POLÍTICAS LINGUÍSTICAS NO ENSINO DE LÍNGUAS E A IDENTIDADE DO PROFESSOR DE LÍNGUA ESTRANGEIRA – INGLÊS

Abstract

This study aims to investigate linguistic policies (SERRANI, 1988; RAJAGOPOLAN, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013; CALVET, 2007, CORREA, 2010) which regulate the teaching of foreign language – English and how such policies are made concrete in the classroom by teachers of English in public schools in the first year of high school. Taking into consideration the current configuration of English as a lingua franca as well as the hegemonic and local aspects of such configuration, the study seeks to understand its influence in the English classroom, both in relation to the official regulation of such practice and regarding individual choices made by the teachers that work with this idiom. At the same time, it seeks to comprehend how the identity of the professional who teaches English is presented in the official documents and how it is seen by the teachers who take part in the study. In order to achieve that, the analysis is based on the concepts of habitus and field presented by Bourdieu (1983, 1987) and complemented by the trajectory introduced by Dubar (1997, 2000) together with the discourse production (VÓVIO, SITO, DE GRANDE, 2010; MOITA LOPES, 2012) which constitutes this professional identity nowadays. The methodology proposed is action-research (LÜDKE AND ANDRÉ, 1986; TRIPP, 2005; TRIVIÑOS, 2009) with a group of teachers in the State school system in Ponta Grossa – PR. The study was developed throughout a semester in which 8 meetings took place to discuss the linguistic policies through the documents Diretrizes Curriculares da Educação Básica – LE Moderna/Paraná – DCE (2008) and Orientações Curriculares para o Ensino de LE no Brasil - OCEM (2006). From the reading of these documents, the teaching material used by these teachers was analyzed in discussions and through the diaries produced by them based on the lessons taught. Throughout the process, the need to propose specific objectives to be reached with the students in relation to their own interaction with the target language was noticed, and a new proposal of teaching material was presented, in the form of a teaching unit. Results pointed to a group of professionals who are willing to visualize situations in which the target language can be seen as a social practice within the policies that guide their work, but who sometimes have difficulties establishing which social practices should be considered. When trying to define their work, the participants also revealed some disposition to reflect on the current status of the target language and how this influences the teaching and use of the target language in the classroom. On the other hand, it is still noticeable in the classroom several examples of teacher centered practice and focus on the structural aspects of the language, with difficulties to join practice and theory. Thus, the professional revealed is in conflict with what is said about their practice, what they can say about it and the challenges proposed by the context of their school routine which are not always present in their initial education or even in the continuous development. Moving then from reflection to action depends on the overcoming of several difficulties and the challenging of certain beliefs which was not always possible in the period of time proposed by this study.