CULTURE AND LITERATURE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES LEARNING

This brief article is an introduction to questions as multiculturalism, identity and prejudice, from a specific point of view: a reflection on the importance of didactics in foreign literature and culture, and the role of reading as a meaningful education form in the undergraduating study programs of "Letras Estrangeiras" in Brazil.

Reflexive teacher on orality appropriation in the foreign language teaching-learning process

This is a qualitative, documental and interpretative metasearch article on Applied Linguistics (LA) area, where the characteristics of the subjects involved (teachers and learners) in orality appropriation in the Foreign Language (LE) teaching-learning process are studied. In order to develop this article, theatrical texts, body and voice should be considered as appropriation mediators. The assumptions of Ortiz-Alvarez (2009) and Basso (2008) – reflexive competence – concerning the attitude of the teacher as a language professional who is reflexive on his/her practices, together with the definitions of Perrenoud (2000; 2008); Dewey (1959; [1916]2012; Freire (1975; 1976; 1984; 1996); Libâneo (2006) and Schön (1992; 2000) are here used. The professors metasearched on this article are Massaro (2001; 2007; 2008), from the University of São Paulo (USP) and Reis (2008; 2011; 2012), from the University of Brasilia(UnB); they are (re)analyzed according to the paradigms: a reflexive teacher in the exercise of his/her reflexive practices. The search for the conciliation between a practice peddled by theories and the classroom reality is visible on teachers’ thoughts – those professors not only contemplate their approaches and techniques, but also try to change or propose changes on the world perceptions of learners, other language teachers and, sometimes, their institutions. The term reflexivity is used to define the proposal of acting-thinking-(re)acting as a constant of language professionals lives. Along the reading of the metasearched professors’ work, it is noticed that they have a critical reflexive path (reflexivity) on their reflexive practices reality. They demand an emotional and cognitive involvement that supposes personal unique attitudes - such as an open mind that has the ability of listening to different opinions, with no prejudices or resistance which can block a certain question to be seen from a different point of view.

O gênero joke em atividades de inglês: uma proposta intercultural de ensino-aprendizagem para o ensino médio

Our research has arisen from the interest of aligning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom practice to current discussions in the ambit of learning and teaching Foreign Languages (FLs). Because of the need to integrate the linguistic development to the development of notions clung to the practice of citizenship, we have adopted a cultural perspective. We have noticed jokes as a fertile ground for discussing cultural aspects in classroom. Considering such factors, our research question is: how to explore cultural aspects in jokes for the elaboration of EFL activities which aim for the development of intercultural competence and interaction? Therefore, our general goal is to explore cultural aspects in jokes for the elaboration of EFL teaching and learning activities and our specific goals are: (I) to study official suggestions (LDB, 1996; PCNEM, 2000; PCN+EM, 2002; OCEM, 2006) regarding culture at foreign languages teaching and learning, (II) to select 05 (five) jokes and analyze them focusing on their cultural aspects, (III) to identify possible interpretations for jokes; (IV) to elaborate EFL activities which grant a privilege to jokes cultural aspects. This investigation is descriptive and documental and relies on qualitative paradigm (CHIZZOTTI, 2010; FLICK, 2009; CHAROUX, 2006; BOGDAN; BIKLEN, 1994; 1992). The corpus is constituted by jokes taken from Internet sites and by official documents (LDB, 1996; PCNEM, 1998; PCN+EM, 2000; OCEM, 2006). For the elaboration of activities we have chosen a weaker version of Content-based instruction (CBI), in which contents are cultural aspects in jokes and we have undertaken a reflection on methods, approaches and perspectives, among which there are notions about post-method and CBI, which talk to EFL learning and teaching. For theoretical support we have some discussions about FL methods and approaches (BELL, 2003; KUMARAVADIVELU, 2003; WESCHE; SKEHAN, 2002; PRABHU, 1990), a cultural perspective (KRAMSCH, 1998, 1996, 1993; BYRAM; FENG, 2004), some works in Linguistics about jokes (POSSENTI, 2010, 1998; CHIARO, 1992); notions about implicit (MAINGUENEAU, 2004, 1996; CHARAUDEAU; MAINGUENEAU, 2012) and about ambiguity (KEMPSON, 1977; CHARAUDEAU; MAINGUENEAU, 2012; TRASK, 2011), having the adoption of such categories emerged from the analyzes of some jokes

A oralidade nos cursos a distância de licenciatura em Letras com habilitação em língua portuguesa: uma análise discursiva

