Estágio 3

Ao ler os dois artigos indicados pela professora me deparei, novamente, com a velha questão “Professor: profissão ou vocação?”. Durante todo o meu curso de Licenciatura em Letras fui colocada diante desta discussão, visto que o professor de Inglês, especialmente, não tem exercido seu papel de ampliador da formação cultural de seus alunos. Por muito tempo o professor de Inglês foi visto como um prestador de serviços e aplicador de métodos; não se discutia o porquê de se estudar o Inglês e não outra língua, ou por que se usava um determinado método e não outro. É preciso considerar que o estudo de uma língua implica no resgate de toda uma cultura e, nesse sentido ele se torna um instrumento que possibilita uma formação crítica. Sendo assim, como futura professora de língua estrangeira, meu papel não é somente ensinar estruturas sintáticas ou vocabulário, mas sim formar cidadãos através da disseminação de conceitos construtivos e da desmistificação de crenças.

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE GOIÁS

FACULDADE DE LETRAS

Polyana Rodrigues Borges

AQUISIÇÃO DE VOCABULÁRIO EM LÍNGUA INGLESA: ANÁLISE DA EFICÁCIA DAS ESTRATÉGIAS USADAS PELOS PROFESSORES DA REDE PÚBLICA DE ENSINO.

Goiânia

2010

INTRODUÇÃO

O processo de aquisição de vocabulário em Língua Inglesa não se limita ao simples ato de procurar por uma palavra no dicionário e usá-la em uma sentença. Há uma série de estratégias que podem facilitar esse processo. Porém, nem todos os profissionais de ensino de língua estrangeira são conscientes sobre a existência de tais estratégias e, conseqüentemente, quanto à eficácia do uso delas.

Sendo assim, este projeto de pesquisa tem como objetivo observar as estratégias de aquisição de vocabulário usadas pelos professores de Inglês da rede pública de ensino e analisar a eficácia delas.

Nesse sentido, algumas questões serão abordadas, tais como: o conceito de vocabulário, o conceito de estratégias, tipos de estratégias, aplicação de estratégias e quais apresentam maior eficácia na aquisição de vocabulário em Língua Inglesa.

REVISÃO DA LITERATURA

Quando falamos em vocabulário, devemos entender os vários aspectos que esse conceito abrange (SCHÜLTZ, 2006). É importante perceber que vocabulário não se limita a palavras. Também devem ser vistas como elementos de vocabulário as locuções idiomáticas e muitas das frases usadas para expressar idéias comuns em situações cotidianas. Os maiores contrastes de vocabulário entre inglês e português (e conseqüentemente as maiores dificuldades) ocorrem justamente neste aspecto coloquial dos idiomas.

Segundo Holden e Rogers (2001) o aprendizado de um novo idioma começa em ordem crescente: aprendemos famílias de palavras e associamos mentalmente o uso delas. Nesse sentido, sempre que o aluno aprender uma nova palavra ou expressão, deve procurar assimilar não apenas o significado, a função gramatical na frase e a ortografia, mas também (e principalmente) a pronúncia da palavra.

O estímulo, a dinâmica e o exercício são fundamentais para aquisição de um idioma. As estratégias que podem ser desenvolvidas para o aprendizado do vocabulário são inúmeras tais como, jogos, dicionários ilustrados, atividades com música, diálogos, etc. Este autor também afirma que “é importante enriquecer o vocabulário dos alunos, mas é ainda mais importante fornecer meios para que possam descobrir sozinhos os significados das palavras.” (HOLDEN; ROGERS, p. 40)

O desenvolvimento do vocabulário da pessoa é fruto direto do contato com a língua, tanto falada como escrita. A atitude ideal para desenvolver-se vocabulário não é a de armazenamento forçado na memória, mas sim a de esforço criativo para expressar-se e exercício constante de relembrar o que já foi aprendido. Isto porque o fundamental não é apenas reconhecer, mas dispor de palavras no momento em que se expressa.

METODOLOGIA DA PESQUISA

Este projeto será realizado em uma instituição federal da cidade de Goiânia que oferece educação integrada do ensino médio à pós-graduação.

A sala de aula em questão é referente a uma turma de inglês do 3º ano do ensino técnico integrado. As aulas acontecem no período da manhã e a carga horária semanal é de duas aulas com duração total de uma hora e meia. Há x alunos na sala de aula com faixa etária entre x a x anos. Os alunos têm um nível básico de inglês, com vocabulário bem limitado, o que nos fornece um cenário favorável para o desenvolvimento deste projeto de pesquisa.

