PROPOSTA DE UNIDADE TEMÁTICA PARA O ENSINO DE INGLÊS EM AMBIENTE DIGITAL

Based on a sociocultural perspective (LANTOLF, 2000; 2010), the present article aims at presenting a thematic unit especially designed for an advanced leveled English group. This thematic unit has been elaborated in the virtual learning environment  http://pbworks.com , proposing twenty hours of collaborative tasks for the students, and it counted with varied textual genres and diverse digital tools. The objective of this thematic unit is to stimulate the collaboration between the students, focusing on the culture of English speaking countries in relation with crafts, setting up relations with the History of crafts in Brazil and working with the oral and written comprehension and production.  By creating a thematic unit that proposes the study of cultural aspects of other countries, an opportunity for the students to experience the culture of others is created, and for them to notice that culture is not apart from language. Such aspects are noticeable in foreign language classes due to the fact that by dealing with language, individuals also deal with cultural, identitary, and social aspects. Taking into consideration that oral and written comprehension and production are inseparable abilities, the proposed tasks in the thematic unit have been designed considering the students’ context, their necessities, the groups’ interests, and also the three types of knowledge according to Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (1998): systemic, world and genre knowledge, besides the Oxford strategies (1990).

A INTERNET COMO FERRAMENTA PEDAGÓGICA NO PROCESSO DE ENSINO E APRENDIZAGEM DE LÍNGUA INGLESA

A informação e a comunicação tornam-se cada vez mais relevantes no atual contexto, e, por conseguinte, novos canais para transmiti-la são necessários. O computador e a Internet já não são apenas ferramentas de trabalho e entretenimento, seus aplicativos também modificam os paradigmas na educação visto que criam novas formas de ensinar e aprender. No ensino e aprendizagem de Língua Inglesa o uso de diferentes materiais disponíveis na Internet, quais sejam; arquivos de áudio, vídeo, textos autênticos, imagens entre outros permitem aos aprendizes maior contato com a língua que estudam. Norteado pela perspectiva Construcionista de educação, em que o uso do computador como ferramenta de aprendizagem contribui para a construção de conhecimento do aprendiz, este trabalho apresenta reflexões sobre o uso da Internet no ensino e na aprendizagem de Língua Inglesa. Para tanto fundamentamo-nos em estudos de Piaget (2003), Papert (1994), Valente (1993, 1999, 2002, 2003), Altoé (2005), Saviani (2001), Paiva (2001, 2008) entre outros. Ao longo dessas leituras o repensar sobre a formação do professor de línguas a fim de possibilitar-lhe condições para atuação crítica com tecnologias é apontado como um dos fatores para mudança na educação. Até porque, para que o computador e a Internet sejam utilizados como ferramentas pedagógicas, o professor de Língua Inglesa precisa encarar esse ambiente virtual novo e desafiador como uma alternativa para construção de conhecimento nesse idioma.

CULTURE, TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION

This paper is a synthesis of the ideas discussed in the theme titled Culture, Technology and Education. The issues addressed in this discussion were: Scenarios of education in Brazil and E-Learning, Culture and Digital Communication, practical and systematic educational activities in Virtual Environment for Teaching and Learning and the training of educators to interact in contexts of employment with learning digital technology and the cultural movement that frames our conceptions of teaching and learning in Brazilian society.

MULTI-WORD VERBS IN DIGITAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING

This paper aims to analyze the approach of multi-word verbs in free digital resources for English learning. Multi-word verbs, which are widely known as phrasal verbs, are verbal English verbal combinations, formed from a verb and preposition or adverb, or both. From a functional standpoint, these verbal combinations and their different particles behave differently in syntactic terms (Greebaum & Quirk, 1990 and Downing & Locke (2006). Learning about these differences can be of great importance to foster fluency in the language, mainly at higher proficiency levels. At present, with the growing demand for learning English, many digital environments were made available. This paper analyzes 07 major websites for English learning in Brazil, in order to investigate how the topic is addressed. As a result, we argue that more precision and concision are required to approach the theme. This can be achieved, for example, by employing the term multi-word verbs, together with a more precise definition of its functional syntactic behavior. This paper argues that this change of approach is especially important in digital learning environments, in which there is not always a direct mediation of the teacher or specialist.