Discursos e práticas curriculares: um estudo dos métodos de ensino da leitura e da escrita no 1º ciclo do ensino básico: estudo de caso múltiplo

A presente tese de doutoramento tem por tema: “Discursos e práticas curriculares: um estudo dos métodos de ensino da leitura e da escrita no 1º ciclo do ensino básico. Estudo de caso múltiplo”. A investigação analisa compreensivamente, e de forma focalizada, as dificuldades de aprendizagem da leitura do interesse do investigador enquanto professor de crianças com essas dificuldades e pretende explorar a possibilidade de melhorar a aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita através da adequação do método de ensino. Selecionaram-se alunos de cinco escolas públicas do concelho da Ribeira Brava, Região Autónoma da Madeira, a frequentarem o 1.º ano de escolaridade. O estudo incide sobre oito casos diferentes, mas com o fator comum de experimentarem insucesso na aprendizagem da leitura e escrita. A partir da avaliação compreensiva dos oito casos estudados, utilizando o método de estudo de caso múltiplo, definiram-se os estilos individuais de aprendizagem para, a partir destes, adequar a metodologia de ensino da leitura e da escrita e observar os efeitos na aprendizagem. Os casos estudados tinham dificuldades de aprendizagem gerais e específicas. As dificuldades de aprendizagem gerais relacionavam-se com dificuldades de etiologia não especificada e as específicas eram do tipo dislexia, perturbação da atenção por hiperatividade, síndrome de Asperger, dificuldades no funcionamento intelectual e perturbação no desenvolvimento da linguagem. Apresentam-se as conceções dos professores sobre currículo, sobre o processo de aprendizagem da leitura e da escrita e as correspondentes práticas de ensino. Os professores participantes foram selecionados de forma a constituírem um grupo heterogéneo no que diz respeito à sua idade, anos de experiência e instituição de formação inicial. A investigação recorre à observação participante, à consulta documental e a entrevistas. O investigador utiliza o diário de bordo em complementaridade com a observação participante, no sentido de compreender o contexto e as significações dos participantes. Os resultados mostram os efeitos positivos do método de João de Deus na reeducação dos casos de dislexia, perturbação da linguagem e problemas no funcionamento intelectual. O método das 28 palavras revelou-se adequado na reeducação da leitura nos casos de défice de atenção, síndrome de Asperger e dificuldades de aprendizagem não especificadas.

O domínio da leitura e da escrita : por que não eu?

The study and research field of Education is wide and rich, mainly when it goes towards the empirical area of social reality. This research focuses on young and adult subjects who cannot read or write, although they had had access to and attended schools in Natal/RN. The locus of the research are the Municipal Schools that develop the Youth and Adults Education program EJA, having representatives from the North, South, East and West zones of the city, in a total of 6 municipal schools. It analyzes these subjects' replies to the questions: "Why are there young and adults who attended school but still cannot read or write?", What are the exclusion situations they face by not being able to read or write?". From a dialectic view on the subject, the research's strategy for data collection is the semi-structured interview to collect the replies given by the interviewees; replies that are separated by analysis categories presented charts of ideas. The research's results are analyzed and lead us to the conclusion that the affective, organic, cognitive, social, political and pedagogical factors are mentioned by the subjects as reasons why they can not dominate the reading or writing skills. The youth and adults interviewed are not happy with their school failure; the reading and writing learning is something that eases their social inclusion into a society that privileges such abilities, and that with it they could avoid the social exclusion they faced at school, in the work place, at home, in church, at health centers, on the street, at their children's school and in public assistance institutions

Corpo e escrita: linhas e entrelinhas da produção de conhecimento em sala de aula