Sendo assim, a pesquisa qualitativa do tipo etnográfica é a mais adequada para esse tipo de investigação, pois, segundo Mello (2009), ela nos permite investigar a estrutura dos eventos que ocorrem na sala de aula e descrever o que os alunos e professores fazem e dizem em cada um desses eventos, isto é, no momento em que a língua está sendo ensinada e aprendida.

Ao longo da pesquisa serão realizadas observações de aulas, entrevistas e questionários, tanto com os alunos quanto com o professor.

CRONOGRAMA

• Durante o mês de junho, nós do Estágio 3 fizemos leitura de textos sobre como desenvolver uma pesquisa, tipos de pesquisas e, com a ajuda da professora, pude decidir o tema que será abordado no meu TCC.
• No mês de julho as leituras de textos teóricos continuam. É necessário que se tenha um embasamento teórico sobre o conceito de vocabulário e estratégias.
• No mês de agosto começam as observações em sala de aula. Essas observações podem ou não se estender até o mês de outubro, de acordo com a necessidade do observador. Assim, ao observar as aulas de inglês e quais técnicas a professora utiliza para trabalhar a aquisição de vocabulário com seus alunos, pretendo analisar quais são mais eficazes. Para tanto, durante esse período também pretendo desenvolver entrevistas e questionários com a professora e os alunos para fins interpretativos.
• Finalmente, em novembro será feita a conclusão deste projeto de pesquisa.

REFERÊNCIAS

MELLO, Heloísa Augusta Brito de. Linguagem & Ensino. Pelotas: Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras da Universidade Católica de Pelotas, 2009.

SCHÜTZ, Ricardo. “O Que Significa ‘Saber’ Vocabulário?” English Made in Brazil <http://www.sk.com.br/sk-voca.html>. Acessado em 19 de junho de 2010.

PATZLAFF, Daiane; GALEAZZI, Michele; NARDI, Nádia. “Leitura e Vocabulário na Língua Inglesa”. <http://www.diaadiaeducacao.pr.gov.br/diaadia/diadia/arquivos/File/conteudo/artigos_teses/Ingles/patzlaff.pdf>. Acessado em 19 de junho de 2010.

1. Talking about language teaching

Second language

● The L1 terms are used to indicate, first of all, that a person has acquired the language in infancy and early childhood (hence ‘first’ or native’) and generally within the family (hence ‘mother tongue’). Secondly, the L1 terms signal a characteristic level of proficiency in the language.

● A second language is any language acquired (or to be acquired) later than the native language. The second language learning process takes place at na early age when the native language command is still rudimentary. At the other, it may take place in adult life when the L1 acquistiton process is virtually complete dor slowed down. Or, it may take place at any stage between these two extremes. Secondly, the term ‘second language’ is used to refer to the level of language command in comparison with a primary or dominant language, indicating a lower level o factual or believed proficiency.

The distinction between L1 and L2

The languagen of the home, neighbourhood, school, region, or nation may form intricate patterns of bilingualism and multilingualism. The language experiences of an individual in these situations make the boundaries between L1 and L2 learning far less definite. For this reason it is advisable to consider L1 and L2 jointly under the common concept of bilingualism.

Second language learning and bilingualism

● Bilingualism is simultaneous first-language acquisition in two languages, and for short referred to as ‘early-childhood bilingualism’.

● If we recognize a whole gamut of differences in the command of two languages, it becomes impossible to draw a line of clear demarcation between ‘knowing a second language’ and ‘being bilingual’. Consequently, ‘bilingualism’ has tended to be more broadly defined so that any proficiency level in more than one language can be referred to as bilingualism.

Second versus foreign language

● Since the second language is frequently the official language or one of two or more recognized languages, it is needed for full participation in the political and economic life of the nation; or it may be the language needed for education.  It is also usually learnt with much more environmental support than a foreign language whose speech community may be thousands of miles away.

● Foreign language learning is often undertaken with a variety of different purposes in mind, for example, travel abroad, communication with native speakers, reading of a foreign literature, or reading of foreign  scientific and technical works. It also usually requires more formal instruction and other measures compensating for the lack of environmental support.

International / intranational

Learning and using English for wider communication within a country, particularly for educational, commercial, and political purposes, Eglish can be referred to as an intranational language. If English is learnt in many countries across the world, this is not only with reference to specified English-speaking territories, but as a means of international communication across national boundaries among speakers of other languages. For this role the term international language has been proposed.

