Línguas para fins específicos na UnATI/UERJ: investigando as estratégias de aprendizagem de inglês de adultos da terceira idade

Abstract

Although demographic projections carried out by IBGE over the last years indicate a continuous growth of the elderly population in Brazil, Applied Linguistics has not yet explored satisfactorily the different aspects of the process of teaching and learning additional languages with older adults. The studies carried out in the area so far sought to investigate, in general, the main characteristics of the learning of English, Spanish, French and Italian by the elderly. Some studies addressed, with greater or lesser emphasis, factors such as learning strategies, motivations, beliefs, experiences and use of teaching materials. However, no studies were found that investigate the teaching and learning of English with seniors in the light of the Language for Specific Purposes approach (ESP). In order to articulate recent research interests and contribute to a better understanding of the English for the Elderly project (LETI-Inglês) at UnATI/UERJ, this thesis has four specific objectives: (a) to characterize the LETI-Inglês project as ESP through the student's voice; (b) to identify the learning strategies used by older learners; (c) to identify the teachers’ perspective of the LETI-Inglês project and its relationship with the ESP approach and (d) to identify the teachers’ perspective of learning strategies. Therefore, the following guiding questions were established: (a) Why the LETI-Inglês project can be understood as ESP?; (b) What are the main learning strategies used by students?; (c) Do teachers conceive the LETI-Inglês project as ESP?; and (d) Do teachers explore/encourage students' use of learning strategies? In order to generate data, the following research instruments were used: (a) a sociocultural questionnaire for the elderly learners; (b) individual interviews inspired by the technique of narrative interviews carried out with seven students and four teachers; and (c) class observations with field notes. Data analysis and discussion was structured based on the concept of assertions (BORTONI-RICARDO, 2008). Four assertions were established: (a) LETI-Inglês could be understood as ESP because the older learners have different desires, needs and gaps from other target audiences and the materials on the market do not meet this group’s profile; (b) Based on Oxford (1990), learners use more memory, affective and social strategies; (c) The teachers know that the target audience is differentiated, but perhaps they do not see LETI-Inglês as a potential context of ESP; and (d) The teachers do not consciously explore students' use of learning strategies because they do not have this knowledge. Data analysis kept the assertions about ESP and brought new insights into the assertions about learning strategies. This research draws on the theoretical contributions in Languages for Specific Purposes, additional language learning strategies, and teaching and learning languages with seniors