Body and writing: Lines and between-lines of production of knowledge in the classroom it is an ethnographic research, longitudinal character, based on experience while experienced educator of the Escola Municipal Professor Amadeu Araújo, located in the city of Natal-RN, from which are made reflections about texts written by students who have distorted age/education level, in the process of literacy. Here as initial goal: to discuss the production of students writing as a process body, considering the record of experiences and the impressions they have made during the teaching process. We initially by a conception of phenomenological body, by understanding it in its complexity, a phenomenon that is made from its relationship with the world and with the Other. The records examined were produced between the year 2000 and 2005 involving writings of 106 students, constituting a universe of 136 texts, from which, delimited a corpus of 27 texts. The relevance with respect to the theme and recurrence in which they were detected, were up to elements that allowed a systematization methodology, defining the following units of analysis: Body, written in everyday; body, written and sexuality; body, written and enjoyment poetics; body, writing and other stories. We used the techniques of search, participant observation, based on the actions and interactions body expressed during the experiment and the analysis of documents that consisted of students in the texts and secondary sources, among them, the records of daily class, reports and projects developed, as well as reports of my pedagogical practice, as a researcher inserted in the investigative process. The experience developed, showed a writing school able to express nuances of human complexity, showing that learning is made in the action body, crossed by various forms of language and pointing to the relevance of a pedagogical work able to articulate the dialogue between the written and registrations body of the students, as subjects of learning

Uma ação reflexiva sobre o processo de (re)escrita de textos: a prática pedagógica da professora Maria

T he reflexive action on the process of texts (re)writing, central topic of this study, is still a challenge within the elementary school. What made this issue a special theme of study was the fact that the chosen focus is based on a lived experiences with (re) writing activities where the uniqueness of the professional practice would be transformed into a place of knowledge production, offering theoretical and a practical support to a teacher, in order to understand the interactive nature of language as a space for recovery of the individual (as a historical, social, and cultural being). The empirical field research, structured in the light of assumptions of qualitative research into the action research format, was a public school in Bahia, in a third grade classroom. The instruments of data collection were open questionnaire, semistructured interviews, observations with video recording, documentary analysis of texts produced by students, and reflective sessions. The objectives that supported the research study were: 1) Investigate, in the pedagogical action of teacher Maria, activities on the writing process, 2) Interact with the teacher, in the form of action inquiry to: a) reflect on the procedures for theoretical and methodological development of reflective practice on the process of the (re) writing of the text, b) intervene in the construction of didactic situations that enable the learning and the development of reflexive actions in the (re) writing of texts. To accomplish these goals, it was established as a commitment a dialogic communication with the protagonist, providing reflection sessions so she could examine her teaching practices. The most relevant theoretical arguments to the establishment of this research came from the theoretical and methodological approaches of Bakhtin s theory of enunciation-discourse (2003, 2004) and Vygotsky s socio-interactionist theory (1989, 1998), as it is believed that both theories, through a paradigm shift, in which the constitution of the individual and the participation of others in the actions of analysis and reflection on the language, would give opportunities for internalization and construction of knowledge. The systematic and critical pondering led the participating teacher into reviewing her teaching praxis, compelling her to promote a more insightful understanding of the writing process of her students. That experirence brought into evidence three categories of actions: 1) actions that reflect the technical rationalism, 2) actions that reflect an emancipatory metamorphosis, and 3) actions that reflect empowerment and awareness. The results confirm that the action / reflection on the process of the (re) writing of a text has a dimension of increasing levels of awareness and self criticism, reproducing other meanings for teaching praxis

