Ensino de inglês na EJA: uma análise sobre as crenças de uma professora de Bagé/RS

Abstract

This research aims to understand the teaching and learning beliefs of an English teacher who is part of EJA (Youth and Adult Education). The idea for this research came from my experience with two groups of EJA in a public school, in which I taught as a trainee-teacher, as part of the course Spanish Teaching Practice at School I (Estágio em Contexto Escolar I, Língua Espanhola), when I realized that at that school there was no teaching of English in that particular context. The research presented here based on references about teaching for EJA (MOTA, 2009; PACIEVITCH, 2015), beliefs (LEFFA, 1991; PAJARES, 1992; GIMENEZ, 1994; BARCELOS, 1995; MALÁTER, 1998; SADALLA, 1998); and motivation (FALCÃO, 2001; GARDNER, 2007; KRASHEN, 2009). In this sense, a questionnaire was first thought to be carried out with teachers from eight schools who teach English at EJA. However, in virtue of the Covid-19 pandemic, one teacher answered the questionnaire in time to conduct the survey. The questionnaire was prepared on Google Forms and answered online. It contained seventeen questions, to get to know the teacher and her perceptions about teaching and learning English. Based on the analyzed data, it is possible to notice that the teacher believes that, for students, the language is distant from their realities. Based on the analyzed data, it is possible to notice that the teacher believes that students still perceive the language distant from their realities. Besides, according to her, it is important to think about her own beliefs to teach her classes and motivate students. The participant also points out the difference between language teaching in EJA classes and in regular education classes according to her reality and perception, presenting the difficulties and advantages of working in both contexts and discussing the difference in how students who are in the context of EJA appear to be more dedicated and hardworking for English teaching and learning. It is clear, therefore, that although English seems distant to these students, it is important to reflect on how the language is present in different contexts of our daily lives and in the city of Bagé.