Crenças e práticas de aprender e ensinar inglês : conflito e dilema numa escola pública

Abstract

This master thesis investigates the relationship between beliefs and practices in the process of teaching and learning the English language inside the context of an 8 th grade elementary school. Using the contextual approach (Barcelos, 2000, 2004, 2007) to examine beliefs as well as the use of interviews, observations and documents, this ethnographic study has identified two groups of beliefs. Theme 1 – English: opportunities inside and outside the school – encompassed beliefs related to what the English language signifies to students as a school discipline and regarding the future opportunities it offers. Theme 2 – Relations of teaching and learning in the 8 th grade – was related to the ways the interactions between teacher and students have developed in the classroom. It was found that beliefs are closely tied to context because not always the established practices and the theories learned function properly within a new situation. Indiscipline emerged as a significant factor influencing the process of teaching and learning and as a dilemma for the teacher. Different learning and teaching beliefs between teachers and students pose challenges and conflicts in the classroom interaction in which a certain kind of negotiation between the teacher and students was necessary to try to achieve teaching and learning objectives, even partially.