EJA: Diálogos entre crenças e ações de uma professora de Inglês

Abstract

Research in Applied Linguistics has demonstrated concern with the relationship between language teachers' beliefs and their pedagogical practices (Barcelos, 2000, 2006; Borg, 2003; Coelho, 2011; Gimenez, 1994, 2005; Vieira-Abrahão, 2006; Godoy, 2020). In the present study the focus is on teaching Young People and Adults - EJA (Lima, 2011; Cortada, 2009). In it, I aim to seek understanding about the construct of beliefs and their relationship with my teaching practice. In this sense, I look at my attitudes and decision-making, questioning the roles that teachers and learners play in society in intrapersonal and interpersonal interactions. I highlight my social role as an English teacher in the context of EJA, in a school linked to the municipal network in the city of São Gonçalo, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, in a qualitative research (Denzin; Lincoln, 2007; Minayo, 1994; Severino; 2002) with autoethnographic features (Adams; Ellis; Jones, 2015, p. 47 apud Olmos-López; Tusting, 2020, p. 272) which is inserted in the field of Applied Linguistics and presents a theoretical framework based on existing studies on beliefs (Pajares, 1992; Woods, 1993, 1996; Barcelos, 2001, 2004, 2006; Perina, 2003; Coelho, 2006). The records were generated through lesson planning, reflective diaries and in the interpretation of these records, visual narratives were created as a way of enriching the analysis. The results suggest that my attitudes in the classroom are directly related to my beliefs. It was possible to observe my central (Dewey, 1933; Barcelos, 2007) and peripheral (Pajares, 1992) beliefs, in addition to the paradoxical and contradictory character (Barcelos; Kalaja; 2003) of some of them. The results highlight the importance of reflexivity (Schön, 1983, 1992; Dewey, 1933) in the teacher training process, since through the search for understandings about my own beliefs it is possible to re-signify my practice in teaching IL in public school.