Teaching and learning

Language learning

The psychological concept of learning goes far beyond learning directly from a teacher or learning through study or practice. It includes not only the learning of skills or the acquisistion of knowledge. It refers also to learning to learn and learning to think; the modification of attitudes; the acquisition of interests, social values, or social roles; and even changes in personality.

Learning and acquisition

The language development of na individual is subject to continuing modifications, and the notion of finality or permanency that might be evoked by the term ‘acquisition’ of language could be quite misleading. Some learning is stimulated by teaching, but much of it may be independent of any teaching.

Language teaching

We interpret language teaching widely so as to include all activities intended to bring about language learning. Having made this clear, it would be pedantic always to speak of ‘teaching and learning’. Therefore, if subsequently we only mention the one, it is useful to remember that in the right context the other is understood.

2. Learning strategies

A strategy consisted of mental or behavioral activity related to some specific stage in the overall process of language acquisition or language use. Strategies can be very different in nature, ranging from planning the organization of the learner (a metacognitive learning strategy) through using mnemonic devices to learn vocabulary (cognitive learning strategies) and rehearsing what one expects to say (a performance strategy) to bolstering self-confidence of someone for a language task by means of “self-talk” (an affective strategy).

Learners choose strategies to learn according individual aspects like beliefs, affective states, general factors, and previous learning experiences. These aspects are together with various situational factors like the target language being studied, whether the setting is formal or informal, the nature of the instruction, and the specific tasks learners have to do.

Good language learners tend to use a larger number of strategies. The use of appropriate language learning strategies often results in improved proficiency or achievement overall or in specific skill areas. Successful language learners tend to select strategies that work well together. These learners can easily explain the strategies they use and why they employ them.

Combinations of strategies often have more impact than single strategies. For example, L2 writing, like L1 writing, benefits from the learning strategies of planning, self-monitoring, deduction, and substitution. L2 speaking demands strategies such as risk-taking, paraphrasing, circumlocution, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation. L2 listening comprehension gains from strategies of elaboration, inferencing, selective attention, and self-monitoring, while reading comprehension uses strategies like reading aloud, guessing, deduction, and summarizing.

Factors influence the choice of strategies used among students learning a second language:

Motivation: More motivated students tended to use more strategies than less motivated students, and the particular reason for studying the language (motivational orientation, especially as related to career field) was important in the choice of strategies.

Gender: Females reported greater overall strategy use than males in many studies (although sometimes males surpassed females in the use of a particular strategy).

Cultural background: Rote memorization and other forms of memorization were more prevalent among some Asian students than among students from other cultural backgrounds. Certain other cultures also appeared to encourage this strategy among learners.

Attitudes and beliefs: These were reported to have a profound effect on the strategies learners choose, with negative attitudes and beliefs often causing poor strategy use or lack of orchestration of strategies.

Type of task: The nature of the task helped determine the strategies naturally employed to carry out the task.

Age and L2 stage: Students of different ages and stages of L2 learning used different strategies, with certain strategies often being employed by older or more advanced students.

Learning style: Learning style (general approach to language learning) often determined the choice of L2 learning strategies. For example, analytic-style students preferred strategies such as contrastive analysis, rule-learning, and dissecting words and phrases, while global students used strategies to find meaning (guessing, scanning, predicting) and to converse without knowing all the words (paraphrasing, gesturing).

Tolerance of ambiguity: Students who were more tolerant of ambiguity used significantly different learning strategies in some instances than did students who were less tolerant of ambiguity.

Strategies have produced good results. However, they should be based clearly on students’ attitudes, beliefs, and stated needs. Strategies should be chosen so that they mesh with and support each other and so that they fit the requirements of the language task, the learners’ goals, and the learners’ style of learning.

Community Language Learning

The class

In a class where the chairs are in circle around a table and there is a tape recorder on it, the teacher says that the students are going to have a conversation in English language, and he is going to help them.

Firstly, the students have to say what they want in their mother language, and the teacher gives them the English translation. They record just the student’s voice in English. When they finish, the teacher plays the tape and stop it at the end of each sentence. The students have to pay attention on it and say it in their mother language in order to be sure that everybody has understood all the sentences.

After that, the teacher writes all the English sentences on the blackboard and asks the students not to write, just pay attention on words being written. Thus, the students have to translate all these sentences into their mother language and then they have to repeat what the teacher says.

In the next activity, the teacher becomes a kind of “human computer”. So, the students have to ask for his help. A student has to raise his hand and says the word or sentence in English or in his mother language that he wants to practice. Then, the “human computer” gives him back the correct sentence or word in English. The student has to listen to it carefully.

