O perfil e as crenças do professor de língua inglesa das escolas públicas de educação básica do município de Arapiraca-AL

Abstract

In this research we approach English Language as a school subject, its teaching and teacher training and the English Teachers’ beliefs. It is an investigative and qualitative study whose aims are analyze the profile and beliefs of English Teachers of Public Schools in Arapiraca-AL to understand the situation of the English teaching in this city nowadays. In this study as research instruments a semi-structured questionnaire and an inventory of beliefs were used. We investigate 40 (forty) English Teachers of Public Schools, of 30 (thirty) schools, between 18 (eighteen) and 50 (fifty) years from April to July of 2010. This work allowed to verifying, among others, that the teachers who participated the research are graduated, that 50% of individuals are Specialists in Teachers’ Practice, and only one has Master Degree; 65% revealed that their teacher training didn’t prepare them satisfactorily, thus they need attend Language schools to improve their proficiency; 52,3% of the teachers believe that the book is necessary in classrooms, 91% of the individuals think that only grammar teaching doesn’t become the English learning successful; 58% of them don’t attend Seminars; 90,7% of the individuals believe that the teacher is responsible by the students’ motivation; conversation is the more important skill for 79% of them. The theoretical framework was based on studies in the field of foreign language teaching/learning that focused on the contribution of the foreign language to individual qualification (Rajagopalan, 2005; Nicholls, 2001; Schultz, 2005; Leffa, 1999), beliefs (Barcelos, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006; Silva, 2005; Almeida Filho, 1993, 2002, 2005; Freudenberger e Rottawa, 2004; Paiva, 2005) and teacher training (Almeida Filho, 2000; Paiva, 1997; Vieira-Abrahão, 1992; Moita Lopes, 1991; Gimenez, 2005).