Which term refers to slips caused by temporary factors such as a learner being tired or nervous?

• A. Slips
• B. Lapses
• C. Mistakes
• D. Errors

Answer: (A)

Slips happen when you know the right action to take, but something goes wrong during the moment of execution. Temporary factors like fatigue or being nervous can disrupt attention, timing, or motor control, so the action you carry out isn’t quite what you intended. In other words, the plan is correct, but the momentary slip in focus or control leads to an incorrect action. This distinguishes slips from mistakes (where the plan itself is flawed) and from lapses (memory failures or omissions). So when the issue is a momentary execution error caused by being tired or nervous, it’s a slip.