A ferramenta VoiceThread em uma abordagem hibrida: o desenvolvimento da produção oral e da habilidade de noticing na aprendizagem de inglês como L2

VoiceThread (VT) is a collaborative and asynchronous web 2.0 tool, which permits the creation of oral presentations with the help of images, documents, texts and voice, allowing groups of people to browse and contribute with comments using several options: voice (microphone or cell phone), text and audio-file or video (webcam) (BOTTENTUIT JUNIOR, LISBÔA E COUTINHO, 2009). The hybrid experience with VoiceThread allows learners to plan their speech before recording it, without the pressure often existent in the classroom. Furthermore, the presentations can be recorded several times, enabling students to listen to them, notice the gaps in their oral production (noticing) and edit innumerous times before publishing them online. In this perspective, oral production is seen as a process of L2 acquisition, not only as practice of already existent knowledge, because it can stimulate the learner to process the language syntactically (SWAIN, 1985; 1995). In this context, this study aims to verify if there is a relation between the oral production of the learners more specifically the grammatical accuracy and the global oral grade and their noticing capacity, how the systematic practice with VoiceThread, in a hybrid approach, can impact the learners global oral development, their oral production in terms of fluency (number of words per minute), accuracy (number of errors in hundred words), and complexity (number of dependent clauses per minute), and on their noticing capacity (SCHMIDT, 1990; 1995; 2001), that is, the learner s capacity of noticing the gaps existent in their oral production. In order to answer these research questions, 49 L2 learners of English were divided into an experimental group (25 students) and a control group (24 students). The experimental group was exposed to the hybrid approach with VT during two months and, through a pre- and post-test, we verified if this systematic practice would positively influence these participants oral production and noticing capacity. These results were compared to the pre- and post-test scores from the control group, which was not exposed to VT. Finally, learners impressions in relation to the use of this tool were also sought through a questionnaire applied after the post-test. The results indicate that there is a statistically significant correlation between the learners speech production (accuracy and global oral grade) and their noticing capacity. Besides, it was verified a positive impact of VoiceThread on the learners speech production variables and on their noticing capacity. They also reveal a positive reaction by the learners in relation to the hybrid experience with this web tool

O papel da leitura nas aulas de inglês: uma análise segundo a percepção dos professores do ensino médio de escolas públicas estaduais de Natal

This dissertation aims at investigating the teachers beliefs about the role of the reading ability in English at public state high schools in Natal and identifying the social value of the process of learning English for students of a foreign language. From the understanding of studies on reading, both in the field of Cognitive Psychology, as in Gibson & Levin (1975), as in the area of Psycholinguistics, as in Goodman (1970) and Del Re (2006), We researched the teachers perceptions about the skills and competencies that should permeate their educational practices, through their knowledge about theories of language acquisition as Cognitivism (Piaget, 1961) and Social Interactionism (Vygotsky, 1979) and the official documents (PCNEM, 1999; PCN+, 2002 ) that are the parameters for teaching a foreign language. We took into consideration other factors that influence the choice of the goals and the objectives to be worked out, such as: intensity of teachers workload, number of classes and students per class for each teacher, materials and technologies available, among other factors that will play an important role in the choice of the appropriate methodologies. To conduct a case study, two questionnaires were used in the construction of direct interviews with fourteen English teachers in twenty schools. According to data on the teachers beliefs we could find that for them the reading ability does not seem to have an special treatment in the teaching of a foreign language due to factors that undermine this process and therefore make teachers do not realize the real objectives of teaching English at public state high schools in Natal. As a consequence, the current process of education complicates the formation of autonomous learners capable of fighting for a social transformation

O impacto das tarefas de aprendizagem mediadas pela lousa digital interativa na motivação situacional de aprendizes de inglês

Some authors have suggested that learning tasks conducted in L2 classes can motivate learners in different ways. Similarly, Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) have already been linked as drivers to engagement and enthusiasm in L2 classes, which may cause some impact on affective variables that influence learning (e.g. motivation). This crosssectional mixed-methods study aims to understand how situational motivation caused by learning tasks mediated by the IWB impact participants. We seek to answer the following research questions: (1) How does motivation as a personality trait of the learner relate to his/her additional language learning performance?, (2) How does the type of learning task mediated by the IWB impact the learner s motivation?, (3) How does motivation vary along the learning task mediated by the IWB? and (4) What is the relation between the learning task motivation and the learners perception about the task mediated by the IWB? Data collection lasted four months with 29 learners from a private language school. The instruments used were the following: (a) an initial questionnaire (adapted from the Attitudes/Motivation Test Battery by GARDNER, 2004), (b) situation-specific on-line scales to assess learners motivation in three moments: before, during and after the task, and analyze how motivation varies along the task; (c) class observations and field notes resulting from these observations, (d) participants end-of-course grades to understand the connection between academic success and their motivational profiles and (e) a final questionnaire with the qualitative purpose to know learners perceptions about the tasks mediated by the IWB. Our theoretical framework is based on Task-Based Learning and cognitive aspects present in tasks (WILLIS, 1996; SKEHAN, 1996), theories on motivation and second language learning (GARDNER, 2001; DÖRNYEI e OTTÓ, 1998; DÖRNYEI, 2000; 2002) and conceptions about L2 learning mediated by technology (GIBSON, 2001; OLIVEIRA, 2001; MILLER et al, 2005). Our results do not point out to a significative correlation between learners end-of-course grades and their motivational profiles. However, they indicate that there is some variability in situational motivation along the tasks, even among learning tasks from the same type. Furthermore, they show that learners report different perceptions for each learning task and that the impact of the IWB on participants did not have a large proportion

