Do not give up! The importance of mistakes in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages

This paper aims to highlight the importance of errors and mistakes as an essential part in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages (FL). We understand that, while trying to produce meanings in the foreign language, learners, through some errors and mistakes, can develop the mental structures necessary for the consolidation of the target language. In this way, mistakes can be a strong tool indicator for teachers to assess and also to understand how far learners are in relation to the intended knowledge, according to objectives outlined in learning programs. The theoretical approach that orients our way of thinking is based on the point of view of some theorists, such as: Brito (2014); Corder (1967; 1985), Cavalari (2008); Richards and Rodgers (2004); Silva (2014); Simões (2007), among others. The results have demonstrated that the teacher, as a mediator of knowledge, must have a balanced attitude towards the students’ learning needs in order to help the learners to reach their best in the learning process. So, with this study, we expect that, in Teacher Education, mistakes could not be seen as something negative, but positive and necessary for the development of the student’s communicative competence.


INTRODUCTION
In the contemporary world, with the improvement of technology, the communication among people has intensified.Le Breton (2005) and Crystal (2003) affirm that among the languages spoken in the world, the English language takes the lead in the global communication.It is also the second language more spoken in the world due to the status that it has reached as language of great powerful nations such as The United States, England, among others.In addition, Moita Lopes (2005, p. 06) states that the number of people that speak English has already outnumbered the number of English native speakers.In other words, English has become the nations' lingua franca1 .Because of the great importance of the English language in the world, much attention has been given to the process in which foreign languages are taught and learned.Researchers have struggled to develop consistent methods, able to cope with the students' learning needs.This way, the process of teaching and learning foreign languages has been viewed as a challenge all over the world.Much has been researched in order to understand how students develop their communicative competence.
Although several methods have been developed, there is still a gap between theory and what really happens in the real world of educational practice.Having in mind that, in the educational process, theory becomes a powerful tool [when built on practice] to understand the social relations among teachers and students, we intend to discuss, in this paper, the importance of error and mistakes as positive elements in the process of learning foreign languages.The theoretical approach that guides the current discussion is based on the point of view of some theorists, such as: Brito (2014); Corder (1967;1985); Cavalari (2008); Richards and Rodgers (2004); Silva (2014); Simões (2007), among others.This paper contains four sections.In the second section, we revisit some studies on mistakes and errors in the process of learning foreign languages.In the third one, we discuss the contributions of the field of Applied Linguistics to the process of teaching and learning foreign languages, once language understood as social practice2 is the main concern of this field.In the fourth section, we discuss the main point of this essay: learning from mistakes.We discuss the way teachers understand language and we highlight that the conception of language that teachers bring into their practice makes the difference in the way they act in the classrooms.Finally, in the final considerations, we discuss the importance of a Teacher Education in which mistakes and errors could be seen as positive and necessary for the development of the students' communicative competence.We expect that this discussion could be enhanced and critiques could emerge, resulting, consequently, in the writing of more papers, related to this topic.

MISTAkES AND ERRORS IN ThE TEAChINg AND lEARNINg PROCESS: REvISITINg SOME STUDIES
The human being has some features that are only unique to the human condition: the ability of linguistic articulation in discursive terms.No other being is able to think and reflect on his3 own condition and no other being can evolve from one generation to another, as does the man.According to this line of thinking, Leffa (2008, p. 353) argues that, These unique features (…) need to be highlighted when the concern is about foreign language Teacher Education: one feature is the ability of speech; the human being is not just a political animal; he is a political animal who speaks.The other important feature is the ability to evolve.The human being does not remain the same from one generation to another; he acts, transforming the world and our perception of the world.4 From a naturally evolutionary and educational framework, teachers cannot conceive of making mistakes as something negative, but, on the contrary, positive.This is ratified by studies of some researchers such as White (1987); Doughty and Williams (1998); Figueiredo (2001Figueiredo ( , 2003)); Simões (2007); Cavalari (2008); Lyster and Ranta (2009), among others5 .The question of how social actors (teachers and learners) react to errors and mistakes6 in the process of teaching and learning languages has been studied by different areas of knowledge and assumed different perspectives over time, depending on the objectives and the theoretical orientations.In written or oral activities, for example, in different situations in which the use of the target language is necessary, what can be observed is the user's performance of that language (being it foreign language or mother language).Regarding this, Simões (2007) emphasizes that, while trying to produce meanings, the learner's performance does not always reflect the actual skills that he possesses on that language.It happens due to some social factor interferences, such as distraction, health problems, fatigue, etc., or even due to limited knowledge of linguistic rules7 .Ellis (1997), in his studies, reports that in foreign language production, there may be some standard language deviations.These deviations were widely studied in the 1960's and 1970's in the light of the theory of Error Analysis (Corder, 1967) and Contrastive analysis (Lado, 1957).Besides these theories, in recent studies, researchers have developed other approaches and methods that helped to better understand the way students learn.

Original Article
Silva, E. D., Souza-Dias, R., Nascimento, J. F. | Do not give up!The importance of mistakes in the process ...

