Abordagem para aprendizagem de língua inglesa em cursos intervalares por meio de WhatsApp: primeiros passos

Abstract

This study aimed to work with activities for the development of communication skills of students of English Language Undergraduate Courses, in an interval setting. In order to achieve this, the methodological procedure of the Practical Action-Research, which is composed of four research cycles, was used to achieve the main objective of this dissertation: to develop activity guides for the use of instant messaging applications with the purpose of helping students in teacher training undergraduate courses organized in an intensive setting. In Cycle I, four steps were performed to identify the problem within the context, in this case, the interval courses. Virtual questionnaires were used to understand the most present difficulties in the process of learning the English language of course students. Therefore, in Cycle II, an action plan was developed to assist in the development of communication skills through the use of Language Learning Strategies (LLS) developed by Oxford (1990). Within this cycle, the validation process of the activities proposed by a panel of experts occurred, with the purpose of proposing adjustments and evaluating the feasibility of the proposal in the context of the interval courses. After adjustments suggested by the specialists, Cycle III was implemented, where the activities were carried out in which new data collections and analyzes were carried out to adjust the proposal while it was in execution. With this, it was moved to Cycle IV, whose objective was to collect from the participants suggestions for improvements and adaptations of the proposal. Therefore, the first volume of the five guides for the use of LLS in instant messaging applications was developed. It was noticed that there are still difficulties and obstacles to be overcome in the implementation of the proposal, such as: access to the internet of participants living in remote locations, regularity of activities and participants' engagement. However, this project is valid for the context it is aimed at, for being a relevant resource in the English Teacher Education process.