand → retrieve → reuse → monitor.