Meaning & use
self-correction
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The act of noticing and fixing your own mistakes without another person pointing them out.
Grammar: Usually no article: students learn through self-correction.
Patterns
- encourage self-correction
Good writers rely on self-correction when they edit their drafts.
The teacher encouraged self-correction rather than marking every error.
Self-correction improves with practice and patience.
noununcountabletechnical
A natural process by which a system, market or body returns to a balanced state without outside help.
Grammar: Used about systems: market self-correction.
Patterns
- self-correction of something
Economists expect some self-correction in the housing market.
The self-correction of the immune system takes time after illness.
Word forms
| plural | self-corrections |
|---|
Common combinations
- encourage self-correction
- The tutor encourages self-correction during every lesson.
- rely on self-correction
- Speakers rely on self-correction when they notice a slip.
- market self-correction
- Prices dropped as part of a market self-correction.
- quick self-correction
- She made a quick self-correction mid-sentence.
Synonyms and how they differ
- self-repair
- Self-repair is common in linguistics for speech slips, while self-correction is broader and covers writing and systems.
- self-editing
- Self-editing refers specifically to checking your own written work.
- self-regulation
- Self-regulation is about controlling behavior, not just fixing errors.
Opposites
Word family
- correct verb
- to put right
- correction noun
- a change that fixes a mistake
- self-correcting adjective
- able to fix errors without help
- corrective adjective
- meant to fix something
Commonly confused: self-correction or self-criticism?
self-correction vs self-criticism
Self-criticism means judging your own faults, but self-correction means actually fixing a mistake.
Practice
The teacher prefers self-correction. What does she want her students to do?
Choose one answer.
Self-correction is fixing your own mistakes. Marking another student's work involves someone else, so it does not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-correction”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.