ThE fIElD Of APPlIED lINgUISTICS AND ITS IMPORTANCE fOR ThE PROCESS Of TEAChINg AND lEARNINg fOREIgN lANgUAgES
In recent years, however, according to Richards and Rodgers (2004), the area of Applied Linguistics has been adopting not only the approach of Error and Contrastive Analysis (Coder, 1967;Lado 1957), but also other paradigms and approaches such as: the Communicative Approach (Hymes, 1972), the Natural Approach (Krashen and Terrell, 1983), the Suggestopedia Method (Lozanov, 1975) and the theory of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 1994) in an attempt to assist FL teachers to cope with different types of mistakes in the classrooms.This way, the area of Applied Linguistics has become a rich field of theoretical knowledge to help FL teachers to reflect critically on some deviations, committed by learners.
With regard to some of these deviations, Simões (2007, p. 01) states that the knowledge the student has on his mother language can be one of the factors of interference.On this topic, he affirms that, In the case of activities involving translation, the interference of the mother language is probably the biggest mistake that the apprentice makes; however, teachers seem unaware of the process which the learner undergoes before becoming a speaker (almost) proficient in the target language.
Although the interference of the mother language is seen as mistakes in the Theory of Second Language Acquisition, it is normal and makes part in the process of learning foreign languages.Being aware of the relevance of the interference process and how it acts to build up a solid learning is extremely important for teachers and also for students.According to Corder (1967;1985), the three indispensable elements in the process of teaching and learning FL are: i) recognition of mistakes by teachers, ii) recognition of mistakes by researchers, and iii) recognition of mistakes by learners.In agreement with Corder (1985, p. 10-11), The first, the error informs about the point reached by the learner in relation to the established objective and about what remains to be achieved; the second provides information on how to learn a language and how they are developed certain linguistic constructions by the learner; to the third element, the learner, the error is the procedure you use to learn, in order to verify their hypotheses about the functioning of the language in question.
We defend the point of view that all teachers should be researchers8 , a teacher-researcher could manage better the two first points stated by Corder (1985), and by doing so, mistakes, instead of being seen as negative, could serve as standard evaluative indicators, allowing teachers to diagnose or measure the degree of knowledge of learners in relation to the foreign language, at an earlier stage and/or after the teaching and learning sequences (Brito, 2014).It is also important for a given training activities and learning consolidation.
However, not all errors produced by learners in school environment can be considered relevant to be measured by teachers because as Simões (2007, p. 08) states, The correction of errors loses its effectiveness when inserted in a dominant pedagogy because it does not add nor helps students assimilate the most appropriate forms of language.On the other hand, if the correction of errors is centered on the communicative effects, naturally it produces better results.
The different approaches and methods (mentioned in this section) have in common the fact that there seems to be a tension, in educational contexts, between the act of making mistakes and the act of reacting that follows it.These tensions produce some implications on the process of teaching and learning languages, as elucidated by Cavalari (2008), Simões (2007) and Silva (2014ah;2014b;2015;2016) 9 .
The changes in the theories and methods related to the process of teaching and learning foreign languages reflect the social changes people experience nowadays (Pacci, 2007;Lins, 2015 andSilva, 2016).The need to find other ways, other strategies to teach foreign languages can promote changes in the lives of those who learn and also in the lives of those who teach, given the fact that learners, as well as teachers of FL, "are multidimensional, with their identity, history, desires, needs, dreams: that is, a special and unique human being in the fullness of his essence, the ineffable complexity of his presence" (Silva, 2015, p. 179).
In the following section, we give more details to the aspect of the learners and teachers' multidimensional identities and its relation to the process of teaching and learning foreign languages.

lEARNINg fROM MISTAkES
A pedagogy that is committed to developing students' communicative competence conceives of mistakes as allies in the promotion of strategies that guide the learners in the search of knowledge.Thus, this kind of pedagogy could help learners to face their fears and prejudices which, in some way, block the spontaneity in producing meanings in the target language.Souza-Dias & Silva (2018, p. 231), about this kind of teaching, urge that, More important in the process of education is a good teacher training based on a language education.It can enable teachers to capture the importance of how discourse and context influence in the construction of some identity positions and how these predefined identities can influence on the process of teaching and learning languages.

