O presente artigo propõe uma reflexão crítica sobre o papel da tecnologia e do inglês como língua internacional na educação e inclusão social analisando possibilidades de ferramentas tecnológicas educacionais existentes no mercado atual para a democratização da educação em geral e para o acesso à informação e o ensino e aprendizado de inglês especificamente. Para tanto, o estudo faz uma breve revisão de literatura sobre conceitos de aprender e ensinar em geral e no âmbito do inglês como língua estrangeira a fim de analisar possibilidades de metodologias híbridas de ensino para o aprendizado de língua estrangeira e algumas ferramentas tecnológicas da internet.

ABSTRACT:The study investigates possibilities and limitations of the course My English Online (MEO) for the inverted classroom format. Two hundred and eighty-nine Brazilian federal university students evaluated the MEO software in terms of usability features. Three participants were interviewed for data triangulation. Results of the study suggest that users with more experience are more sensitive to aspects of human-computer interaction than less experienced ones, particularly when the criteria of Flexibility, User Experience, Informational Density and Feedback are considered. In addition, findings also show that the speaking and writing skills are the most difficult to develop in the MEO course. The study concludes that, in order to overcome limitations in MEO, especially in terms of the Feedback criterion, the software can and should be used in the flipped classroom format. KEYWORDS: online L2 teaching and learning; MEO; flipped classroom.

This study investigates the relationship between the use of Communication Strategies (CSs) and the proficiency level of L2 1 learners. In order to pursue this objective, three speech samples of 30 English L2 learners were collected over a period corresponding to an academic semester. Participants consisted of three groups of 10 learners each and were selected from three different proficiency levels: pre-intermediate, intermediate, and advanced. Three oral narratives were used to elicit learners' L2 oral production, in three different sessions conducted with a one-month interval between each other. Data were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively according to Dörnyei and Kormos's (1998) taxonomy for CSs classification. Analysis revealed a common set of CSs systematically used across sessions and proficiency levels with a high frequency of occurrence.

This is an experimental study which aimed at investigating the ralationsship between working memory capacity and measures of L2 speech performance in a picture description task. The main assumption underlying the present study was that L2 speaking is a complex cognitive task which is carried out within the constraints of a limited-capacity system, namely, working memory. In this system, there are trade-off effects between the storage and processing functions of working memory just as in L2 speaking there are trade-off effects among fluency, accuracy and complexity when L2 learners perform under processing pressure.

RESUMO:O avanço tecnológico e a possibilidade de acesso à internet, bem como o desenvolvimento de técnicas de inteligência artificial, têm proporcionado aos profissionais da Educação uma nova visão sobre o processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Parece vital que no mundo tecnológico atual, a Educação se preocupe em utilizar recursos que possam dar conta da demanda crescente de alunos em busca de um ensino mais dinâmico e significativo. Dessa forma, o presente artigo, baseado nas contribuições da psicologia cognitiva, em especial das teorias estruturalista (Jean Piaget) e da modificabilidade cognitiva estrutural (Reuven Feuerstein), defende a ideia de que o uso de softwares educacionais, equipados com técnicas de inteligência artificial, pode proporcionar aos aprendizes experiências de aprendizagem mediada, levando os alunos a modificar sua estrutura cognitiva e, assim, aprender. Além disso, este artigo também pretende demonstrar a viabilidade do uso de softwares educacionais como ferramentas de inclusão digital 6 e os impactos da utilização de recursos tecnológicos no ensino/aprendizagem de inglês como língua estrangeira. PALAVRAS-CHAVE:Softwares educacionais. Mediação. Ensino e aprendizagem de inglês. Inclusão tecnológica. USE OF EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE AS MEDIATIONAL TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGICAL INCLUSION ABSTRACT:The technological progress and facilitated access to the internet as well as the development of multiple artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, have offered education professionals a new view about the teaching/learning process. It seems crucial that, in a technological contemporary world, Education needs to worry about making use of resources that may reach the increase number of students in search for more dynamic and significant teaching practices. With that in mind, the present paper, based on the contributions of Cognitive Psychology, specially of structural theories such as the ones proposed by Piaget and Reuven Feuerstein, defends the idea that the use of educational softwares, equipped with AI technology, may provide learners with mediated learning experiences, leading them to modify their cognitive structure and thus, learn. In addition, this paper also intends to demonstrate (1) the feasibility of using of educational softwares as tools to promote digital inclusion and (2) the impacts of using technological resources in the teaching/learning of English as a foreign language (L2).

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This study investigates whether working memory capacity (WMC) varies across languages and in the course of L2 speech proficiency levels. Following suggestions in Finardi and Weissheimer (2009) and Prebianca (2010), who found that WMC varied as a function of L2 speech proficiency, the present study assessed three proficiency levels (elementary, intermediate and advanced) and two languages (L1-Portuguese and L2-English). Two WM tests were used, one in the L1 and another in the L2, both in the speaking mode. Sixty adult learners of English as a foreign language participated in the study: 19 elementary, 19 intermediate and 22 advanced learners. Results of Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests corroborate Finardi and Weissheimer (2009) and Prebianca (2010) suggesting that WMC measured with a speaking span test in L2 seems to conflate the relationship between speech proficiency levels and WMC.

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