“Chatting online” and learning english: Whatsapp as a tool for the development of the communicative skill in English as a foreign language.

• Autor(a) principal: Severo, Suzan Severo de
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Lima, Marília dos Santos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Matraga (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://www.e-publicacoes.uerj.br/matraga/article/view/39208
• topic: Aprendizado de Línguas. Teoria Sociocultural. WhatsApp.; Language Learning. Sociocultural Theory. WhatsApp

This article originates from a master’s dissertation in which there was an experiment on using WhatsApp, a largely used and well-known tool for communication, as a means of fostering spontaneous dialogues among learners of English as a foreign language. Based on a sociocultural perspective and considering that learning happens through interaction mediated by sociocultural artifacts (Vygotsky, 1978), this work sought to understand how the process of learning is mediated as students chat on WhatsApp. More specifically, it aimed at analyzing students’ production of the foreign language as they interacted using the language they were learning through the group on WhatsApp how it could, in some way, contribute with their learning process. The results showed that WhatsApp can be an effective resource to engage students in producing the language they learn so that they have more opportunities for hypothesis testing, noticing gaps in their knowledge of the foreign language as well as engage in metatalk. (SWAIN, 1985, 1995, 2005). Moreover, through their chatting, it was possible to notice that learners scaffolded each other and searched for means of maintaining themselves engaged in the dialogue by searching words in online dictionaries, using the first language and both asking for and giving support in the process of producing and learning the foreign language.