Entre Designs e Redesigns: formação continuada para a criação de protótipos de ensino para aulas de língua inglesa no ensino fundamental anos iniciais.

Abstract

The transformations driven by Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICT) call for multimodal pedagogical practices. Although the teaching of English to children in the public school system has expanded in Brazil, the absence of guidelines and appropriate materials in the early years of Elementary School requires teachers to develop flexible and authorial alternatives to address the real needs of schools. In this context, this study underscores the need for teachers to act as designers of learning experiences capable of integrating multiliteracies and DICT in meaningful and situated ways, overcoming limitations resulting from the lack of curricular guidance and resources sensitive to the diversity of the contexts in which they work. The investigation stemmed from the following questions: How is the relationship between the teacher and the teaching prototype constituted across the stages of design, personalization, and implementation in English language classes in the early years of elementary education, mediated by continuing professional development focused on multiliteracies and DICT? Therefore, we defined our objective as analyzing this relationship, understanding this process as a space for teacher authorship and professional development. Situated within Applied Linguistics, this research is characterized as qualitative, with a descriptive–interpretive nature, as it seeks to understand teaching practices in their real contexts. It also adopts a collaborative and ethnographic orientation, as far as it goes beyond description to promote transformations in practice (Bogdan & Biklen, 1994; Bortoni-Ricardo, 2008; Gil, 2008). The methodological approach was action research (Thiollent, 1988; Tripp, 2005; Engel, 2000), articulated with the principles of Critical Collaborative Research (Magalhães, 1998, 2006; Pimenta, 2005), which conceives research as a space for dialogue, reflection, and joint knowledge construction. The continuing education program integrated formative actions and reflective sessions on the use of DICT, grounded in New Literacies and Multiliteracies (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007; Cope & Kalantzis, 2006 [2000]) and in the production of teaching prototypes (Rojo, 2013a; 2017a; 2017b). From this perspective, the study followed the work of two teachers throughout the processes of designing, customizing, and implementing prototypes; for analytical purposes, only one of the produced prototypes, South Africa, was selected as the main focus. Data generation instruments included field notes, audio recordings of formative actions and reflective sessions, questionnaires, and document analysis. The results indicate that the continuing education program contributed to expanding teachers’ theoretical, methodological, and technological repertoires, fostering changes in their understanding of their role and in the planning of DICT-mediated learning experiences. The reflective sessions revealed that the customization of prototypes requires constant negotiation among pedagogical intentions, institutional conditions, and technical knowledge. The analysis of the South Africa prototype highlighted how design choices and redesign processes conducted by the teacher influenced student participation and teacher mediation during implementation. It is concluded that the collaborative production of teaching prototypes, supported by critical and dialogic continuing education, strengthens teacher authorship and promotes practices aligned with multiliteracies; however, it still depends on working conditions that ensure teacher autonomy and guarantee the continuity and sustainability of these practices over time.