Atividades lúdicas: uma contribuição para a ampliação vocabular na escola

Abstract

Due to our belief that a fun and recreational methodology helps children and adolescents achieve better learning performance, this research aimed to carry out playful activities with the purpose of teaching lexicon and using dictionaries as an educational reference tool. This study took place in a seventh grade class of an elementary school in the city of Uberlândia, Brazil. The need of a practical intervention that effectively increases student’s lexical competence justifies this work, since several researchers believe that vocabulary teaching in schools has been undervalued and inefficient. With the development and application of playful activities, students were expected to broaden their active vocabulary, build up greater autonomy in lexicon learning, and use dictionaries more efficiently, acknowledging its lexicographical purpose and better understanding its structure. Our theoretical references focused on teaching of lexicon and application of playful activities as an enabler for learning, and were based on the fields of Lexicology, Lexicography and Pedagogical Lexicography. The theoretical research was guided by the National Curricular Parameters (NCPs) of the Brazilian government, as well as on the studies of Barbosa (1990), Biderman (2001), Ilari and Cunha (2011), Antunes (2012), Dias (2004), Welker (2011), Krieger (2011), Gomes (2011), Almeida (1994), among other authors. The data collected was described by means of graphs and charts in order to track down information that supported our actions and the development of playful activities. The steps elaborated and followed on this research were based on Thiollent’s (1986) action research methodology. The results show that playful activities not only raise student’s interest for learning, but can also be used as an educational resource for teaching vocabulary. This was evidenced after such activities were carried out, since students used the words studied in different moments of interaction in the classroom.