PLEASE, MAKE MISTAKES! - THE USE OF LINGUISTIC ERRORS IN WRITTEN PRODUCTIONS AS A CHANCE TO ...

PLEASE, MAKE MISTAKES! - THE USE OF LINGUISTIC ERRORS IN WRITTEN PRODUCTIONS AS A CHANCE TO IMPROVE PLURILINGUAL LANGUAGE AWARENESS IN THE GERMAN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Alexandra Das Neves, University of Aveiro, Department of Language and Cultures, Portugal
(Presented at the International Conference on Humanities, Education, and Social Sciences (ICHES), which took place on June 20-23, 2024, in Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC (www.2024.iches..., and at the International Conference on Technology, Engineering, and Life Sciences (ICTELS) (www.2024.ictel...) organized by the International Society for Technology, Education and Science (ISTES) www.istes.org).
Multilingualism is an undeniable societal reality, which also applies foreign language learning. First and other languages learned seem to influence the acquisition of a foreign language and present both resources and potential sources of errors. Interferences play a central role as (negative) transfer results of already known language structures into the target language (Pupp Spinassé 2006; Bausch & Kasper 1975). Their analysis offer potential for strengthening learners' language awareness, constructive handling of errors, and critical reflection upon their own learning process. In our presentation, we will present a study that explores on the following guiding questions: 1) How can "typical Portuguese" errors in controlled language acquisition be characterized in written productions by multilingual learners? 2) How can this understanding represent an opportunity to foster language awareness among learners? 3) What recommendations can be formulated for foreign language teachers in dealing with errors among multilingual learners based on a productive approach? In concrete, approximately 300 written productions in German (A1-B1) were analyzed, which were elaborated in the context of university-level German as a Foreign Language classes at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). The participants are multilingual Portuguese students aged 17 to 23, pursuing language-related studies. Data collection was conducted using a questionnaire on language biography and demographic characterization, along with written text productions. Previous taxonomies (e.g., Kind & Kamien, 2005; Krifka et al., 2014) were employed as a theoretical basis for the qualitative error analysis and were further developed inductively. Based on the results of the error-analysis, which pointed at ‘typical Portuguese mistakes’, we conceived specific didactic activities, in which they are approached in a constructive way and aim at fostering students’ plurilingual awareness. At the end, we formulated a set of recommendations for German language teachers, in order to enhance a positive attitude towards error-management in foreign language learning.