Response from teacher plays a large role in the success of educational process, especially in language studies. Some people believe that it would be more beneficial for students, if they were given rather positive assessment. While there are reasons to prefer more criticizing approach, I partially agree with the proposal that language teachers should provide more encouraging task evaluation.
Certainly, there are some reasons to promote the more positive reaction method. The main one is, perhaps, that receiving affirmative feedback helps with dealing with a fear of talking in foreign language. It is the great problem especially among beginners, who often are afraid of making mistakes. It is crucial to encourage students to start talking by highlighting their progress, despite all the inevitable fallacies. Another good reason is that providing beneficent response creates the positive atmosphere in classroom which is significant for both educational purposes and personal well-being.
However, there can also be some disadvantages of this approach. One of these is that such one-sided form of criticism might become an obstacle for rational self-evaluation. In other words, if students receives only good reaction, they may become too self-confident and uncareful, which would cause them more troubles later. Another problem is that this positive approach creates misconception that such attitude remains during real life application of language. In fact, the situation is opposite: people tend to take fluent use of language for granted and sometimes can notice even the smallest errors in it.
In conclusion, I think it is only partly true that language teachers should focus on delivering affirmative evaluation to students. It can encourage novices not to worry of being imperfect and just to start talking. However, it may cause more harm than good for the advanced students willing to polish their skills. Therefore, I believe that the approach must be changed based on the student’s progression.