Crenças sobre o papel do professor de língua inglesa no contexto do ensino superior

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the beliefs of teachers in initial training about the role of the English language teacher in the context of higher education. Investigating the beliefs of teachers in training is important because they are strong indicators of the actions of both teachers and students, and thus have a direct influence on the teaching-learning process (BARCELOS, 2007, 2006, 2021; SILVA, 2005, 2011; PAJARES, 1992). In order to analyze such beliefs, data were collected from students in the initial periods of the Degree in English and Portuguese Languages and Literature at a public university in southwest Paraná, through an inventory of beliefs, which made it possible to carry out a survey on the students’ points of view in the course. Based on these data, I perform an analysis by means of Active Methodologies (BASTOS, 2006; DIESEL, BALDEZ, MARTINS, 2017) and Critical Pedagogy (FREIRE, 2019, 2022; GIROUX, 2016). These two perspectives bring important points to the discussion of the teacher's role in the classroom, as both shift the focus of the teaching-learning process from the teacher to the student. Through a quantitative analysis, it can be seen that the participants agree with both traditional and active/critical beliefs. A possible origin for the considerable amount of agreement with statements situated as traditional may be their experiences even as language students in basic education. Despite this, the participants' preference for active beliefs about the role of the teacher is noted, in which the vast majority totally agreed with the statements that were in consonance with Active Methodologies and Critical Pedagogy present in the research.