Karin adriane henschel pobbe ramos beliefs in teletandem interactions implications for teaching portuguese as a foreign language

Beliefs in Teletandem interactions:
implications for teaching Portuguese
as a foreign language
Karin Adriane Henschel Pobbe Ramos
Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis,
UNESP – Univ Estadual Paulista



Preliminarily
Teacher:
the one who has been a learner for longer.
(Rubem Alves)


Introduction
• In this presentation we intend to discuss the
emergence of beliefs in the virtual context of
learning and teaching languages – Teletandem.
– First, because we agree that beliefs have influence in
how people learn and teach, despite all the difficulties
in studying this subject: “a messy field” (PAJARES,
1992);
– Second, some beliefs have to be changed (BARCELOS,
2007) and can be changed (NEGUERUELA, 2011);
– Third, Teletandem context is a fruitful environment
where these changes may happen, specially because of
MEDIATION.


• Tandem learning is based on principles of

autonomy and reciprocity, at levels that vary
according to the proposals and the aims of the
process.
• Different partners share what they know, but
with a common goal: to produce knowledge.
• In this sense, foreign languages teaching and
learning ​in-tandem have been a collaborative
context in which the partners interchange
languages ​that dominate.
• Alongside the language learning assisted by
computer has become an important tool for the
development of discursive and interactional skills
of the participants.


• But all this process is involved in a system
of beliefs and according to Nespor (apud
Pajares, 1992), beliefs are far more
influential than knowledge in determining
how individuals organize and define tasks
and problems and are stronger predictors
of behavior.


Context
• Based on these principles, the project Teletandem
Brazil, linked to the Center for Languages ​and
Development of Teachers, from Faculty of
Sciences and Letters of Assis / UNESP, combines
language learning and technology, promoting

interaction between Brazilian students and
students from foreign universities, in order to
disseminate the teaching of the Portuguese
among speakers of other languages, and in
return, provide the learning of another language
that their partners domain.


Institutional-Integrated
Teletandem (iiTTD)
• In this particular case, it is an institutional type of
Teletandem in which the presence of mediators
imposes a certain teaching control, determines
directive procedures and proposes several ways
of evaluation that, to a certain extent, has direct
repercussion on the principles of autonomy and
reciprocity.
• There is, therefore, the development of a
different approach to language teaching which
can accelerate learning, enabling that fluency
occurs from a real communication experience.


• As we said, Teletandem is a fruitful environment,
in which a system of beliefs and values emerge,
affecting, directly, the process. Such beliefs,
understood as a network of meanings that are
presented on both a conscious and an
unconscious manner, evoking emotional
involvement and basing discursive and social

practices of individuals, can be inferred in the
speech.
• Beliefs: conceptualizing activity (NEGUERUELA,
2011)


Objective
• The present study aims to investigate this belief
system that emerges in the mediation sessions of
Teletandem and discuss their implications for the
teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language,
from the theoretical framework of Critical
Discourse Analysis.
• Moreover, we also try to apply the assumptions
of this theory, in order to assess levels of Critical
Language Awareness, presented by Teletandem
participants [Mindful Engagement?].


• We understand the system of beliefs more as a
social construct than an individual feature.
• According to Fairclough (2001), systems of beliefs
affect and are affected by the orders of discourse,
understood as a social structuring of semiotic
difference – a particular social ordering of
relationships amongst different ways of making
meaning, ie different discourses and genres and
styles (FAIRCLOUGH, 2001).
• This relation implies in the ideological and
hegemonic effects of discourse as a social

practice.


Data sources and data collection
procedures
• Data were collected during the second half
of 2013 in mediation of interactions
between students of the Brazilian
institution and students from an American
university.


Questions
• The research has been guided by the following
questions:
– (a) how beliefs about teaching and learning languages ​
emerge in the discourses produced by Brazilian
interactings during the mediation sessions,
– b) what are the implications of this belief system for
teaching Portuguese as a Foreign Language,
– c) how we can evidence the levels of Critical Language
Awareness among participants with regard to their
own beliefs.


Partial results
• The students came to Teletandem with a low
level of language awareness;
• Some times they seem to be “naive” about
linguistic and communicative matters;

• During mediation sessions they let emerge some
situations in which an ideological and hegemonic
discourse prevails;
• At the end of the process (about 10 weeks), they
show more critical and reflexive attitude towards
the process of teaching and learning languages.


Difficulties
• Inflexibility of the belief system;
• Lack of focus;
• Not defined objectives for the interactions.


Conclusion
• Data analysis allows establishing a
relationship between this belief system,
reflected in the discourses produced by
interactings during the Teletandem
sessions, and the effectiveness of the
process, reinforcing the importance of the
role of mediator in the deconstruction of
these beliefs.


Answer:
That you are here – that life exists and
identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may
contribute a verse.

(Walt Whitman)


Bibliographical References
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aprendizagem de línguas. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada. ALAB – Associação
de Linguística Aplicada do Brasil. Belo Horizonte, v. 7, n. 2, 2007. p. 109-138.
FAIRCLOUGH, N. Discurso e mudança social. Tradução de Izabel Magalhães. Brasília:
Editora da Universidade de Brasília, 2001.
NEGUERUELA-AZAROLA, E. Beliefs as conceptualizing activity: a dialectical approach for
the second language classroom. System, 39, 2011. p. 359-369.
PAJARES, M. F. Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: cleaning up a messy
construct. Review of Educational Research, v. 62, n. 3, Autumn 1992. P. 307-332.
RAMALHO, V.; RESENDE, V. Análise de discurso (para a) crítica: o texto como material
de pesquisa. Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2011.
RAMOS, K. A. H. P. O ensino de Português Língua Estrangeira no contexto virtual do
Teletandem. Estudos Linguísticos, São Paulo, v. 41 (2), mai/ago 2012. p. 539-552.
TELLES, J. A. (Org.) Teletandem: um contexto virtual, autônomo e colaborativo para
aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no século XXI. Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2009.