O uso da gramática-tradução no ensino de língua estrangeira no ensino médio de uma escola de Alagoas

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to observe and analyze the methodology used in an English language class in a public school of Alagoas in 2018. The purposes of this research were to reflect on learning English in this public school and present a differentiated proposal from the methodology used in English classes. Exploratory research was applied in order to collect information through a questionnaire, observation and a class proposal. During the research, the use of the grammar-translation methodology was observed and starting from this practice, the problem addressed in the research emerged: the low proficiency of the teacher makes him/her use such methodology in classes. The use of this methodology is based on the perspective of teaching a second language by the first. According to Leffa (1988, p. 214), "all information necessary to construct a sentence, understand a text or appreciate an author is given through explanations in the student's mother tongue”. Thus, it is understood that the teaching of grammar starts from the translation of ready-made sentences. As theorical background we presented an overview of the main approaches and methods of teaching English from the 15th century to the present day. From the perspective of critical literacy, a differentiated class is proposed for the same segment of the observed class, to show that teaching grammar in English classes need not rely solely on translation. The results obtained in this research show us that the learning of English in this public school can possibly be modified through the reflections made on the use of the methodology of grammar-translation during classes.