Uma análise do grau comparativo nos materiais didáticos de língua inglesa via teoria das operações predicativas e enunciativas

Pós-graduação em Linguística e Língua Portuguesa - FCLAR

Materiais didáticos para o ensino de língua estrangeira: Inglês para crianças

Teaching foreign languages, especially English, has been highly valued and widespread in Brazil in recent decades; so many schools now offer it from the earliest grades of Elementary school or already in kindergarten. This fact can be observed mainly through the spread of bilingual schools and private ones in which individuals begin language instruction as earlier as possible. In this article we report the experience developed in the project “Oficina de Inglês para crianças”, conducted at a Child Care Unit in São Carlos Federal University (UFSCar), and that had counted with the use of various pedagogical materials with the goal of providing a first contact of children with the English Language through a fun and enjoyable way.

A interação na sala de aula de língua estrangeira

The world we have been living in has adopted competition as the way for surviving in it, especially due to the capitalism and consumer habits. In this research speaking English is considered one of these differentiations, i.e., distinguishing individuals a unique people. In addition, it is expected that by using this language, among other things, people could have access to: education, a better job and a higher quality of life. However, the process of learning a foreign language is very complex caused by many features that are involved in it, e.g. the impossibility to dissociate language, culture and society. Moreover, it was contemplated if from this language learning, it would be possible to build social and ideological relations as well as personal identities. The most applicable conclusion of this research is the requisite of making students aware of the process for an effective foreign language learning. As a consequence, the context and social, cultural, and ideological characteristics that are part of the mother tongue society must be taken into consideration in the same way as the foreign language society.

Variantes motivacionais de professores de língua Inglesa em um curso de formação inicial

This paper aims at discussing the relevance of student-teachers’ motivational variants in an English as a Foreign Language Teacher Education course whose syllabus proposes, since the beginning of the program, the development of students’ proficiency in the target language aligned to EFL teacher education theories. In addition, this study also intends to comprehend how this course structure has been developed, verifying how prospective teachers react towards its proposal. Results indicated relevant aspects related to motivation, since from all participants, many declared their interest in following the teaching career while others revealed interest in developing their English language skills, which indicates that both needs and expectations of these groups seemed to be attained, favoring their motivation to language learning and teaching.

Epêntese vocálica em encontros consonantais por falantes brasileiros de inglês como língua estrangeira

Pós-graduação em Linguística e Língua Portuguesa - FCLAR

Reflexões de professores de inglês em formação inicial sobre o uso de novas tecnologias

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

Concepções e práticas do ensino de leitura em inglês no ensino médio

Pós-graduação em Educação Escolar - FCLAR

Subtitling as a pedagogical tool for language teaching in journalism

This study was designed to present and discuss some results produced by a research involving the use of English subtitles of some news videos from the webiste Reuters.com (http://www.reuters.com) with pedagogical reasons in a Brazilian context (Academic English for Journalism). We have developed the research during two semesters at UNESP (Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho). The professor in charge of the study has chosen the students of Journalism as the audience to whom the videos were presented. The assumptions of many theorists and experts in Audiovisual Translation were adopted as our Theoretical Sources. The first step of the study was the assessment of the syllabus of each course. This was very helpful as a guidance in order to choose the most relevant and interesting videos for students. After the evaluation of academic and professional interests, we chose some videos to insert appropriate subtitles, according to some strategies suggested by Panayota Georgakopoulou and Henrik Gottlieb. Finally we presented the videos during the English classes. At the first time, they were presented without subtitles just to notice the comprehension level of the students. After that, the videos were presented with English subtitles. As we first assumed, the students haven’t had the whole comprehension of specific details during the first presentation, they have just used their previous knowledge and the visual aids to help them in a superficial understanding of the news. As the subtitles appear, the process of communication was finally accomplished.

The book is still on the table: uma análise do uso do livro didático de inglês na escola pública paulista

Pós-graduação em Planejamento e Análise de Políticas Públicas - FCHS

Writing for Understanding in Math Class

In this action research study of my classroom of 10th grade geometry students, I investigated how students learn to communicate mathematics in a written form. The purpose of the study is to encourage students to express their mathematical thinking clearly by developing their communication skills. I discovered that although students struggled with the writing assignments, they were more comfortable with making comments, writing questions and offering suggestions through their journal rather than vocally in class. I have utilized teaching strategies for English Language Learners, but I had never asked the students if these strategies actually improved their learning. I have high expectations, and have not changed that, but I soon learned that I did not want to start the development of students’ written communication skills by having the students write a math solution. I began having my students write after teaching them to take notes and modeling it for them. Through entries in the journals, I learned how taking notes best helped them in their pursuit of mathematical knowledge. As a result of this research, I plan to use journals more in each of my classes, not just a select class. I also better understand the importance of stressing that students take notes, showing them how to do that, and the reasons notes best help English Language Learners.

CLIL materials in Secondary Education: focusing on the language of instruction in the subject area of Mathematics

[EN]Applying a CLIL methodological approach marks a shift in emphasis from language learning based on linguistic form and grammatical progression to a more ‘language acquisition’ one which takes account language functions. In this article we will study the elements of the “language of instruction” of the area of Maths in Secondary Education, by focusing on the analysis of the communicative functions, and the lexical and the cultural items present in the textbook in use. Our aim is to present the CLIL teacher with the linguistic and didactic implications that he or she should take into consideration when implementing the bilingual syllabuses with their students. In order to do that, we will present our conclusions emphasizing the need for coordination in different content areas, linguistic and communicative contents, between the foreign language teacher and the CLIL subject one.

Uno Two Drei: la televisione nella promozione linguistica per i giovani. Un caso italiano nel contesto europeo.

The aim of this work is to assess the effectiveness of a project carried out in the Autonomous Province of Trento to promote language learning among young people. The project consisted in a television quiz show featuring games in Italian, English and German. Eight classes from five high schools took part in the game show, which was aired between November 2014 and January 2015 by the local channel Trentino TV. Since multilingualism has been part of the European Union policy, legislation and practices for many decades, the first chapter of this dissertation offers an overview of the main EU language education policies which seek to promote language learning among all citizens. It then focuses on the commitment of the EU and its member States to find new strategies to show the benefits of language learning outside formal education, also using both old and new media. Some TV and radio shows on multilingualism broadcast in Italy and in other EU countries are also briefly described. The second chapter is devoted to Uno Two Drei, the quiz show created by the Autonomous Province of Trento and Trentino TV to promote the learning of English and German among students while enhancing their personal growth and development. The role of everyone involved in the project is outlined, as well as the concept and planning phases and the realization stage. The third chapter focuses largely on the impacts of the initiative on the target group, namely 17-year-old students. Opinions of the participants were first collected in January, when a final meeting was held between the organizers and the schools. Since the researcher has managed the German part of the project, in the following months a questionnaire was administered to the 48 students who played in the German team and to their teachers as well. From both the meeting and the questionnaires it has emerged that the main goals of the initiative were achieved: generally speaking, students have been motivated to study languages and learn new things, the bonds between them have been strengthened and their sense of solidarity has been enhanced.