This study examines the pedagogical and pragmatic motives behind error correction both in classroom contexts and in everyday conversation among native Spanish-speaking English teachers in Costa Rica. Survey and interview data are analyzed and discussed in terms of participants' attitudes toward correction of errors in L1 and L2 in various contexts. I argue that error correction is not only a matter of pedagogy, but rather, at its heart, is a by-product of the cultural notion of "beneficio," an act of benefit on the part of one interlocutor toward another.