Apropriação da escrita por crianças em contextos sociais adversos

O presente trabalho tem origem em nossas vivências como professora alfabetizadora na escola pública em contextos de periferias urbanas, o que nos levou ao envolvimento com questões relativas à (não)aprendizagem das crianças em seu processo de alfabetização. Por outro lado, a inserção na vida acadêmica nos aproximou de perspectivas de compreensão dos processos de aprendizagem e desenvolvimento das crianças, bem como do papel que o meio sociocultural tem nesses processos. Dessas experiências, emergiram os questionamentos que guiaram nossa investigação: em que contextos/situações crianças que vivem em um meio socialmente adverso se apropriam de conhecimentos acerca da linguagem escrita? Onde, com quem, como e o que aprendem as crianças de tal meio sobre a escrita como prática cultural? Tendo como objeto de estudo os contextos/situações em que crianças que vivem em contextos sociais marcados por condições adversas de extrema pobreza se apropriam de conhecimentos pertinentes à linguagem escrita, definimos, como objetivo, Analisar contextos/situações (intra e extra-escolares) em que crianças que vivem em um meio social adverso interagem e se apropriam de conhecimentos pertinentes à linguagem escrita. O campo de estudo foi a comunidade Frei Damião, localizada na periferia do município de Caicó, RN, originária de um lixão e reconhecida na região por ser economicamente carente, com alto índice de analfabetismo e baixíssimo nível de qualidade de vida (escassez de condições sanitárias, serviços públicos de saúde, saneamento e segurança, dentre outros próprios de meios urbanos). Assumindo os princípios da pesquisa qualitativa e as características de um estudo de caso, tomamos como sujeitos do estudo, nove crianças, com idades entre sete e oito anos, residentes na comunidade e estudantes da escola no segundo ano do Ensino Fundamental. Além das crianças, foram também considerados como sujeitos, suas mães, a diretora e duas funcionárias da escola. Os dados foram construídos a partir de entrevistas semi-estruturadas, questionários e anotações em diário de campo. Da sistematização desenvolvida com base nos princípios da análise de conteúdo emergiram evidências de que, mesmo vivendo em um ambiente marcado pela escassez de bens materiais, como de práticas e materiais escritos, as crianças constroem conhecimentos significativos sobre a escrita, apresentando níveis avançados de conceitualizações sobre o funcionamento do sistema alfabético. Tais construções resultam de interações em que se envolvem em diversos contextos intra e extra-escolares em sua comunidade nos quais são mediados, tanto por seus pais, em suas casas, como pela professora, na escola. Mesmo analfabetos ou com pouca instrução escolar, verificou-se que os pais inserem as crianças em processos de letramento e alfabetização ao valorizarem a escrita e seu aprendizado. Enquanto contexto de interação e apropriação de conhecimentos destaca-se, na comunidade, a escola e suas práticas. Mediante parcos recursos e limites, a professora cria situações de aprendizado do funcionamento do sistema de escrita e de habilidades textuais, aproximando as crianças da escrita como linguagem. Esses resultados apontam para a necessidade de reflexões e reformulações acerca das possibilidades da escola pública na promoção de educação de qualidade para as crianças de meios populares

A escrita e a criança com síndrome de Down: uma relação possível na escola regular

The school inclusion is based on respect for diversity and the belief that everyone has the capacity to learn and develop, for this the school needs to prepare itself to meet the differences and provide a meaningful learning for everyone, including those with Down syndrome. It is in the interaction with others that children develop their skills and exchange substantial experiences to learn the school and non school knowledge. Among the knowledge the school must offer students, there is one that is indispensable to the present society; the writing, because writing is a way to Interact, to communicate and to build autonomy to relate in society. Before exposed, the research that started this study aimed to investigate the level of the writing conceptualization of children with Down syndrome during the literacy process in a regular school of the private school network in the city of Natal/RN. For carrying out this study, initially we conducted a qualitative research, using the bibliographical as a methodological recourse, seeking to the deepening of information, based on the literature about the subject, which allowed us to collect data about people with Down syndrome, their education and the process of the writing acquisition. Later, a case study was performed, involving free observation in the room and interviews with teachers and children, trying to verify how this writing acquisition process occurs by children with Down syndrome. The data analyzed and information recorded demonstrated that the school inclusion, when taken seriously, benefits the learning of writing for children who have intellectual deficit, and, mainly, they develop in this environment and are able to learn to write, as long as their own pace are respected

É preciso estar atento: um estudo da relação entre desenvolvimento da atenção e aprendizagem

