Diatopic Variation in Primary School: from English and its varieties to other languages

• Autor(a) principal: Fernandes, Marta Alexandra Ferreira da Costa
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/13077
• topic: Varieties of English; Primary School; Plurilingual Approach; Teacher Training; Variedades do inglês; 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico; Abordagem Plurilingue; Formação de Professores; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Ciências da Educação

This project focuses on the diatopic variation of the English language, its status as a global language (Crystal, 2003) and how this topic can be tackled in primary schools. Using English, and its linguistic varieties (McArthur, 2001; Meyer, 2009) as a conduit for the teaching of other languages, in hopes of developing the students’ plurilingual and intercultural competence (Byram, Fleming & Pieper, 2013), three other languages were introduced in classroom practices: Spanish, Hindi and Mandarin. Furthermore, study plans were analyzed in hopes of ascertaining the importance given to language variation in teacher training programs. Primary school English teachers were also asked directly about their perceptions on varieties of English, as well as their preparedness to tackle this subject. The empirical study was developed within the scope of a supervised teaching practice and within a naturalistic interpretative paradigm (Aires, 2015) with some characteristics of critical experientialism (Alarcão, 2001). This study was supported by qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis (Gil, 2008), making use of field notes, questionnaires, group discussion and unit plans. The results show that students respond positively to this type of approach. However, as a result of the absence of training in the matter, many teachers are not confident enough to develop activities which features English language varieties.