A pesquisa-ação e a formação continuada de professores de inglês dentro da abordagem de letramento crítico

Abstract

In this study, I aimed at investigating a continuing education course for public school teachers of English in Igaci, Alagoas, in the semester of 2013.1. It is an action research study within the qualitative framework. I also underpin this study within the critical-reflective practice and critical literacy approach. My choice for researching the teachers of English continuing education is justified by the fact that I have perceived the lack of shared learning environments that could lead the teacher to develop new teaching practices and the fact that the scientific and academic literature highlights that teacher education is an area that needs revisiting continuously. That surely strengthened the development of my research. The theoretical underpinnings are the Applied Linguistics in which I situate my research for it dialogs with other areas of knowledge, such as education, under the guidance of the following authors: Schön (1983, 1987, 1992, 2000) on reflective practice, Contreras (2000); Liston & Zeichner (1991), SMYTH (1992) on the problems concerning reflective practice; Giroux (1991, 1997, 1999), concerning the teacher as a transformative intellectual and Kemmis (1987) on the teacher as a critical-reflective intellectual; Brahim (2010), Freire & Macedo (1987) on Critical Pedagogy; Knobel & Lankshear (2011) Cervetti, Pardales & Damico, Monte Mór (2006, 2009), Menezes Souza (2006, 2009) and others, on literacy and critical literacy practices. For data collection procedures, I used the following instruments: recordings of the meetings; reflective journals, both from the researcher and from the participating teachers. As for the contributions of my research, it is possible to identify the professional growth of teachers, the improvement of their teaching practices within a perspective of student civic education and the potential for future research in the area of continuing education of teachers of English.