A correction log is a table of your own errors, each with its correct form and a pattern name. The pattern name matters most: it groups separate slips into a handful of habits you can fix one at a time.
This lesson comes after selecting practice for your route, because you need marked work to log. The log then feeds your short repeat attempt.
Why name patterns instead of fixing sentences?
Fixing a sentence repairs one answer. Naming the pattern repairs the next ten. If you see that three different errors are all missing prefixes, you can practise prefixes directly.
Patterns also keep revision calm. Twenty separate slips feel overwhelming. Four patterns feel manageable.
How to build the log, step by step
- Collect marked work: a written task, a transcript of a recorded answer or a marked reading response.
- Copy each error exactly into the first column, with a few words of context.
- Write the corrected version in the second column. Check it in a dictionary or with your teacher if unsure.
- Name the pattern. Use a fixed list such as: prefix (me-, di-, ber-), preposition (ke, di, dari), spacing, reduplication, spelling, word choice, register.
- Count each pattern at the end of the week.
- Pick the most frequent pattern as the next target.
Worked example
Here are errors from two short pieces by Aiman (an invented learner).
| What I wrote | Corrected | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Saya pergi pasar. | Saya pergi ke pasar. | preposition |
| Kami beli banyak buah-buah. | Kami membeli banyak buah-buahan. | prefix / reduplication |
| Dia tinggal dirumah nenek. | Dia tinggal di rumah nenek. | spacing |
| Buku itu di baca oleh adik. | Buku itu dibaca oleh adik. | spacing |
| Saya pergi sekolah. | Saya pergi ke sekolah. | preposition |
| Adik main bola. | Adik bermain bola. | prefix |
| Saya tolong ibu masak. | Saya menolong ibu memasak. | prefix |
Count by pattern: preposition 2, spacing 2, prefix 2, prefix/reduplication 1. The sheet looks like a long list, but all seven entries come from only three habits.
Aiman combines the three prefix rows into “prefix” (3), the largest group. Prefixes become his next target. Prepositions and spacing, with two each, wait for later.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to record only the correction and skip the pattern.
Mistaken log: a column of corrected sentences with no pattern column.
It reads like a worksheet and is never reviewed, because nothing tells you what to do with it.
The correction is to add the pattern column every time, even if the name is rough. A rough name such as “prefix” is far more useful than a blank.
Check yourself
1. Which column turns a list of mistakes into a plan?
Show answer
The pattern column. It groups errors so you can see which habit to fix first.
2. Name the pattern in: “Dia di marahi oleh guru.” Give the corrected sentence.
Show answer
Spacing of the prefix di-. Corrected: Dia dimarahi oleh guru. The prefix di- joins the verb when it forms a passive, but di- as a preposition stays separate: “di rumah”.
3. A log has these counts: spelling 1, preposition 4, word choice 2. Which pattern is the first target, and why?
Show answer
Preposition, because it is the most frequent, so fixing it removes the most errors in later work.
Where this leads next
Take your most frequent pattern into a short repeat attempt with one improvement. The mistake log and retest queue lets you keep the log in one place and retest items later, and grammar and sentence accuracy explains the underlying rules.
If you would like a teacher to go through your log with you, see online one-to-one Malay tuition.