The importance of social interaction activities in the teaching-learning process of English as a Foreign Language

• Autor(a) principal: Sousa, Laryssa Paulino de Queiroz
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Figueredo, Carla Janaina
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Entretextos
• DOI: 10.5433/1519-5392.2017v17n1p61
• Texto Completo: https://ojs.uel.br/revistas/uel/index.php/entretextos/article/view/26498
• topic: English language teaching-learning; Interaction; Dialogism; Autonomy.; Ensino-aprendizagem de língua inglesa. Interação. Dialogismo. Autonomia.

This research was conducted in a state school of Goiânia with twenty-four students of a third year group of high school, in 2014. The main ideas that led this study revolve around the importance of interaction in the English language learning process, the presence of the other and students’ autonomy/self-regulation. The theoretical basis of this research derives from Bakhtinian dialogism (BAKHTIN, 1993, 2003; BARROS, 1997; BRAIT, 2005), Vygotskian sociointeractionism (VYGOTSKY, 1978; MOLL, 1990; LANTOLF, APPEL, 1994; REGO, 1995) and Freirean thoughts (FREIRE, 1996, 2005) about positioning students as agents of their own learning. The general objectives were: to verify the learners/participants’ perceptions regarding the teaching-learning process of English, before and after the interventions; to observe how different forms of social interaction (T-S, T-Ss, S-T, S-S, Ss-Ss, Ss-T)[1]can interfere in English classes of a third-year group from a state school; and to describe how the teacher-researcher perceives the experience of teaching English with its focus on social interaction. The methodology used is qualitative action research (THIOLLENT, 1986; ENGEL, 2000; MELLO, REES, 2011) and the tools used to generate the data were questionnaires, interviews and field notes. The outcomes show that the learners could conceive English as a language possible to be appropriated by them, used to communicate and they could also recognize the importance of the otherin the learning process. Besides that, the teacher-researcher could perceive that interactive and effective classes were possible in that public school.[1] T – teacher; S – student; Ss – students