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Variáveis influenciadoras da continuidade ou descontinuidade de parcerias de Teletandem à luz da teoria da atividade

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Aconselhamento linguageiro no processo de aprendizagem de inglês

Nos últimos anos tem se configurado um outro personagem no contexto do ensino e aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras: o conselheiro linguageiro (CL). Neste texto propomos uma definição do que seja o aconselhamento linguageiro (AL) e expomos alguns dos papéis do CL, comparando-os com os do professor; levantamos idéias a respeito do lócus do CL nas instituições e das melhores práticas desse agente de aprendizagem. Esse experimento desenvolveu-se em uma universidade no norte do Brasil e envolveu alunos e professores de línguas estrangeiras. Os dados que aparecem neste texto são de alunos e conselheiros de inglês. Em seguida mostramos o impacto dessa ação na autonomização e na motivação dos aprendentes e como esse diálogo entre CL e aprendente pode se dar por meio de recursos tecnológicos mais disponíveis do que o contato face a face.

Autonomia e reflexão nas práticas telecolaborativas em teletandem

New technologies have been playing an important role in providing access to foreign languages and cultures and to authentic communication. Telecollaborative practice can enrich foreign languages teaching and learning and the teachers’ formation processes. This paper focuses on the possibilities that emerge in teletandem for learners to practice autonomy and reflection. Teletandem is a distance tandem modality performed by audio and video conferences with tools such as Windows Live Messenger, Skype or ooVoo. This modality is presented by Teletandem Brasil Project: foreign languages for all. Based on a qualitative ethnographic study with Brazilian and foreign students, the results have shown that teletandem provides and encourages reflexive and autonomous attitudes.

O professor e a prática telecolaborativa no teletandem

The new technologies have increasingly provided access to foreign languages and cultures and also to authentic communication. If we consider that the foreign languages teaching/learning process and teachers’ education can be enriched by telecollaboration, I believe it is necessary to observe the roles played by language teachers. Based on an ethnographic qualitative study carried out with Brazilian and foreign university students, this paper focuses on teletandem practice, a distance tandem modality carried out by audio and video conferences with resources such as Windows Live Messenger, Skype or ooVoo, to investigate roles played by language teachers in telecollaborative practice. The data were collected from (a) e-mails exchanged between the partners and between partners and the mediator-teacher; (b) DVDs of interaction sessions recordings; (c) written teletandem sessions recordings; (d) recordings of interviews between the partners and the researcher at ooVoo; (e) fi eld notes taken at Teletandem Laboratory at UNESP- Assis; and (f) participants’ written reports. The data analysis, from the hermeneutic interpretative perspective, revealed that the teacher is not ignored but is given new roles to maximize the process towards meaningful and intercultural learning.

Memória, Pós-memória e Formação Crítica de Professores de Línguas

As narrativas e as histórias sobre as experiências dos professores em formação, antes e durante seu trabalho profissional, são comumente utilizadas para entender as identidades dos professores de línguas, por elas estar influenciadas pelas experiências gravadas nas memórias. Porém, o conceito de pós-memória emergiu recentemente e parece não ter sido ainda utilizado na educação dos professores de línguas. Neste artigo, se comentam as possibilidades de utilizar o conceito de pós-memória na educação de professores de línguas, através das narrativas sobre as suas experiências. O propósito é estudar com mais profundidade as influências de eventos históricos traumáticos, como O Regime Militar no Brasil, sobre as identidades dos professores de inglês no Brasil, antes e durante seu trabalho profissional, através das narrativas e histórias sobre as suas experiências. O principal objetivo é analisar as relações e inter-relações entre memória, pós-memória e experiências e as identidades dos professores de inglês, especialmente com relação às experiências influenciadas pelo período militar no Brasil.

A new way of teaching different subjects in a foreign language in the Building Engineering Degree at the Universidad Politécnica.

