Práticas de utilização de dicionários por professores de Língua Portuguesa do Ensino Fundamental II

Abstract

Brazil is a country whose population still presents literacy difficulties, for this reason, the school dictionary, as a didactic resource, can contribute to promote reading and, consequently, writing, since its use in the classroom enables to insert students in a universe of information. Therefore, generally speaking, this study aimed to verify the use of dictionaries as a didactic resource, as a means to enhance reading, writing and expand vocabulary skills of students. Specifically, this study sought to identify the use or not of this didactic resource through a questionnaire, inventory model (self-assessment); compare the study variables, questionnaire items, with the teachers’ profile; analyze the association between the study variables; and present activity models involving dictionaries. In order to support the proposed discussions, the ideas of Krieger (2006), Bagno and Rangel (2006), Rangel (2011), and Bridges (2009, 2014) were considered. This was a descriptive quantitative study using a form previously designed for the research, containing variables related to the profile of the respondents and self-assessment scale-type questions, with 39 items, and a Likert-type response format, with four possible answers: Almost never (1); Sometimes (2); Often (3); Almost Always (4), which was electronically available via Google Drive. Regarding the profile of the participants, the majority were female (85.1%), aged 25-40 years, graduated from a federal public university, in which specialization was the predominant degree (70.1%), mainly in the field of Applied Linguistics (91.0%). The other items of the questionnaire were categorized in: Dictionary and classroom practice, which verified that the participants sometimes (40.3%) guided the students to use the printed dictionary; Dictionary and pedagogical planning, which found that participating teachers sometimes selected dictionaries for classroom practice (44.8%); Teachers’ perception about the use of the resource in study, demonstrating that the majority was sometimes favorable to its use (52.2%), perceived the dictionary as technology (32.8%) and almost always identified its importance in school practice (53.7%), as well as the relevance of attending the Lexicography course during graduation (52.2%); in the last item, Teachers’ knowledge about this use, most pointed out that sometimes needed to work with the dictionary in the classroom (40.3%). Additionally, a strong association was found between the use of printed dictionary, teaching time in the classroom, and field of activity; and between the use of dictionary and teacher’s knowledge. It was concluded that the teachers participating in the research sometimes used the dictionary as a didactic resource. Nevertheless, they were favorable to this practice and recognized it as a technology and/or didactic resource. Therefore, it is suggested the promotion of greater incentives, such as training courses for teachers of Elementary Education II and teaching materials for this purpose, in order to stimulate the practice of using dictionaries in Portuguese classes, especially in Elementary Education II.