Se discute en este estudio la relación entre o desarrollo de la atención y el aprendizaje de la lengua escrita realizada con los alumnos del 5º grado de la Enseñanza Primaria, compuesta de 25 alumnos, con la edad entre 9 e 13 años, de la Escola Municipal Professor Arnaldo Monteiro Natal/RN. Para el desarrollo de este proceso investigativo, utilizamos como aporte teórico el materialismo histórico-dialéctico, pues ese método posibilita el análisis de los fenómenos y, a través de esa lógica, se revelan los elementos que dieron sustentación a la mediación pedagógica y comprensión de los fenómenos con mayor eficacia. También fueron usados los estudios de Vigotski (1991), Rubinstein (1973), Ferreira (2003), Ibiapina (2007), y otros que convergen con ese posicionamiento. Se adoptó la pesquisa colaborativa que supone la construcción de un objeto del conocimiento entre investigador y profesor y también asocia al mismo tiempo actividades de producción del conocimiento y de desenvolvimiento profesional, proponiéndose una mediación entre comunidad de investigadores y comunidad de profesores. Utilizamos como elementos metodológicos el diagnóstico de la atención, el diagnóstico de la producción escrita del texto narrativo, siguiendo las etapas elaboradas por Infante (1998), los diarios reflexivos, el planeamiento y las sesiones reflexivas (con alumnos y con los pares). Para análisis del desarrollo de la atención, utilizamos las categorías definidas por Luria (1991): volumen de la atención, estabilidad de la atención, oscilación de la atención. El análisis de la producción textual tuve como parámetros las categorías de cohesión y coherencia (COSTA VAL, 1999). Para esto, se reflexionó con ellos sobre la importancia del desenvolvimiento de la atención para aprendizajes más efectivas. Propusimos situaciones de aprendizajes que posibiliten el desarrollo de la atención de esos alumnos y el dominio de la producción textual; y se analizaron las interrelaciones entre desenvolvimiento de la atención y la producción de textos narrativos. Los resultados presentados en los textos permiten afirmar que es notoria la relación entre la atención y el aprendizaje de la escritura. Vale resaltar que la reflexión no puede tener un fin en si mismo o entonces ser usada apenas para justificar una acción, mas debe tener como objetivo mejorar la enseñaza y tornar los profesores más conscientes y, por lo tanto, más capacitados para ejercer su profesión

Objetos de aprendizagem e alfabetização: a proposição de um encontro

This study investigates the development of Learning Objects for the literacy of children. It aims to know based in the notion of literacy teachers the main factors of academic failure in literacy and researching in Brazil, as well as identify relevant activities in the literacy process of children to support the creation of a set of Learning Objects. Refers to an exploratory research, which is configured as a qualitative nature case study, inspired in part in an action-research described by Thiollent (2003), conducted with ten early grades elementary school teachers of a public municipal school in Parnamirim / RN. As methodological options for data collection uses questionnaires and focuses on the group of teachers, analyzing the data, referring back to the ideas by Szymanski (2001; 2008) and content analysis, guided by Bardin (2002). The development of Learning Objects, follows the steps of development suggested by Garrett (2000). Rules in its multidisciplinary theoretical reference and promotes a conceptual dialogue on: Literacy; Literacy School Failure; Pedagogical Practice in Literacy; Thoughts and Language; Multimedia and Hypermedia; Learning Objects. Perceives that the act of education in literacy as an act of love, courage and social interaction between individuals - educator and pupil, so there is ownership of the object of knowledge in the relations with the world and with the experience, through a pedagogical practice that assumes all different knowledges, the moral political ideal, the mindsets of the students, and can make use of teaching materials that supports the learning process and are consistent with the educational objectives (FREIRE, 1998; FREINET, 1976; VYGOTSKY, 1998; FERREIRO AND TEBEROSKY, 1985; JONASSEN, 2000; WILEY, 2001). Figures out, through the teachers' opinions, five reasons for school failure in literacy, three inside the school environment: teacher; academic assistant and principal; student, and two outside the school environment: parents/family; government and public management. Presents a set of Learning Objects, based on the constructivist thought, developed from the identification of activities considered relevant by teachers in literacy's teaching and learning process. Suggests the use of Learning Objects as pedagogical practice in literacy as a digital resource that supports learning and can trigger important cognitive processes for the acquisition of reading and writing skills in the school environment

