Ensino e aprendizagem de língua inglesa como língua estrangeira: análise de crenças no contexto público escolar

Abstract

This qualitative-interpretative research (BOGDAN; BIKLEN, 1994); BORTONI-RICARDO, 2008) consists of an investigation into the beliefs of students, teachers and administrators in three public middle schools in the city of São Luis of Maranhão. It presents as objective to understand the influences of beliefs on teaching and learning of English language and their implications in the development of learners’ autonomy in the speeches of eighth-grade students, English language teachers, and school administrators. In this sense, the research questions are the following: what are the beliefs of the teachers, students and administrators on teaching and learning of English language? What are the similarities and differences among the participants’ beliefs of the research? How the teachers, students and administrators understand the student’s and the teacher’s roles in that process? To what extent the beliefs of teachers, students and administrators can contribute to promoting or inhibiting the learners’ autonomy in the learning process of English language? What are school’s factors that can promote the stimulus or not of the learners’ autonomy? To answer these questions, the research used the following tools: scale questionnaire based on the inventory of beliefs named BALLI (Beliefs About Language Learning Inventory), closed and mixed questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and observation. The theoretical reference is based on studies about beliefs, Barcelos (1995, 2001, 2004, 2011); Alanen (2003); Silva (2005, 2007); Almeida Filho (2010); Dufva (2003), Bakhtin (2009), Faraco (2009); Brait (2005), and learner’s autonomy based on Dickinson (1987); Freire (1996); Benson (2006, 2008) and so on. The results from the search showed the presence of beliefs in all the participant groups that suggest fostering and inhibiting the students’ autonomy in their learning process in English language. The groups of teachers and administrators showed disfavour beliefs regarding the promotion of students’ autonomy, mainly, the way how the learners are perceived in the learning process of English language. On the other hand, the students presented beliefs that stimulate the autonomy in the process of English language learning. Furthermore, the results detached the students’ learning approach as a fundamental factor to the influence of beliefs on the teachers’ teaching approach and administrators’ approach regarding the teaching and learning of English language in public school.