Cambio de paradigmas sobre los problemas al hablar: percepciones de un grupo de estudiantes hispanohablantes de EFL

Abstract

Making mistakes is natural when learning a new language, but, for many learners, it is a source of frustration and enough reason to prevent them from learning. As undergraduate students of a BA in TEFL and current teachers at an English institute, we aimed to analyze the processes our learners go through when Speaking English, especially those related to their mother tongue. Through an analysis of collected data in the form of audio recordings from real classes, we drew the most frequent mistakes made by our participants. Data gathered showed not only the influence of the learners’ native language in their performance but also the way they coped when struggling during a conversation. Understanding the role of the learners’ native language helped us conclude that struggles in the learning process are not hindrances but opportunities to learn. Overall, we can see how a balance between mistakes and coping strategies sets the foundation for an ideal language-speaking development in EFL learners.