Crenças de duas professoras sobre o papel da língua materna e da língua inglesa na sala de aula de inglês no Brasil

Abstract

The main objective of this paper was to investigate the beliefs about the mother tongue and the English language of two Brazilian public school English teachers by analyzing their narratives. It was also the objective of this research to investigate the assumption that their actions and decisions regarding their pedagogical practices are influenced by beliefs built throughout their education and experiences. Beliefs about the teachers’ positions on aspects related to the English teaching profession were also analyzed. The theoretical framework unfolds into two brief discussions: the first is about how the term “beliefs” has been defined in studies in the field of Applied Linguistics; and the second brings a brief survey of how the mother tongue has been addressed in methods and approaches in the teaching-learning

process of foreign languages. The data analyzed in this study were obtained from semi- structured interviews, in which the informants were asked about attributes, knowledge and

duties of the ideal teacher, or the good English teacher. Finally, it was found that the teachers do not have definite beliefs regarding the role of the mother tongue in the teaching-learning process of a foreign language. They demonstrated an inclination towards an increasingly reduced use of that language in the classroom. However, this language is chosen for the expression of feelings and for the debate on subjects considered controversial in the classroom. It is through the mother tongue that the relationship between students and the teacher is established and maintained. In this relationship, the professional must be, according to the perspective of the teachers, increasingly empathetic and aware of the social context of their students.