Beliefs in Teletandem interactions: implications for teaching Portuguese as a foreign language

1. Beliefs in Teletandem interactions: implications for teaching Portuguese as a foreign language Karin Adriane Henschel Pobbe Ramos Faculdade de Ciências e Letras de Assis, UNESP – Univ Estadual Paulista karin.ramos1@gmail.com

2. Preliminarily Teacher: the one who has been a learner for longer. (Rubem Alves)

3. Introduction • In this presentation we intend to discuss the emergence of beliefs in the virtual context of learning and teaching languages – Teletandem. • First, because we agree that beliefs have influence in how people learn and teach, despite all the difficulties in studying this subject: “a messy field” (PAJARES, 1992); • Second, some beliefs have to be changed (BARCELOS, 2007) and can be changed (NEGUERUELA, 2011); • Third, Teletandem context is a fruitful environment where these changes may happen, specially because of MEDIATION.

4. Tandem learning is based on principles of autonomy and reciprocity, at levels that vary according to the proposals and the aims of the process. • Different partners share what they know, but with a common goal: to produce knowledge. • In this sense, foreign languages teaching and learning ​​in-tandem have been a collaborative context in which the partners interchange languages ​​that dominate. • Alongside the language learning assisted by computer has become an important tool for the development of discursive and interactional skills of the participants.

5. But all this process is involved in a system of beliefs and according to Nespor (apud Pajares, 1992), beliefs are far more influential than knowledge in determining how individuals organize and define tasks and problems and are stronger predictors of behavior.

6. Context • Based on these principles, the project Teletandem Brazil, linked to the Center for Languages ​​and Development of Teachers, from Faculty of Sciences and Letters of Assis / UNESP, combines language learning and technology, promoting interaction between Brazilian students and students from foreign universities, in order to disseminate the teaching of the Portuguese among speakers of other languages, and in return, provide the learning of another language that their partners domain.

7. Institutional-Integrated Teletandem (iiTTD) • In this particular case, it is an institutional type of Teletandem in which the presence of mediators imposes a certain teaching control, determines directive procedures and proposes several ways of evaluation that, to a certain extent, has direct repercussion on the principles of autonomy and reciprocity. • There is, therefore, the development of a different approach to language teaching which can accelerate learning, enabling that fluency occurs from a real communication experience.

8. As we said, Teletandem is a fruitful environment, in which a system of beliefs and values emerge, affecting, directly, the process. Such beliefs, understood as a network of meanings that are presented on both a conscious and an unconscious manner, evoking emotional involvement and basing discursive and social practices of individuals, can be inferred in the speech. • Beliefs: conceptualizing activity (NEGUERUELA, 2011)

9. Objective • The present study aims to investigate this belief system that emerges in the mediation sessions of Teletandem and discuss their implications for the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language, from the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis. • Moreover, we also try to apply the assumptions of this theory, in order to assess levels of Critical Language Awareness, presented by Teletandem participants [Mindful Engagement?].

10. We understand the system of beliefs more as a social construct than an individual feature. • According to Fairclough (2001), systems of beliefs affect and are affected by the orders of discourse, understood as a social structuring of semiotic difference – a particular social ordering of relationships amongst different ways of making meaning, ie different discourses and genres and styles(FAIRCLOUGH, 2001). • This relation implies in the ideological and hegemonic effects of discourse as a social practice.

11. Data sources and data collection procedures • Data were collected during the second half of 2013 in mediation of interactions between students of the Brazilian institution and students from an American university.

12. Questions • The research has been guided by the following questions: • (a) how beliefs about teaching and learning languages ​​emerge in the discourses produced by Brazilian interactings during the mediation sessions, • b) what are the implications of this belief system for teaching Portuguese as a Foreign Language, • c) how we can evidence the levels of Critical Language Awareness among participants with regard to their own beliefs.

13. Partial results • The students came to Teletandem with a low level of language awareness; • Some times they seem to be “naive” about linguistic and communicative matters; • During mediation sessions they let emerge some situations in which an ideological and hegemonic discourse prevails; • At the end of the process (about 10 weeks), they show more critical and reflexive attitude towards the process of teaching and learning languages.

14. Difficulties • Inflexibility of the belief system; • Lack of focus; • Not defined objectives for the interactions.

15. Conclusion • Data analysis allows establishing a relationship between this belief system, reflected in the discourses produced by interactings during the Teletandem sessions, and the effectiveness of the process, reinforcing the importance of the role of mediator in the deconstruction of these beliefs.

16. Answer: That you are here – that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. (Walt Whitman)

17. Bibliographical References BARCELOS, A. M. F. Reflexões acerca da mudança de crenças sobre ensino e aprendizagem de línguas. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Aplicada. ALAB – Associação de Linguística Aplicada do Brasil. Belo Horizonte, v. 7, n. 2, 2007. p. 109-138. FAIRCLOUGH, N. Discurso e mudança social. Tradução de Izabel Magalhães. Brasília: Editora da Universidade de Brasília, 2001. NEGUERUELA-AZAROLA, E. Beliefs as conceptualizing activity: a dialectical approach for the second language classroom. System, 39, 2011. p. 359-369. PAJARES, M. F. Teachers’ beliefs and educational research:cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, v. 62, n. 3, Autumn 1992. P. 307-332. RAMALHO, V.; RESENDE, V. Análise de discurso (para a) crítica: o texto como material de pesquisa. Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2011. RAMOS, K. A. H. P. O ensino de Português Língua Estrangeira no contexto virtual do Teletandem. Estudos Linguísticos, São Paulo, v. 41 (2), mai/ago 2012. p. 539-552. TELLES, J. A. (Org.) Teletandem: um contexto virtual, autônomo e colaborativo para aprendizagem de línguas estrangeiras no século XXI. Campinas, SP: Pontes, 2009.