Um estudo sobre a aprendizagem de alguns conceitos algébricos e geométricos

The objective of the present work was develop a study about the writing and the algebraic manipulation of symbolical expressions for perimeter and area of some convex polygons, approaching the properties of the operations and equality, extending to the obtaining of the formulas of length and area of the circle, this one starting on the formula of the perimeter and area of the regular hexagon. To do so, a module with teaching activities was elaborated based on constructive teaching. The study consisted of a methodological intervention, done by the researcher, and had as subjects students of the 8th grade of the State School Desembargador Floriano Cavalcanti, located on the city of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte. The methodological intervention was done in three stages: applying of a initial diagnostic evaluation, developing of the teaching module, and applying of the final evaluation based on the Mathematics teaching using Constructivist references. The data collected in the evaluations was presented as descriptive statistics. The results of the final diagnostic evaluation were analyzed in the qualitative point of view, using the criteria established by Richard Skemp s second theory about the comprehension of mathematical concepts. The general results about the data from the evaluations and the applying of the teaching module showed a qualitative difference in the learning of the students who participated of the intervention

A Proficiência escritora em matemática trabalhada nos livros didáticos dos 4º e 5º anos do ensino fundamental

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

Gêneros do discurso e escrita: o que as coleções didáticas de português (des)prestigiam no ensino da produção textual?

Through the examination of official indicators, it can be observed that writing is pointed out as one of the main problems concerning formal basic education. However, this teaching-learning object is one of the central objectives at school, having an essential role in different curricular components as well as in the interaction demands required by society. Such paradox indicates, therefore, the relevance of investigations which analyze the intrinsic elements of child development as written text producer. Hence, the main purpose of this research consists of analyzing the treatment given to the types of discourse and the teaching situations in which the written text are produced, concerning Portuguese language didactic material collections approved by Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD 2010) the Brazilian program of didactic book and worked at elementary school. Such materials correspond to the collections adopted in municipal education system schools from Natal, RN which were below the official education indicator IDEB 2009. Thus, the questions that guide this work are: 1. During writing production lessons, is the diversity of types of discourse effectively worked on didactic collections? 2. Which are the types of discourse and the social spheres prioritized when teaching writing production? 3. How is the situation addressed in the production of the written text should be produced? For this research, we retook the authors Bakhtin, Bunzen, Faraco, Freire, Rodrigues, Rojo, Schneuwly e Dolz and we made a list of all types of discourse and spheres contemplated in the propositions of the writing production in didactical books, concerning the eight collections which compounds the first moment of analysis. Then, we verified how the situation of production is oriented by examining two didactic collections if and how they express the elements referring to the social-historical, functional and linguistic-discursive context of the text to be produced. The data obtained indicate: lack of diversification of types of discourse in the collection that compounds the Aggregate Sample of the research; the conception of a diversity based on the didactic of visiting; the recognition of all canonical and hegemonic types of text as one of the privileged objects of study; the centralization on the standard variety of the language and the devaluation of the representative types of cultural diversity; the shortage of productions which retrace to written language related to different technologies of communication and information; and the little emphasis on the types of discourse related to public language practices. As for the situations of production, it is observed the predominance of the school as a producer of dialogic relationships, whose propositions present, for example, text addressees, enunciative positions, support and contexts of restricted circulation, especially at school. Two divergent situations are observed among the collections: the lack of a work in which the situation of production is under the perspective of the types of discourse as object of teaching-learning; the concept of the types of discourse as object of reflection, presenting a differentiated didactic orientation towards the situation of production. This research contributes, therefore, with a mapping of the existence and the treatment of the types of discourse on propositions of writing production in didactic books; with the critical analysis of the approach of written activities, considering the elements of the historical-social, functional and linguistic-discursive context; thus, through teaching, research and public policies, use and selection of didactic material for the area

