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.

BELIEFS ABOUT ENGLISH LEARNING AND TEACHING IN A TECHNICAL SCHOOL IN THE CITY OF PONTA PORÃ/MS

Abstract: This study is part of my master research, which aimed to investigate the beliefs about  English learning and teaching of students entering to a High School Course integrated to Computer Technician at a Federal High School in the city Ponta Pora / MS , located at the  border  with Paraguay . In the context , great part of the students coming from public schools in the region  had not studied English as a foreign language in elementary school , once it is located  in a region of the border with Paraguay , it offers only Spanish as a foreign language. The interest for this research came up as of conflicting situations between the teacher way of teaching and students ways of learning, especially of those who had not studied English in elementary school. Thus we tried to study the beliefs of these students, analyzing how they process in that context in order to promote reflection of the teacher  to perform actions of intervention in order to reduce the mismatches between the ways of teaching and the ways that the students believe to be the right to learn. Keywords: Beliefs; English Teaching and Learning; Context

COLLABORATIVE ACTION RESEARCH AND THE IMPACT ON TRAINING TEACHER IN COLLABORATION WITH A TEACHER IN SERVICE

This paper presents partial results of a collaborative action research conducted in a public school in Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul, with a training teacher, a teacher in service and a third year high school class. The collaborative action research, adopted methodology, is considered an alternative way to provide the opportunity for upgrading of in service and in training teachers (Burns 1999). The purpose was to create opportunities for all the participants assimilate a reading in English approach and the language as a sociocultural mediator. From this perspective, reading workshops were developed, whose purpose was to prepare training and in-service teachers for critical-reflexive practice of the classroom, emphasizing the importance of education that addresses cultural aspects of the English language. It was found, once again, that the collaborative work promotes reflection and hence improvements in teaching and learning, which can be significant, considering the lack of actions inspired by research aimed at public English language education in Brazil (CELANI, 2009).