Finally, the teacher asks the students to create new sentences based on the words and phrases they had already practiced in that class. They have to work in groups and the teacher helps them. When they finish this activity, they have to read their sentences to the class. At the end of the activities, the teacher and his students have a feedback about the class.

Thinking about the class

Some points can be listed about this kind of class:

• The students can feel comfortable because they can use their mother language.
• Since the teacher explain what they are supposed to do before the activities, the students can have some idea about it and, consequently, feel more secure.
• The students have a time to practice the sentences and the words that they are learning.
• When the teacher becomes a kind of “human computer”, the students can feel more comfortable to ask questions because he is next to them.
• When the teacher gives the students the translation wherever they want, they can understand better and fix the sentences or the word.
• It is important divide the class in parts and establish a time to the activities in order to keep the organization.
• The feedback is important because teacher and students can change experiences. What is more, students can express their opinions without being shy or afraid of it.
• The teacher establishes a good relationship with his students. They, together, improve their knowledge.
• When the teacher asks the students to form a circle around a table, all of them can hear the tape recorder. So, it is important to have an organization in the room space.
• First, paying attention and then having a time to copy, one thing by time, is good to the learning process.
• Since the students have a “human computer” serving them, they can control the class according to their necessities.
• When the students have a time to listen to the teacher pronunciation carefully, they can correct themselves and they become more consciously about their mistakes.
• Working in groups can help the students to feel more comfortable and it creates a cooperative atmosphere.

Reviewing the Principles

1. Goals: Learning how to use the target language communicatively and make students learn about their own learning.
2. The roles of the teacher and students: Initially the learners are very dependent upon the teacher. It is recognized, however, that as the learners continue to study, they become increasingly independent.
3. Characteristics of the teaching/learning process: Conversation using student’s native language, transcription of the conversation (it becomes a ‘text’ with which students work). During the course of the lesson, students are invinted to say how they FEE, and in return the teacher understands them. / Security – Aggression – Attention – Reflection – Retention – Discrimination.
4. The nature of student-teacher interaction and student-student interaction: This method is neither student-centered, nor teacher-centered, but rather teacher-student-centered, with both being decision-makers in the class. Students can learn from their interaction with each other as well as their interaction with the teacher. A spirit of cooperation, not competition, can prevail.
5. Student’s feelings: Students comment on how they feel and the teacher listens and responds to each coment carefully. By showing stdents He understands how they feel, the teacher can help them overcome negative feelings that might otherwise block their learning.
6. The view of language and culture: Language is for communication and culture is an integral part of language learning.
7. Skills and areas of language which are emphasized: Students generate the material since they decide what they want to be able to say in the target language. The most important skills are understanding and speaking the language at the beginning, with reinforcement through reading and writing.
8. The role of the student’s native language: Student’s security is initially enhanced by using their native language in order to provide a bridge from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Directions in class and sessions during which students express their feelings and are understood are conducted in the native language. In later stages more and more of the target language can be used. Meaning is made clear with pantomime, pictures and the use of target language synonyms, for example.
9. Evaluation: It should be in keeping with the principles of the method. The teacher is the person who is able to see if the students are adequately prepared for taking what the school requires. It is likely that teachers would encourage their students to self-evaluate, to look at their own learning and to become aware of their own progress.
10. How teacher responds to student errors: One way of doing this is for the teacher to repeat correctly what the student has said incorrectly, without calling further attention to the error.

Reviewing the Techniques

Tape recording student conversation: This is a technique used to give the opportunity for community learning to come about. By giving students the choice about what to say and when to say it, students in a good position to take responsibility for their own learning.

Transcription: The teacher transcribes the students’ tape-recorded target language conversation and the transcription provides a basis for future activities.

Reflection on experience: The teacher takes time during or after the activities to give the students the opportunity to reflect on how they feel about the language learning experience, themselves as learners, and their relationship with one another.

Reflective listening: The students relax and listen to their own voices speaking the target langugae on the tape.

Human Computer: A student chooses some part of the transcript to practice pronouncing. The teacher does not correct the student’s mispronunciation in any way. It is through the teacher’s consistent manner of repeating the word or phrase clearly that the student self-corrects as He or she tries to imitate the teacher’s model.

Small groups tasks: teachers who use small group activities bellieve students can learn from each other and can get more practice with the target language by working in small groups. Also, small groups allow students to get to know each other better. This can lead to the development of a community among class members.

Conclusion

(1) ‘Learning is persons,’ which means that whole-person learning of another language takes place Best in a relationship of trust, support, and cooperation between teacher and students and among students; and (2) ‘Learning is dynamic and creative,’ which means that learning is a living and developmental process.