Description
Teaching English as an additional language in Brazil is considered as an
access to the world of knowledge, because it is in English classes that students have
the opportunity to reflect on the English that surrounds them in the world and to read
texts in an additional language they didn't know until then. (SCHLATTER; GARCEZ,
2012). Understanding that in using language, people perform many social practices
on a daily basis (CLARK, 2002) and the assumption that these students should use
English in order to play other roles in and outside the English language class, this
paper aims to analyze the role that pedagogical tasks based on authentic texts play
teaching English in a regular school context. In order to analyze the data, I affiliate
the definition of authentic material by Schlatter and Garcez (2009) with the concept of
task as an invitation to act in the world: an action, a specific purpose for a given
interlocutor. (BRAZIL, 2006). Therefore, I analyze the design of pedagogical tasks,
from a perspective of project-based learning (BARBOSA, 2004; FRIED-BOOTH,
2002; HERNÁNDEZ, 2004; NOGUEIRA, 2005; STOLLER, 2002), based on authentic
texts, used by myself in English classes for the first year of high school groups at a
state school. The results of this study show that through tasks based on authentic
materials, we enlarge the possibilities for students to recognize English texts from
specific contexts, purposes and interlocutors, and to produce their own writing,
sharing their English narratives and interacting with others who can read these texts.
In addition, exploring these authentic resources through pedagogical tasks enables
students to reflect on cultural and social issues shared in English as an additional
language, enabling students to learn about other realities, reflect on themselves and
the language in use.