Um estudo sobre o ensino-aprendizagem das demonstrações matemáticas

Demonstrations are fundamental instruments for Mathematics and, as such, are frequently used by mathematicians, math teachers and students. In fact, demonstrations are part of every Mathematics teaching environment, because Mathematics considers something true when it can be demonstrated. This is in contrast to other fields of knowledge that employ observation and experimentation to validate truth. This dissertation presents a study of the teaching and learning of demonstrations in Mathematics, describing a Teaching Module applied in a course on the Theory of Numbers offered by the Mathematics Department of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte for mathematics majors. The objective of the dissertation was to propose and test a Teaching Module that can serve as a model for teaching demonstrations. The Teaching Module consisted of the following five steps: the application of a survey to determine the students‟ profiles and their previous knowledge of mathematical language and techniques of demonstration; the analysis of a series of dialogues containing arguments in everyday language; the investigation and analysis of the structure of some important techniques of demonstration; a written assessment; and, finally, an interview to further verify the principal results of the Teaching Module. The analysis of the data obtained though the classroom activities, written assessments and interviews led to the conclusion that there was a significant amount of assimilation of the issue at the level of relational understanding, (SKEMP, 1980). These instruments verified that the students attained considerable improvement in their use of mathematical language and of the techniques of demonstration presented. Thus, the evidence supports the conclusion that the proposed Teaching Module is an effective means for the teaching/learning of mathematical demonstration and, as such, provides a methodological guide which may lay the foundations for a new approach to this important subject

Do dizer teórico às transposições didáticas: por um exercício da contrapalavra no ensino de língua escrita no PROJOVEM

This present work is going to show some results developed in the Master Degree research and the Post Graduation project in Language studies (PPgEL) at UFRN, under the orientation of Professor Maria da Penha Casado Alves. This research has questions showed by the Programa Nacional de Inclusão de Jovens PROJOVEM. Concerned to methodology, the research is based on Applied Linguistics and it is qualitative and documental. The corpus of the research are the Manual de Orientações Gerais and the Guias de Estudo. The documents that were used for the research were Guide for general orientation and the Study Guides.The Manual de Orientações Gerais was chosen because is focused on the teacher and the Guias de Estudo was chosen because are focused on the students. The discussions and analysis were based on Bakhtin (1997; 2003), for his studies about the language in a dialogical point of view, Faraco (2001 and 2008) and Suassuna (2006) for their discussions about the Portuguese Language and Geraldi (1997; 2005 and 2006) and Antunes (2003) for their orientation and discussions about the teaching process of the written language. The analysis made in the Reference Topics point that however the program proposes a kind of rupture with the traditional way of teaching, it could not take this change to the Study Guides (Guias de Estudo). The result is a didactic material that reproduces activities based on a conception of a descriptive and prescriptive teaching. What is concerned about the proposals for the textual production, it is shown that it is given in an artificial way, without any expression and with no link to any communicative context and sometimes, with no relation to the topic it was supposed to be related to

