Students’ Language Mistakes and Effective Teaching Strategies

Grammar mistakes are a natural part of language acquisition. In order to prevent them different teaching strategies are recommended. The aim of this study was to find out what are the causes of grammar mistakes, what practices teachers use to correct students’ mistakes and which strategies are considered to be the most effective to prevent students’ mistakes at basic school. Twenty-five Estonian language teachers were asked to describe their teaching and prevention strategies. The quantitative content analysis indicated three types of teachers – those who preferred either inductive, deductive or combined strategies. Teachers with a deductive profile were considered to be the most efficient in supporting students’ recalling and remembering skills. Teachers with inductive or combined teaching profiles used more examples and diverse strategies. By using the effective teaching strategies, teachers are able to better support students’ language development and individual characteristics.