Integrating Digital Technologies in Brazilian English Language Teacher Education Through Blended Learning

Abstract

This paper aims at reflecting upon the integration of digital technologies in the form of blended learning (BL) approaches in Pre-service English Language Teaching (ELT) Education. With that aim, a BL approach was designed and implemented in a pedagogical intervention carried out in the form of an action research in a pre-service ELT practicum course in a federal university in Brazil. Data includes questionnaires and interviews administered to the pre-service English teachers and observations carried out in the practicum course. The analysis of data suggests that despite little involvement in the online environment, the BL approach was able to promote critical reflection on the integration of digital technologies in ELT. Moreover, it showed that pre-service teachers’ views of the educational value attributed to the online environment and professors’ readiness to offer varied and innovating learning options may determine the success of the integration of digital technologies in BL outcomes. The study concludes that the implementation of BL approaches in pre-service ELT education provides a space for reflection on action fostering informed pedagogical decisions regarding the integration of digital technologies in ELT.

Digital Technologies in L2 teaching-learning in Brazil: A Critical Content Analysis

“…The two authors of the present paper are Brazilian teachers of English who have developed research on the use of technologies in L2 within that context (e.g. Có, Amorim & , Mendes & Finardi, 2020, Castro, Hildeblando Jr. & Finardi, 2019, Finardi, Vieira & Leão, 2019, Leão, Taquini & Finardi, 2019, Castro, Mariano & Finardi, 2018, Vieira & Finardi, 2018, Finardi & Vieira, 2017, Finardi, Leão & Amorim, 2016, Finardi, Leão & Pinheiro, 2016, to cite a few). Moreover, the political and economic crisis in Brazil was aggravated during the pandemic because of the spread of fake news, showing that the Brazilian society was deeply impacted by the process of semiformation, as seen in the ways in which the Covid pandemic was treated in social medias and the news in that country, affecting the rate of social isolation and discreditation of the disease first and the vaccine's efficiency (Note 3) after.…”