O uso do Facebook como AVA no ensino de língua inglesa para cegos

Abstract

The research about teaching English language (EL) to blind students in Brazil is in an embryonic stage. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to contribute to the learning of EL in this environment is virtually inexistent. Therefore, this research aims at studying in which way Facebook usage as a virtual environment of learning can help blind students in the process of learning English. The research was held at the Project Inglês Básico para Deficientes Visuais, that takes place at the Federal University of Technology of Paraná, and it is coordinated by Professor Miriam Sester Retorta. To achieve our goal, observations and interventions were held during the English classes to blind students of the group for a year. Also, exercises and audio files were posted on Facebook and, to conclude the study, students answered a questionnaire as an interview outline. Our research is grounded in the concepts of Vygotsky’s socio-interacionism and Lankhsher and Knobel’s Digital etracy. Throughout action research, we conducted our studies between the months of March and December 2014. Among the results of this work, it was possible to verify that Facebook can be used as an AVA. However, it was noticed that not all students were able to access Facebook for many reasons, so it was necessary that other technological resources available were used in order to grant all students with access to the contents.