The European Union has been promoting linguistic diversity for many years as one of its main educational goals. This is an element that facilitates student mobility and student exchanges between different universities and countries and enriches the education of young undergraduates. In particular, a higher degree of competence in the English language is becoming essential for engineers, architects and researchers in general, as English has become the lingua franca that opens up horizons to internationalisation and the transfer of knowledge in today’s world. Many experts point to the Integrated Approach to Contents and Foreign Languages System as being an option that has certain benefits over the traditional method of teaching a second language that is exclusively based on specific subjects. This system advocates teaching the different subjects in the syllabus in a language other than one’s mother tongue, without prioritising knowledge of the language over the subject. This was the idea that in the 2009/10 academic year gave rise to the Second Language Integration Programme (SLI Programme) at the Escuela Arquitectura Técnica in the Universidad Politécnica Madrid (EUATM-UPM), just at the beginning of the tuition of the new Building Engineering Degree, which had been adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) model. This programme is an interdisciplinary initiative for the set of subjects taught during the semester and is coordinated through the Assistant Director Office for Educational Innovation. The SLI Programme has a dual goal; to familiarise students with the specific English terminology of the subject being taught, and at the same time improve their communication skills in English. A total of thirty lecturers are taking part in the teaching of eleven first year subjects and twelve in the second year, with around 120 students who have voluntarily enrolled in a special group in each semester. During the 2010/2011 academic year the degree of acceptance and the results of the SLI Programme have been monitored. Tools have been designed to aid interdisciplinary coordination and to analyse satisfaction, such as coordination records and surveys. The results currently available refer to the first and second year and are divided into specific aspects of the different subjects involved and into general aspects of the ongoing experience.

Drama and languages education : authentic assessment through process drama

In this chapter I explore the ways process drama can enrich and enliven the assessment regime of a middle school beginner language program. The chapter draws on five months’ language teaching which I did to collect data during my doctoral research. I taught a secondary co-educational class of 12-13 year olds (first year secondary school) for their German lessons while the teacher who had invited me in observed the lessons. Throughout the project there was an emphasis on student participation through questionnaire, discussion and interview...

Literatur verstehen und inszenieren: Foreign language literature through drama, a research project

Based on the experience that today's students find it more difficult than students of previous decades to relate to literature and appreciate its high cultural value, this paper argues that too little is known about the actual teaching and learning processes which take place in literature courses and that, in order to ensure the survival of literary studies in German curricula, future research needs to elucidate for students, the wider public and, most importantly, educational policy makers, why the study of literature should continue to have an important place in modern language curricula. Contending that students' willingness to engage with literature will, in the future, depend to a great extent on the use of imaginative methodology on the part of the teacher, we give a detailed account of an action research project carried out at University College Cork from October to December 2002 which set out to explore the potential of a drama in education approach to the teaching and learning of foreign language literature. We give concrete examples of how this approach works in practice, situate our approach within the subject debate surrounding Drama and the Language Arts and evaluate in detail the learning processes which are typical of performance-based literature learning. Based on converging evidence from different data sources and overall very positive feedback from students, we conclude by recommending that modern language departments introduce courses which offer a hands-on experience of literature that is different from that encountered in lectures and teacher-directed seminars.

Tact training versus bi-directional intraverbal training in teaching a foreign language

The current study involved an evaluation of the emergence of untrained verbal relations as a function of between three different foreign-language teaching strategies. Two Spanish-speaking adults received foreign-language (English) tact-training as well as native-to-foreign and foreign-to-native intraverbal training. The results indicated that tact training and native-to-foreign intraverbal training are more likely to result in the emergence of untrained relations, and may thus be more efficient compared to foreign-to-native intraverbal training.

LSP communication in a digital age: the outcomes of teaching and learning in tertiary education

This paper discusses the changes brought by the communication revolution in teaching and learning in the scope of LSP. Its aim is to provide an insight on how teaching which was bi-dimensional, turned into a multidimensional system, gathering other complementary resources that have transformed, in a incredibly short time, the ways we receive share and store information, for instance as professionals, and keep in touch with our peers. The increasing rise of electronic publications, the incredible boom of social and professional networks, search engines, blogs, list servs, forums, e-mail blasts, Facebook pages, YouTube contents, Tweets and Apps, have twisted the way information is conveyed. Classes ceased to be predictable and have been empowered by digital platforms, innumerous and different data repositories (TILDE, IATE, LINGUEE, and so many other terminological data banks) that have definitely transformed the academic world in general and tertiary education in particular. There is a bulk of information to be digested by students, who are no longer passive but instead responsible and active for their academic outcomes. The question is whether they possess the tools to select only what is accurate and important for a certain subject or assignment, due to that overflow? Due to the reduction of the number of course years in most degrees, after the implementation of Bologna and the shrinking of the curricula contents, have students the possibility of developing critical thinking? Both teaching and learning rely on digital resources to improve the speed of the spreading of knowledge. But have those changes been effective to promote really communication? Furthermore, with the increasing Apps that have already been developed and will continue to appear for learning foreign languages, for translation among others, will the students feel the need of learning them once they have those Apps. These are some the questions we would like to discuss in our paper.