A literatura nas aulas de língua inglesa: contribuições para o ensino-aprendizado e para a formação de leitores

Abstract

Having its genesis in some of the concerns that accompany my teaching practice - such as the low proficiency in English language by the students, the emphasis on texts of the genres belonging to the information field by the educational materials available on the market, and the fact that the teaching of reading in foreign language is basicaly outlined exclusively from the specific purposes approach - this paper aims to find an answer to the following question: Can English language teaching be more attractive and efficient if it is closer to the literature in the English language? The worries mentioned are, in my point of view, much more deeply rooted in the way of thinking that is wholly utilitarian, which has permeated and drawn Brazilian education, rather than a problem confined to the classes or the subject under discussion. Thus, this conviction became the basis of my work, which began with a large and careful bibliographical research in education and teaching areas - a stage in which I highlight the works of Alfredo Bosi (1992), Paulo Freire (1996), Olavo de Carvalho 2001), Itamar Even-Zohar (1990) and Luiz Eduardo Oliveira (2014) - aiming, in particular, to understand not only the history and the process of teaching foreign languages, but also conceptions of education and its reflections in today's classrooms in our country. Done this, a field research - through questionnaires – was carried out, comprising the ideas and impressions of students and teachers regarding English language classes, and finally, the educational product that accompanies the considerations made here was developed: a supporting notebook for English language classes in the third year (senior) of high school, including didactic units - inspired by the sequences of Rildo Cosson in Letramento literário: teoria e prática (2006) - for seven excerpts from different epochs and genres of English literature, addressing multiple aspects of the texts in issue, with the intention of contributing to criticity and covering different interests of the students, projecting them in a meaningful way in the analyzes and, in general, in the series of classes in which the literature is in focus. In this stage, the assertions of Antonio Candido (1999), Leyla Perrone-Moisés (2016) and Roland Barthes (1979), mainly, had preponderant function. The present paper concludes with the report of the application of some of these classes, which attempted - sometimes succeeding - to answer some of the questions raised in the course of the work, as well as the question that stimulated the research. Of course, other and new interpellations have appeared, and in this cycle, I believe that contributions to teaching and learning have been left by the experience lived and shared here, by the product developed and applied, and by the essentially dialogical analyzes developed here.