As estratégias de negação variantes no inglês falado: uma comparação com o português

The general aim of this work is to verify the occurence of variant forms of negation in spoken English with the purpose of making a comparative study between the English and the Portuguese languages. As for Portuguese, we used as a matter of reference a study already made on negation. As for English, we analized a corpus of the North American English variant organized by a university in the United States. This study is based on the North American Functional Linguistics theoretical perspective, which considers relevant the study of language used in real situations of communicative interaction. The data analisys proved that there is at least one form of negative variant in spoken English which is not allowed by prescriptive grammar. This phenomenon turns out to be similar to Portuguese, which includes three variant strategies. According to the data obtained, it was possible to verify that the variant strategy used in English, from a contrastive point of view, corresponds to a negative strategy ruled by Portuguese prescriptive grammar. Finally, we discussed about the different conceptions of language, grammar and teaching, giving suggestions to colaborate to a productive and reflexive teaching of first or second language

Escrita colaborativa com google docs: flash fiction, noticing e aprendizagem de inglês como L2

Google Docs (GD) is an online word processor with which multiple authors can work on the same document, in a synchronous or asynchronous manner, which can help develop the ability of writing in English (WEISSHEIMER; SOARES, 2012). As they write collaboratively, learners find more opportunities to notice the gaps in their written production, since they are exposed to more input from the fellow co-authors (WEISSHEIMER; BERGSLEITHNER; LEANDRO, 2012) and prioritize the process of text (re)construction instead of the concern with the final product, i.e., the final version of the text (LEANDRO; WEISSHEIMER; COOPER, 2013). Moreover, when it comes to second language (L2) learning, producing language enables the consolidation of existing knowledge as well as the internalization of new knowledge (SWAIN, 1985; 1993). Taking this into consideration, this mixed-method (DÖRNYEI, 2007) quasi-experimental (NUNAN, 1999) study aims at investigating the impact of collaborative writing through GD on the development of the writing skill in English and on the noticing of syntactic structures (SCHMIDT, 1990). Thirtyfour university students of English integrated the cohort of the study: twenty-five were assigned to the experimental group and nine were assigned to the control group. All learners went through a pre-test and a post-test so that we could measure their noticing of syntactic structures. Learners in the experimental group were exposed to a blended learning experience, in which they took reading and writing classes at the university and collaboratively wrote three pieces of flash fiction (a complete story told in a hundred words), outside the classroom, online through GD, during eleven weeks. Learners in the control group took reading and writing classes at the university but did not practice collaborative writing. The first and last stories produced by the learners in the experimental group were analysed in terms of grammatical accuracy, operationalized as the number of grammar errors per hundred words (SOUSA, 2014), and lexical density, which refers to the relationship between the number of words produced with lexical properties and the number of words produced with grammatical properties (WEISSHEIMER, 2007; MEHNERT, 1998). Additionally, learners in the experimental group answered an online questionnaire on the blended learning experience they were exposed to. The quantitative results showed that the collaborative task led to the production of more lexically dense texts over the 11 weeks. The noticing and grammatical accuracy results were different from what we expected; however, they provide us with insights on measurement issues, in the case of noticing, and on the participants‟ positive attitude towards collaborative writing with flash fiction. The qualitative results also shed light on the usefulness of computer-mediated collaborative writing in L2 learning.

A intercompreensão em Línguas Românicas nas aulas de Espanhol: o que querem e o que podem essas línguas?

The official documents that guide the teaching and learning process of a Foreign Language in Brazil, Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais de Língua Estrangeira, suggest a linguistic and intercultural communication as the main objective of teaching a foreign language inorderto contribute withareflexive formation of the students.Toachieve this goal, a Virtual Interchange was realized connecting distant places like Córdoba, in Argentina, and Natal in Brazil, between High School students through Moodle platform and Facebook. The Interchange is based in the Intercomprehension in Romance Languages(IC) guidelines, inthiscase between Portuguese and Spanish, according to which every student speaks their own language and makes an effort to comprehend the others througha collaborative process thatgo es beyond the limits of mere linguistic objectives and favors the students’ reality acceptance before the diversity. This qualitative study with thno graphic characteristic stries to know whe ther differentiate projects can increase students’ interest to learn the target language. It was also set as an aim of this study to develop the intercultural competence of our students and foster the respect for different cultures. In the case of Argentinian and Brazilian students, wetried to promote reflection about social representation trying to destroy stereotypes between both groups. As methodological resources, we used interviews, questionnaires and intercomprehension activities during the Project, as well as a participant observation of the interactions betweenthe students of both countries.Webe lieve tobe contributing towards the integral formation ofth student asacriticalcitizenthatthinksa bouttheir posture before the world, which is one of the formal education aims according to Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais. Our theoretical foundation is based on Intercomprehension in Romance Languages (IC) as a plurilingualism didactics, (JAMET AND SPIŢĂ 2010; ARAÚJO AND SÁ et al., 2003; CAPUCHO, 2010; ANDRADE etal.,2003), some the oriesaboutinter culturalisman didentity(Vallespir, 1999;DUARTE&SANCHES,2004; REVUZ,1998;SILVA,2000;CHAUÍ2006; SERRANI-INFANTE 1998), motivation and second language learning (DECI & RYAN, 1985; DÖRNYEI AND OTTÓ, 1998; DÖRNYEI, 2000, 2001; 2011) and Significant Learning Theory (AUSUBEL, 1968). The results show an increase of students’ motivation when in contact with the target language through dynamic activities in an IC context. Moreover, we noticed that a deeper thinking aboutthe Argentinian culture helped to deconstruct previous cultural representation.