Original Article
Silva, E. D., Souza-Dias, R., Nascimento, J. F. | Do not give up!The importance of mistakes in the process ... A pedagogy that considers the student as the center of the teaching and learning process, should take into consideration the fact that those identities constructed in the broader, macro context can interfere in the way students learn in formal and specific contexts.Class, race, gender, sexual orientation and other social categories can directly interfere in the way students make meaning in the new language.And teachers must be aware of it while acting in the classrooms in order not to reproduce inequalities that put in advantage some social groups in detrimental to others.
By analyzing the methodologies and FL teaching approaches that have stood out in recent decades, we can observe a relationship among (i) the design that language has and the teaching-learning process embedded in it; (ii) design which has mistakes and therefore (iii) how mistakes are handled in this process.To characterize this relationship, we think over a dichotomy, in which mistakes are understood as having positive versus negative meaning.On the one hand, in more traditional teaching approaches that understand language as a system of rules and structures only, mistakes are viewed negatively, not contributing to learning.On the other hand, considering some contemporary approaches in which language is conceived of as socially designed for communication and interaction, mistakes are understood positively; they provide assessment about the process of acquisition/learning of the learner.However, according to Cavalari (2008), in the latter case, critical reflection on mistakes is underestimated, leading to a superficial look at errors in the field of FL teaching and learning process.
In agreement with Cavalari (2008, p. 49), a perspective of language that considers learners as social beings, "whose learning is determined by their experiences in the social context in which it operates" is essential for the progress of knowledge.In the same line of thinking, Silva (2018, p. 183) points out that, The learning process follows a relationship among partners, in which there is reciprocity in teaching and learning.In such a relationship, in which teachers and students feel welcomed into their knowledge and experiences, build together the knowledge, rejoice together the discoveries they make, realize together the movement of life and coexistence in the act of teaching and learning collectively, producing closeness, empathy and meaning.
We share the authors' point of view because we understand that an inclusive education considers the students' knowledge background and their social identity, independently of class, race, sexual orientation and gender, as stated before.
Regardless of the perspective of learning and teaching, the process of operation of error and mistake correction requires specific theoretical conditions to be absorbed by FL teachers in order to avoid damaging the learner's self-esteem, condition necessary for the construction of learning a FL, since, according to Brito (2014, p. 12) "the act of learning is a chore of emotional level because it puts the learner in an extremely weak position.The student is seen, thus, exposed, his cognitive abilities are put to the test and his reasoning is questioned".

Original Article
Silva, E. D., Souza-Dias, R., Nascimento, J. F. | Do not give up!The importance of mistakes in the process ... At the beginning of the learning process, being exposed to a foreign language is a task that demands much effort.It happens primarily because of the learner's lack of confidence due to the little command of linguistic elements [grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, for example].At this stage, it seems that there is a conflict between the identity that emerges as a language learner and the mother language identity.Thus, conciliating these identities is a problem, as implied of the words of Brito (2014, p. 12), mentioned before.However, to the extent that the students are encouraged to use the foreign language, the two identities seem to reconcile.The foreign language identity becomes part of the mother language identity: the latter is restructured and complemented by the former.But for the learner to reach that condition of identity reconciliation, it is necessary a good knowledge mediation by an experienced teacher whose teaching conception is based on language as social practice.
By making a general assessment of this study and taking into account the theories and approaches mentioned here, we understand that a balanced attitude about error and mistakes correction on the part of the teacher is extremely important.Sometimes, some interference in the conscious level is necessary, for example, when students are supposed to write an essay or something related to it, it is necessary to focus on the linguistics aspects.This way, grammar and vocabulary adequacy are necessary.When teachers give students feedback on this kind of interaction, the students' learning mechanisms will naturally adopt measures to cope with errors and mistakes, afterwards.But, in other moments, it is urgent to let the students talk and/or write spontaneously, without any interference.We believe that once learners reach certain level of communicative competence, they can be able to master the error and mistakes they make by themselves.Nevertheless, in order to reach this level, the maintenance of a harmonious and balanced learning environment is more than essential.

fINAl CONSIDERATIONS
Looking retrospectively at this article, the idea which we aimed to achieve in this study seems to be clear: to reflect critically on error and mistakes in the process of teaching and learning foreign languages.It is something possible and desirable, because to intervene in the world, it is necessary a reflection on it first.Reflection without action is useless, as Freire (1987) states.But too much reflection can sometimes lead to indecision and paralyzed action, so the challenge for FL teachers is to make the reflection fuel for action, which, in turn, produces results that could generate feedback for reflection and so on, as Silva (2014A, 2014b affirms.
The correction of mistakes, of course, will depend on the objectives proposed by FL teachers and their learners.If the focus is on grammar, the correction is appropriate, since some aspects are taken into consideration, such as not to make the process of correction an exclusion tool or a punishment, for example.
But, if the focus is on the interactive communication, the teacher should not focus on linguistic structures that are not so important at the time of interaction (the teacher would only correct what is, in fact, relevant

Original Article
Silva, E. D., Souza-Dias, R., Nascimento, J. F. | Do not give up!The importance of mistakes in the process ... to/communication).Correction, in this sense, is an important tool that helps FL learners to communicate better in the target language.In accordance with the same line of thinking, Brito (2014, p. 03) emphasizes that mistakes "when understood as an indicator of learning, can be an important ally (…), a valuable strategy to foster a more autonomous knowledge acquisition and as a means to eliminate fears and stigmas that sometimes block the students at the time of learning".
Finally, teachers should have in mind that mistakes and corrections should serve as a supporting tool for a pleasant, peaceful and meaningful learning of languages.We believe that, for this meaningful learning to happen, it is necessary a balanced theory, originated from the conception of language as social practice.We strongly postulate that this theory is able to guide the teachers to an effective development of their students' communicative competence.