Professores em formação: significados construídos no processo de interação em sala de aula de português língua estrangeira

Abstract

According to Almeida Filho (2005), the classroom is not the most important part of the language teaching/learning process, but it is certainly the most significant one. Based on this assumption, the classroom turns up to be the "stage" where both teacher and student can achieve and produce the potential work regarding the language teaching/learning process. As conferred by Novelli (1997:49), the classroom is where humans meet and, precisely for this reason, we can recognize, in this "meeting", that the produced knowledge is constructed through teacher/learner and learner/learner interaction. Thus, when we consider its actualization in the language teaching/learning classroom, interaction can be regarded as highly relevant. In this sense, this research focuses on the process of interaction between the teacher and foreign learners in the context of Portuguese as a foreign language classroom. The investigation will be oriented by Bakhtin s theory of language and by assumptions of the Communicative Approach related to the teaching of foreign language. According to Bakhtin´s ideas (1997), the subject seeks its wholeness in another person/others, who are also uncompleted/unfinished. Only through the eyes of someone else we can have the awareness about our own half-full/half being/ our uncompleted selves. This process of noticing the other and be noticed by the other is made possible through interaction. We recognize that the other is essential for us to understand who we are, and in this language teaching/learning context this perspective makes it relevant to the investigation on how the teacher relates to the other (student) and which are the meanings produced through this meeting. Recognizing that human beings are social agents who are constructed in/by interaction, it is possible to assume that improving comprehension of the relationship self-other within the context of foreign language learning/teaching is of considerable importance, especially in the contemporary context of language teaching, theoretically oriented by assumptions of the communicative approach which emphasizes meaningful interactions and allows us to take the class as an important stage of cultural and social-historical constructions. Regarding the methodology, this investigation was conducted with the use of qualitative procedures based on ethnographic and interpretive methods. As part of the theory that oriented this research belongs to another area, we discussed about the multi-, inter-, trans-, or in-disciplinary character of Applied Linguistics. Regarding the achieved results, it was noticed that the use of authentic material by teachers in the classroom is not a guarantee of communicative teaching, as interactions constructed in that place can prioritize the structure of language and not its meaningful use. According to Bizon (1994:45) it is the chosen approach, consciously or not by the teacher, what can determine the interaction built in the classroom. Taking into consideration that studies on human interaction are fundamental to understand life in society, we expect that this research will help to develop critical reflection and comprehension related to the area of Portuguese as foreign language, thus offering contribution to teacher s education process.