UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO DE JANEIRO
Faculdade de Letras
Departamento de Letras Anglo-Germânicas
Educação Linguística em Língua Inglesa
Professor: Rogério Casanovas Tílio
Student: Thaís Santos de Jesus
First Assignment and Material Analysis
1. Introduction
In this assignment, an academic critical script will be presented that addresses
the English language with main function, dealing with a globalized vision with aspects
focused on cultural and sociopolitical issues, topics within education directed towards
pedagogical methodology with educational methods that the course Educação
Linguística em Língua Inglesa defends with themes focused on Critical Literacy in the
way in which the student has the ability to carry out criticism and be aware of the
society in which he lives. In addition, you will have an analysis of teaching material at
the conclusion of the assessment, made available by the teacher, who will have
criticisms of what was learned in the materials in which they were mentioned in the
assessment theses.
2. Development
● The Role of English
Aiming at a small introduction to the course Educacourse, the methodology
defended in this semester's subject has the objective of allowing the student to bring
their repertoires and socio-cultural and political theses into the classroom, using
language teaching English. Firstly, the text “Some Polemical Issues in Applied
Linguistics” will be cited and its content questions teaching in English using applied
linguistics on themes of interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, indisciplinary and
transgressive.
And the second text on the role of English will be “English as an International
Language. So, when we have English as an international language, teaching works
within the social context in terms of globalization. In this text in question, how you
speak English is important in terms of acquisition because more people speak and
learn English as a second language (L2) than as a first language (L1). The other
international term language was created with the aim of making people from other
nations communicate with each other. Another important topic about English as an
international language is that it is subdivided into Circles, according to Kachru,
English can be divided into three categories, the first is The Inner Circle which is
defined by countries that have English as their first language, such as the United States
and Canada, The Outer Circle where English functions as a second language in
countries that have two or more languages such as the Philippines and Singapore and
the last, The Expanding Circle which are places where it is necessary to learn English
as a foreign language such as Korea, Brazil and China. Bringing this text to the course
objective of learning linguistics in English, English plays an important role behind
globalization in being able to unite people in various countries through
socio-communication using the English language.
● Cultural and Sociopolitical Context; Social Responsibility
On text “Teachers for Social Responsibility“ aims to highlight the importance
of being a socially responsible teacher and the challenge within the school. When it
comes to this specific subject, there is a pedagogical need to adapt teaching based on
the student's reality, taking into account their cultural and social differences. Making
room for an important topic in the text about Critical Pedagogy, which basically
consists of a concept of education by Paulo Freire, based on new place, in addition to
language and other social contexts to try to chance the way of pedagogy and shape the
student for a better society, learning about rights and how to fight against the system,
violence and corruption.
Another idea of social responsibility learning, is the Liberation Education, a
Freire´s thought, which puts educators in the role of agents who need to try to
challenge the bureaucratic world, but there are some setbacks within education when
they use English language teaching to show inequality social, especially when English
is an exalted language and other languages are not. Some social issues that should be
mandatory can become problematic in the classroom, especially when political texts
are presented, such as: social and religious issues, polity, gender and human rights,
environment and LGBTQIA+, are considered controversial for talking about taboo and
sensitive subjects, where they run the risk of Critical Pedagogy in relation to the
reaction of parents and students regarding teaching texts given in some educational
institutions.
● Methodology
A good highlight given in the course is the proposal for the text “A Century of
Language Teaching” and some ways of teaching the English language. Firstly, it is
necessary to understand the definition of methodology and how it works within the
language, so methodology is the practice of teaching in a pedagogical way. Following
the text, there are some types of methods to teach English, but aiming at the objective
of this semester, which is the student's critical international literacy, that is, Critical
Literacy. The method that best fits the course is Community Language Learning,
which in short has a perspective focused on the student's opinion, where in a
philosophical way, students expose theses that debate with the educator's idea in class
to stimulate learners' thinking.
● Critical Literacy
According to the text “A Tale of Differences: Comparing the Traditions,
Perspectives and Educational Goals of Critical Reading and Critical Literacy”, the
study in Critical Literacy is based on textual constructions focusing on a critical
context within society, having as its greatest The objective is to use reading to
influence the world, in an attempt to transform it into a more socially just place,
having an experience about social cultural and social political problems, where there is
an urgent need to fight to have and give knowledge and fight against inequality.
Contextualizing English within the text, language is a great ally in this process
of change in society, especially when it comes to English, a globalized language,
considered an international language. Furthermore, the author uses as an example the
Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, who believed that language and literacy were essential
for society and the economy. Paulo Freire's pedagogy uses speech and language based
on the experience and reality of each student, having a selection of specific words for
better student learning so that they can acquire a critical basis to better understand
society.
Aiming for a more current study, Critical Literacy had a post-structuralist
influence, believing that academic articles have meanings that explain sociopolitical
practices. Therefore, the creation of texts for a select group of people aiming at an
interpretation of a cultural and social subject, in this way, their study perspective is
shaped to the reality of specific scientific institutions and communities, which in turn,
have a large influence in debate because it is classified as superior in social contexts
and because it has more resources than others. For post-structuralist educators, there is
a strong opinion that language manipulates equality when it comes to power, above all,
texts and theories are called ideologies and beliefs.
3. Conclusion
To conclude the assignment, teaching material that teaches the English
language was sent by the teacher and will be analyzed.
On the first page of the material (page 9 of the book), it is easy to understand
that it is a unit from a teacher's book, as there is an indication of how to conduct
teaching of the activity, where it tells the educator to encourage students to read to
clear up doubts. On page 11 of the book, the second question opens up the possibility
of several answers that learners can answer and on the next page (12) in activity
number 1 allows the students' answers to letters a) and b) to be personal, just as in
page 13, numbers 1 and 3 allow them to make individual and personal answers.
Between pages 14, 15 and 16, there is pedagogical content about the verb to
be, on page 17, in the first question the suggestion is that the teacher tells students to
prepare 10 questions and that they work in groups and the other activities are only
about the verb to be. On page 18, the first activity asks students to discuss countries
that speak English and whether they have knowledge of the variety of phonology that
exists in each country. On page 20, all activities consist of the student justifying their
opinion on the content presented in the unit.
Using the course criteria and its Critical Literacy objectives, the material has a
didactics very similar to what the course addresses, which aims to influence the
student to have socio-international thinking about their reality and to debate in the
classroom with your classmates.
4. Reference
SCHMITZ, John Robert. Some polemical issues in Applied Linguistics.
Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada, v. 10, p. 21-42, 2010.
MCKAY, Sandra Lee; HORNBERGER, N.; MCKAY, S. English as an
international language. A time for change, p. 338-46, 2012.
Text: TEACHERS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, Chapter 23. Non author.
Text: A CENTURY OF LANGUAGE TEACHING, Chapter 2. Non author.
CERVETTI, Gina; PARDALES, Michael J.; DAMICO, James S. A tale of
differences: Comparing the traditions, perspectives, and educational goals of
critical reading and critical literacy. Reading online, v. 4, n. 9, p. 80-90, 2001.
