Ensino a distância e o desenvolvimento de autonomia no aprendizado de línguas estrangeiras

Abstract

Due to few candidates to Language Course, mostly teachers searching for competence, with little available time, Universidade Católica de Pelotas – RS has innovated and offers Licenciaturas Concentradas. There, distance teaching is fundamental, proposing interaction mediated by appropriate material that covers teacher’s physical absence and gives the learner conditions to be more an active agent than in the traditional classroom model. Dickinson (1987) states that distance studies are not simple complement, reinforcement or further classroom content, neither task to fulfill class time. They are mainly characterized as valorization of learner’s potentialities who, free from teacher’s tutorship, advances by his own means in knowledge and experiences, recognizing himself as a capable and independent participant in the search and elaboration of ideas and new concepts. Santos (1996) explains that distant teaching can count on the most important factors to reach learning - frequently absent in formal education: active study, varied techniques, technically pre-prepared materials, alternative activities, respect to the learner’s pace and the learner as center of his own learning. This work aims to analyze distance teaching and its role in the development of autonomy in foreign language learning. Data from 45 students are analyzed. Dickinson’s (1987) concept of autonomy is adopted – learner’s capacity to take over responsibility for his own learning – and the importance of learner’s beliefs is seen when developing activities more productively to reach autonomy. Analysis results indicate learners prefer some activities and show that their development was hindered because of certain beliefs.