Histórias de formação de professores de língua estrangeira em contexto de Tandem

Abstract

At the aim of this study is to describe lived experiences in a context of Tandem practice, mediated by MSN Messenger, and to analyze how these experiences contribute to initial and continuing English teachers education. The place and space of this study was the Project-PIBEG: Stories of Teaching Portuguese to Speakers of Other Languages and Learning Foreign Language mediated by MSN Messenger, developed at a University in the Brazilian ―Triangulo Mineiro‖. This research is linked to the Narrative Inquiry Study Group and Education of Teachers - GPNEP - and based on the assumptions of Narrative Inquiry, Dewey (1938), Connelly and Clandinin (2004), Clandinin, (2000, 2007), and Mello (1999, 2005), which focus on the study of experience through stories that can be lived (living) or told (telling). The main reference for the study of Tandem, in this work, is Telles and Vassallo (2006), e Telles (2009). The documentary material was composed from different field texts, such as journals, field notes, MSN files, Yahoo discussion list files and other documents from the project such as minutes and reports. Documentary material analysis involved the composition of meanings, according to Ely, Vinz; Downing and Anzul (2001) work and Mello (1999, 2005). The results of this research show that the experiences in the context of Tandem practice, throughout this study, contributed to the construction of collaborative learning, to changing concepts in relation to the concepts of teacher training, and to the teaching and learning of language mediated by new technologies and autonomy. The context of Tandem practice was presented in this study as a virtual context, enabling both initial training and continuing education for foreign language teachers (TELLES, 2009).