A Língua Inglesa nos Centros de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (CEJA): os desafios do sistema semipresencial a partir das vozes de egressos de Letras-Português/Inglês da FFP/UERJ

Abstract

The Youth and Adult Education (EJA in Brazil) is a type of basic education designed to accommodate young people, adults and the elderly who have not yet completed their schooling, with the aim of developing their potential. This qualitative research aimed to understand English language teaching in the semi-presential EJA through the writings of teachers. For this study, the selected teachers are graduates from Faculdade de Formação de Professores, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FFP/UERJ) and work at Rede CEJA (Center for Youth and Adult Education). The research had the following specific objectives: to describe the training processes of these teachers; to recognize the main challenges that English graduates face in their daily work at Rede CEJA, as well as to identify the presence of EJA themes in the curriculum of the Language-Portuguese/English course at FFP/UERJ. The research procedures adopted for this study were: questionnaire, written narrative interview and a request to write two letters (one addressed to the current professors of FFP/UERJ and the other to the pedagogical coordination of Rede CEJA). The participants were invited to relate in these letters some essential themes in the current teacher training for working with this modality. Authors such as Freire, Cury, Arroyo, Nóvoa, Josso, among others, were used as a theoretical basis for dialogue with the participants' writings, in order to discuss the need for initial/continuing formation focused on the particularities of EJA. The methodology used to analyze the teachers' reports was based on the thematization, proposed by Fontoura, which consists in a careful reading of the narratives, and after further reflection, to mark words, expressions and/or themes that are relevant to the research analysis. The themes found and discussed in this study were: the formative paths of the teachers; the characteristics of EJA; the challenges of teaching English at EJA; the influence of FFP/UERJ on working with EJA; contributions from Continuing Education; suggestions of themes to make up teacher development to work in EJA modality. The contributions of FFP/UERJ and Rede CEJA were evident through the promotion of initiatives that circulate knowledge on the topic of EJA among teachers, such as holding seminars and maintaining research/discussion groups. The results obtained from this study show the need for institutions (universities and schools) to promote the writing of successful teaching activities and training memorials among EJA undergraduates and teachers, as these practices activate memories of educational experiences, bringing a sense of value and motivation to the professional trajectory. Therefore, the thesis defended here is that "teacher generates teacher", which reinforces the understanding that teacher interactions in discussion groups, training courses, pedagogical meetings or informal conversations to exchange experiences, among others, such as the promotion of teacher writing, all these contribute to the improvement of teaching knowledge/doing and promote the pedagogical maturity and the dissemination of knowledge about EJA.