Literatura e Educação Linguística: um passeio autoetnográfico pela práxis entrelíngue de um professor em formação

Abstract

In this dissertation, I explore the possible interlacings between literature and English and French language teaching, considering the contemporary challenges faced by new language teachers, who need to deal with diverse contexts and audiences (Botelho, 2017). These challenges include the pressures of the world of work (British Council, 2014), multilingualism in the face of the dominance of the English language (Achebe, 2009; Thiong’o, 1986), and the dynamics of teaching a European language in the context of linguistic colonialism and coloniality, which are reflected in epistemological, ideological, and pedagogical barriers (Muniz, 2016; Kumaravadivelu, 2003, 2006). In these circumstances, I analyze my interlingual experience as an English monitor in the Foreign Language Proficiency Program for Students and Staff at UFBA (PROFICI), which provides its academic community with the opportunity to learn other languages, namely : German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Yoruba, besides Portuguese as a foreign language. It also offers undergraduate and graduate students in language programs the experience of participating in the process of teaching a foreign language, serving as a teaching practice laboratory (Pereira, 2017), and in the Languages without Borders program, which focuses on expanding academic opportunities for participants, seeking to facilitate communication and international mobility among higher education institutions. I also present a “linguistic turn” experienced at NUPEL, the Permanent Extension Center for Languages, where I began working as a trainee French language teacher. In this sense, the objective of this work is to understand how I utilize my repertoire of reading literary texts with regard to the (non-)selection and implementation of literary texts as a potential didactic resource (Brun, 2004; Mota, 2012; Pereira, 2017; Pereira, 2019; Mota-Pereira, 2022; Mota-Pereira, 2024) within language classes. From these perspectives, I analyze the lesson plans of the three aforementioned programs, as well as the adopted teaching materials, specifically the textbooks Interchange (Richards, 2017a, 2017b, 2017c) and Cosmopolite (Hirschsprung; Tricot, 2017a, 2017b). Additionally, I present two proposals based on literary texts to explore possible escape routes through literature (Bona, 2017). The methodology involves autoethnographic research (Méndez, 2013; Hughes; Pennington, 2017; Mota-Pereira, 2022) to share and analyze my experiences as a language learner and monitor of the programs, as well as research in official documents from PROFICI, Languages without Borders and NUPEL, such as lesson plans and the adopted teaching materials. Due to the social nature of the proposed study and the inclusion of the researcher’s perspective and viewpoint in the analysis, the adopted methodological approach will be supported by qualitative interpretive research (Denzin; Lincoln, 2006), (Méndez, 2013; Hughes; Pennington, 2017; Mota-Pereira, 2022) and documentary research (Fonseca, 2002; Kripka; Scheller; Bonotto, 2015), in light of the critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 2011; Van Dijk, 1993). To this end, I discuss the status of reading, particularly literature, in Brazil and in English and French language teaching methods. I highlight its use in the classroom in the context of colonialism and linguistic coloniality (Fanon, 2008; Achebe, 2009; Thiong’o, 1986) concerning the possibilities of speaking English in the current world, the contributions of post-method (Kumaravadivelu, 2003, 2006), and the challenges of a linguistic education (Souza; Hashiguti, 2022) that is attentive to the sociocultural contexts of learners. This approach allows for the development of more reflective and critical teaching strategies and promotes the use of literary texts as didactic resources that challenge colonial barriers and value cultural plurality.