The use of written texts in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language: a sociodiscursive interactionist perspective

Abstract

In order to be active agents in a world of texts, students are required to master the production and comprehension of a set of textual genres. In this sense, Dolz and Gagnon (2015) consider genres relevant instruments for the teaching of languages. Bearing this in mind, the objective of this work is to analyze the use of written texts in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language. The study is mainly based on the sociodiscursive interactionist perspective (Bronckart, 2003; Dolz and Schneuwly, 2004; Dolz and Gagnon, 2015; Magalhães and Cristovão, 2018; Leurquin, 2014). It also takes into consideration the proposals found in the Base Nacional Curricular Comum (2018). This work is a field research carried out in Colégio de Aplicação at Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (CAP - UFPE), in a final year of High School class of English. It is a descriptive and exploratory study. First, an interview was carried out with a teacher of English concerning her experience in relation to the use of texts for the teaching of English, her approach on textual genres and the main challenges she faces when working with texts. Also, some of the teacher’s classes were observed by the researcher with the purpose of analysing the texts used in class and the activities promoted through their use. Finally, a questionnaire was answered by nine students, with the objective of including their perspectives on the teacher’s work with texts and genres and how it influences their learning process. The data was analyzed from a qualitative and quantitative stance. The findings demonstrated that the teacher makes use of a variety of texts in her lessons to promote oral discussions and enhance the students’ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. However, she does not highlight some crucial elements, such as the genres and the context of textual production. In summary, it was concluded that texts were often used as means to extract linguistic information, rather than contributing to a meaningful comprehension of genres as instruments to act in distinct communicative contexts.