Potenciación y desarrollo de la creatividad lingüística en el aula de idiomas en Educación Primariatratamiento de errores y usos de la lengua extranjera en la expresión oral

Zusammenfassung

This work analyses a set of foreign language teaching practices in terms of the implications with respect to the strengthening and development of linguistic creativity according to two factors: the number of errors in oral communication and the target language uses, depending on whether those uses are formal or non-formal. The data were obtained through the observation of nineteen English as a Foreign Language sessions in Primary Education in a private school in Madrid (Spain) considering the three stages which it (i.e. Primary Education) is divided into. The most significant results reveal that teachers hardly allow non-formal language uses (output) in line with the lack of errors, which were mainly registered during formal language uses. However, there are also differences among stages since the opportunities for language experimentation are based on the teachers´ criteria, but almost never on the learners´ linguistic needs. One of the main reasons behind this situation aims at the evaluation criteria, which always consider errors as “irregularities” to be erased, so that there is little room for free experimentation with the target language. This means that learners who make fewer mistakes will obtain the highest grades, exposing them to a didactic model far from the concept of emotional intelligence in relation to a classroom activity design that foster the human capacity for linguistic creativity.