Práticas de leitura e escrita na formação em ciências e tecnologia

The discussion about the need of improving the reading and the writing practices of professionals from the most different knowledge areas has caused, in Brazilian and foreign institutions of higher education, a movement of insertion of curricula components whose focus is the reading and the writing in academic formation. To contributing with the reflection about that discussion, this master s degree dissertation has as object of study the situated linguistic formation. Our general objective is to analyze a linguistic formation proposal to graduating students from the Bachelor s degree in Science and Technology (BCT) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). To constructing that analysis, we have established four specific objectives: a) verifying if the ten brazilian Institutions of Higher Education which offer the BCT have curricula components of reading and writing directed to that formation; b) describing how these Bachelor s degree reading and writing curricula components are presented; c) examining differences and similarities which, in general, exist among curricula components related to reading and writing in each one of the researched institutions; d) revealing which categories delineate the linguistic formation developed in the BCT of the UFRN. In order to reaching our goals, this work has been based on the dialogical conception of the language (BAKHTIN [1952-1953] 2010), on the literacy studies (KLEIMAN [1995] 2008; TINOCO, 2008) and on the critical pedagogy (FREIRE, 1980; 2007). Methodologically, this qualitative research of ethnographic direction (ANDRÉ, 1995) is grounded in Applied Linguistics (PEREIRA; ROCA, 2009; PASCHOAL; CELANI (Orgs.), 1992). This research has the contribution of professors, scholars and monitors of the field of Reading and Writing Practices (PLE) and also graduating students from the UFRN BCT which had already studied PLE-I and/or PLE-II. The tools used for data collection/generation were: curricula components programs related to reading and writing in the BCT in the researched higher education institutions (IES), questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and profiles. The generated data allowed us to establish the following analysis categories: situationality (real situation, thematic contemporaneity and thematic focalization) and literacy projects (learning community and protagonism). The results achieved show that most IES which offer BCT worry about improving the reading and writing competences of their graduating students; however, there is still a lot to be done (increase of the number of class hours, contents and methodological aspects review, theoretical referential sophistication) so that the curricula components can be configured as a situated and significant linguistic formation. Finally, we make some suggestions for improving the work which has been made in the BCT of the UFRN, making then the mother tongue teaching in courses of the area of exact and technological sciences stronger

A aprendizagem de inglês mediada por jogos eletrônicos do tipo MMORPG

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are role-playing games that, through the Internet, can integrate thousands of players interacting at the same time in at least one virtual world. This way, these games can provide, further than fun, a greater familiarity with the additional language and opportunity to improve the linguistic proficiency in a real context. Hence, what is proposed in this study is extended knowledge about the learning of an additional language mediated by MMORPGs for teachers to know how, if relevant, to present, use or encourage this practice to their students. Based on this major purpose, we seek to answer the following research questions: (a) what distinguishes the learning profile of the gamers and non-gamers; (b) if MMORPGs can, through a hybrid and systematic approach, assist the development of proficiency of the additional language and (c) what the think-aloud protocols show about the learning mediated by the MMORPG Allods Online. Following an experimental method (NUNAN, 1997), 16 students of the curricular component Reading and Writing Practices in English Language have comprised the control group and 17 students of the same class formed the experimental group and were submitted to a pre and post-test adapted from the Key English Test (KET) by the Cambridge University (2008). The tests were conducted before and after a period of 5 weeks of 3 hours of practice with Allods Online a week (experimental group), and classes of the curricular component (both groups). A quantitative analysis of the questionnaires about the exposure to English profiles of the participants, a quantitative analysis of the tests scores and a qualitative analysis of the thinkaloud protocols collected during the experiment were conducted based on the theories of (a) motivation (GARDNER, 1985, WILLIAMS & BURDEN, 1997, BROWN, 2007, HERCULANO-HOUZEL, 2005); (b) active learning (GASS, 1997, GEE, 2008, MATTAR, 2010); (c) interaction and collaborative learning (KRASHEN, 1991, GASS, 1997, VYGOTSKY, 1978); (d) situated learning (DAMASIO, 1994; 1999; 2003, BROWN, 2007, GEE, 2003) and (e), tangential learning (PORTNOW, 2008; MATTAR, 2010). The results indicate that the participants of the experimental group (gamers) seem to be more engaged in tangential English learning activities, such as playing games, listening to music in English, communicating with foreigners and reading in English. We also deduced that the period of experiment possibly generated positive results on the gamers proficiency scores, mainly in the parts related to orthographic development, reading and comprehension, writing with focus on content and orthographic accuracy. Lastly, the think-aloud protocols presented evidences that the gamers have engaged in active English language learning, they have interacted in English with other players, and learned linguistic aspects through the experience with the MMORPG Allods Online