Oral Skill Development Assistant (O.S.D.A.): conjunto de atividades com o uso do Voicethread para o desenvolvimento da produção oral para alunos de licenciatura em letras-língua inglesa

Abstract

This research aimed to develop an educational product to help students of the English Language II discipline, from the major in Languages–English Language, at the Faculty of Modern Foreign Languages, Federal University of Pará, to develop oral skills in the target language. The product named Oral Skill Development Assistant (O.S.D.A.) presents eight proposals for activities based on the communicative approach, planned on the VoiceThread platform and validated by an Expert Panel composed of two professors from the area of teaching and learning. The theoretical framework is based on the concepts that permeate the teaching and learning process in a foreign language (ELLIS, 1998; ALMEIDA FILHO, 1998; MICCOLI, 2011; among others), in the theories of language acquisition (CHOMSKY, 2006; VYGOTSKY, 2007; MIZUKAMI, 2013; among others), in the communicative approach (NUNAN, 1989; BROWN, 2001; LEFFA, 2016; among others), in oral production in English (DÖRNYEI; SCOTT, 1997; HEDGE, 2001; GOH; BURNS, 2012; among others), in technologies in the teaching and learning process (KENSKI, 2007; BRAGA, 2013; MCQUIGGAN, 2015; among others) and, finally, in the use of the VoiceThread tool (BUSH, 2009; FADINI, 2014; ADELL, 2021; among others) The research, of a qualitative nature, has the case study methodology (SAMPIERI, 2013; CRESWELL, 2014; COSTA; LOPES, 2015; among others). Data were generated through oral records of student interactions with the VoiceThread tool from the performance of the proposed activities, two questionnaires - one applied at the beginning of the course and another at the end, both for students, and the evaluation of the product by the two teachers in the Expert Panel. The results show that the five research participants were able to improve their oral practices in English through the use of the VoiceThread tool and the feedback received from the researcher. The results also reveal that the Expert Panel indicated the need to make adjustments regarding the context of some activities, which was met. The educational product proved to be relevant as an integrating element to the English Language II discipline for students to practice their communicational development.