A lingua portuguesa e a construção do conhecimento escolar

Abstract

The mother tongue plays a key role in educational interactions. As an instrument and tool in the mediation of the noticing, interpretation and use of concepts and propositions, and as a vital skill for the apprehension, appropriation and use of knowledge, language may represent either access or blockage to teaching goals and, thus, to both teachers' and students' attitudes regarding the classroom. This research, based on data collected between 2005 and 2008 with elementary school students, teachers of several subjects, Letras undergraduate students and from teaching materials, investigates how the Portuguese language relates to the construction of knowledge in the classroom. Grounded on sociointeractionist principles both theoretically and methodologically, this is an interpretive, reflexive study which is strongly committed to communicative language teaching, meaningful learning, and the assumption that linguistic output may yield positive effects on learning by students as they become aware of the role of language in such a process. The analysis of coursebooks and both oral and written accounts produced by students based on these materials shows that Portuguese can, structurally and functionally, in the school setting, be dealt with as if it were a foreign language. This finding is not intended to downplay the subtleties that are inherent in the teaching of the mother tongue; however, it suggests that there are no reasons why traditional and successful foreign-language teaching strategies should not be added to the repertoire of tacit knowledge and both the professional and theoretical competencies of teachers of different school subjects.This recommendation is an attempt to recognize and take into account the tradition of Applied Linguistics in dealing with language in real life. It is, therefore, an urgent warning that the education of teachers should (begin to) include opportunities for them to experience and reflect on the role of language in the construction of school knowledge.