Greetings to all!
The subject of my text will probably make it clear to all of you what issue I am planning to raise in this text.
While in my good old university days, to be more precise in the third year of my English major studies I was taught by a Professor who instead of using red pen (as we all do!) for correction of any kinds of mistakes in essays, tests, mid-terms and exams, used green pen ... and she stuck to doing this as well in the Methodology classes she taught the following years. From what I know, she still does this today. We, students, didn't realize the impact of a different pen color much as we do understand it from today's perspective when having a cup of coffee and reminiscing about the past.
So why change the color of the pen used for correcting mistakes? Why not use red pen just like every single other teacher does (however rare the exceptions may be)?
Because seeing green lines or comments in an exam doesn't seem so frightening for students.
I have exemplified and commented, and I would like to hear your ideas as well!
Aneta, Macedonia
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What a very good point. The red pen carries on by the way even into working for large corporations like I have done in the past. It gives a negative feeling and takes people right back to their school days. The green pen is not so threatening and would help to keep people motivated.
I always use a green pen - or any other colour actually (purples, turquoise...) - when correcting essays and other written work. I would like to emphasise 'correcting' - i.e. giving corrections, underlining mistakes, etc. Here, I think it's particularly important to have a less-threatening colour so that students are able to take on feedback more easily withouth feeling offended by 'red' which is (to me) an aggressive way of saying "WRONG"!! If I have to use red at all, (i.e. to use up my stationery!) then only for exams where I'm not correcting and giving feedback, but simply marking correct and incorrect items. But I'm definitely in favour of correcting in green, or any other colour than red! Yay for green pens!
Hi there
I've been teaching in higher education for over 10 years and I've never used a red pen to correct papers. I use pink, orange, purple, green... and at Christmas time I use "silver" and "gold"! Despite being university Ss, my Ss have never complained not found this childish...
My French colleagues cover their papers in red and the process itself is very aggressive when you witness it! I think that using a different, soft or bright colour also leads to correcting differently, maybe more "positively".
Likewise, I never write the final mark on the first page so that other Ss can't see it unless allowed to do so by the S himself/herself.
Claire
I have been teaching for 37 years now, and I started using a green pen to correct or sign mistakes when I was teaching future teachers of English and Portuguese. I can't remember why I started doing it, since I had used the red pen for about 15 years and nobody had complained.
Now I can't see red ink on students' assignments! It seems to hurt my eyes! My current students - back to secondary level - are not used to seeing it and always ask me why I do it differently. The only thing I can think of as an answer is that in my childhood teachers and parents said writing in red was very rude!
Martin Parrott [Grammar for English language Teachers] did some action research several years ago and discovered that students like red ink correction rather than green. Maybe it's not the colour of the ink that's important but how much ink there is and what it says to the learner.
In my own case, and that's having taught for 27 years, I just try to make sure it's not the same colour as the student's.
Hi everyone. It's a great idea to use green pen while making correction. I hadn't thought it before. I will use green pen now but I use a red pen for signing homework and it makes learners quite happy. best wishes..
Hi everybody,
Sorry, but I am afraid I don't agree at all with the question of the colour to be used in corrections. In fact, I think that if there's an assignment full of green corrections (or violet, or yellow, or any other colour) is just as harmful as if the colour used was red.... There's a kind of tendency to have green used instead of red, but I also consider this is a "cultural" matter, since depending on the country, colours have different meanings (I have studied this for in-company classes and I also searched on the internet for information, wikipedia)
I think red is a good colour if you want students t notice what the corrections are. Don't get me wrong, I also consider there are other colours that can be used, but red is NOT a bad colour from my point of view.
I think than more than focusing on colours, the important thing would be to decide on which kind of mistakes will be corrected each time (i.e., spelling, structure, tenses, etc), so that weaker students don't get too many greens/red or whatever coulour we are using for corrections. Also, a good code for corrections would be helpful and having students handing in versions As and Bs.... (personally I even correct in pencil!)
As for being frightened due to the colour, again I think it's a cultural matter....
Well, that's all for the time being..... Hope we can share more ideas!
I have seen teachers using different colour pens, while correcting the answer sheets or note books. They sometimes use a red pen to point out mistakes in spellings, a green one for the mistakes in grammar and other colours too. But teachers should be very careful not to write or scribble in the answer sheet or notebooks. They only need to underline the incorrect spelling or other mistakes. The child should try to understand the mistakes with the help of his teacher and then make necessary corrections on his own. The teacher can also discuss the errors in grammar or spellings on the blackboard without taking the names of the students.