Karin adriane henschel pobbe ramos beliefs in teletandem interactions implications for teaching portuguese as a foreign language

Beliefs in Teletandem interactions: implications for teaching Portuguese as a foreign language Karin Adriane Henschel Pobbe Ramos Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis, UNESP – Univ E

Beliefs in Teletandem interactions: implications for teaching Portuguese

as a foreign language

Karin Adriane Henschel Pobbe Ramos Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis,

UNESP – Univ Estadual Paulista karin.ramos1@gmail.com

Teacher:

the one who has been a learner for longer.

(Rubem Alves)

• In this presentation we intend to discuss the

emergence of beliefs in the virtual context of

learning and teaching languages – Teletandem

– First, because we agree that beliefs have influence in how people learn and teach, despite all the difficulties

in studying this subject: “a messy field” (PAJARES,

1992);

– Second, some beliefs have to be changed (BARCELOS, 2007) and can be changed (NEGUERUELA, 2011);

– Third, Teletandem context is a fruitful environment

where these changes may happen, specially because of MEDIATION

• Tandem learning is based on principles of

autonomy and reciprocity, at levels that vary

according to the proposals and the aims of the process

• Different partners share what they know, but

with a common goal: to produce knowledge

• In this sense, foreign languages teaching and

learning ​​in-tandem have been a collaborative

context in which the partners interchange

languages ​​that dominate

• Alongside the language learning assisted by

computer has become an important tool for the development of discursive and interactional skills

of the participants

• But all this process is involved in a system

of beliefs and according to Nespor (apud

Pajares, 1992), beliefs are far more

influential than knowledge in determining how individuals organize and define tasks and problems and are stronger predictors

of behavior.

• Based on these principles, the project Teletandem Brazil, linked to the Center for Languages ​​and

Development of Teachers, from Faculty of

Sciences and Letters of Assis / UNESP, combines language learning and technology, promoting

interaction between Brazilian students and

students from foreign universities, in order to

disseminate the teaching of the Portuguese

among speakers of other languages, and in

return, provide the learning of another language that their partners domain

Institutional-Integrated

Teletandem (iiTTD)

• In this particular case, it is an institutional type of Teletandem in which the presence of mediators imposes a certain teaching control, determines directive procedures and proposes several ways

of evaluation that, to a certain extent, has direct repercussion on the principles of autonomy and reciprocity

• There is, therefore, the development of a

different approach to language teaching which can accelerate learning, enabling that fluency

occurs from a real communication experience

• As we said, Teletandem is a fruitful environment,

in which a system of beliefs and values emerge, affecting, directly, the process Such beliefs,

understood as a network of meanings that are presented on both a conscious and an

unconscious manner, evoking emotional

involvement and basing discursive and social

practices of individuals, can be inferred in the

speech

• Beliefs: conceptualizing activity (NEGUERUELA, 2011)

• The present study aims to investigate this belief system that emerges in the mediation sessions of Teletandem and discuss their implications for the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language,

from the theoretical framework of Critical

Discourse Analysis

• Moreover, we also try to apply the assumptions

of this theory, in order to assess levels of Critical Language Awareness, presented by Teletandem participants [Mindful Engagement?]

• We understand the system of beliefs more as a social construct than an individual feature

• According to Fairclough (2001), systems of beliefs affect and are affected by the orders of discourse,

understood as a social structuring of semiotic

difference – a particular social ordering of

relationships amongst different ways of making meaning, ie different discourses and genres and styles (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001).

• This relation implies in the ideological and

hegemonic effects of discourse as a social

practice

Data sources and data collection

procedures

• Data were collected during the second half

of 2013 in mediation of interactions

between students of the Brazilian

institution and students from an American university

• The research has been guided by the following questions:

– (a) how beliefs about teaching and learning languages ​​ emerge in the discourses produced by Brazilian

interactings during the mediation sessions,

– b) what are the implications of this belief system for teaching Portuguese as a Foreign Language,

– c) how we can evidence the levels of Critical Language Awareness among participants with regard to their own beliefs

Partial results

• The students came to Teletandem with a low

level of language awareness;

• Some times they seem to be “naive” about

linguistic and communicative matters;

• During mediation sessions they let emerge some situations in which an ideological and hegemonic discourse prevails;

• At the end of the process (about 10 weeks), they show more critical and reflexive attitude towards the process of teaching and learning languages

• Inflexibility of the belief system;

• Lack of focus;

• Not defined objectives for the interactions.

• Data analysis allows establishing a relationship between this belief system, reflected in the discourses produced by interactings during the Teletandem sessions, and the effectiveness of the process, reinforcing the importance of the role of mediator in the deconstruction of these beliefs.

That you are here – that life exists and

identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may

contribute a verse

(Walt Whitman)

Bibliographical References

BARCELOS, A M F Reflexões acerca da mudança de crenças sobre ensino e

aprendizagem de línguas Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada ALAB – Associação

de Linguística Aplicada do Brasil Belo Horizonte, v 7, n 2, 2007 p 109-138.

FAIRCLOUGH, N Discurso e mudança social Tradução de Izabel Magalhães Brasília:

Editora da Universidade de Brasília, 2001.

NEGUERUELA-AZAROLA, E Beliefs as conceptualizing activity: a dialectical approach for

the second language classroom System, 39, 2011 p 359-369.

PAJARES, M F Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: cleaning up a messy construct Review of Educational Research, v 62, n 3, Autumn 1992 P 307-332.

RAMALHO, V.; RESENDE, V Análise de discurso (para a) crítica: o texto como material

de pesquisa Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2011.

RAMOS, K A H P O ensino de Português Língua Estrangeira no contexto virtual do

Teletandem Estudos Linguísticos, São Paulo, v 41 (2), mai/ago 2012 p 539-552.

TELLES, J A (Org.) Teletandem: um contexto virtual, autônomo e colaborativo para

aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no século XXI Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2009