conSIdErAÇÕES FInAIS

O professor tem um grande papel na formação de leitores, a importância do hábito de leitura precisa a todo o momento ser evidenciada pelo educador em sala de aula, fazendo assim, com que seu aluno desperte para o quão necessário se torna a leitura em seu dia-dia. É preciso dar condições para as crianças desenvolva hábitos de leitura espontânea, pelo simples prazer da leitura:

(...) o processo da alfabetização tem, no alfabetizando, o seu sujeito. O fato de ele necessitar da ajuda do educador, como ocorre em qualquer relação pedagógica, não significa dever a ajuda do educador, anular a sua criatividade e a sua responsabilidade na construção de sua linguagem escrita e na leitura desta linguagem. (Freire, 1989).

“O professor deve ser um modelo de leitor para os seus alunos, pois o docente que não pratica o ato da leitura, dificilmente conseguirá fazer com que os seus alunos se motivem às leituras e a construírem hábitos leitores” (Constancio, Mendonça, Paiva e Price 2009).

A estratégia que o docente utiliza em seu plano de aula para realizar leituras: o cantinho da leitura se faz necessário. O professor lê com as crianças a história e depois de finalizada a leitura sugere para que algum aluno explique a mesma ou tente expressar com suas próprias palavras o que ele/ela conseguiram entender. Fazendo com que todas as crianças respondam e interajam com a atividade contribuindo com sua adequada compreensão da história.

Muitos dos hábitos das crianças são em decorrência dos hábitos dos adultos. Se em casa têm-se pais leitores, e na escola temos professores leitores, teremos filhos e alunos leitores também.

Aguiar e Bordine (1988) citam que “todo hábito entra na vida como um jogo que, por mobilizar emoções, inspirar prazer, exige repetição contínua e renovada”.

É obrigação das escolas proporcionar acesso ao conhecimento de leituras para as crianças, a oportunidade de ler, a disponibilidade de livros representa um papel extremamente importante no despertar do interesse da criança pela leitura.

Delmanto (2007) fala que a escola deve se preocupar cada vez mais com a formação de leitores, que a escola deve: Propor trabalhos com diferentes gêneros que circulam na sociedade, sem deixar de criar situações que permitam aos alunos desenvolverem as diferentes capacidades envolvidas no ato de ler. Além de ensinar a ler as linhas, é necessário desenvolver a capacidade de ler nas entre linhas (...).

rEFErÊncIAS

Aguiar, V., Bordini, M. (1998). Literatura, a formação do leitor: alternativas metodológicas. Porto Alegre: Mercado Aberto.

Bamberger, R. (1998). Como incentivar o hábito da leitura. São Paulo: Edições Loyola.

Brandão, A., Rosa, E. (2011). Ler e escrever na educação infantil: discutindo práticas pedagógicas. 2º ed. Belo Horizonte: Autêntica editora.

Cardoso, G., Pelozo, R. (2007). A importância da leitura na formação do indivíduo. Aderido em 11 de Dezembro de 2015, na Web site de: revistacientífica eletrônica de Pedagogia – ISSN: 1678-300x, da faculdade de ciências humanas de Garça. Ano V – Número 09, Garça/ SP. http://www.pt.slideshare.net/silvanalops/edic09-anovart03. Carvalho, B. (1989). A leitura infantil – visão história e crítica. 6º ed. São Paulo: Global.

Constancio, A., Mendonça, D., Paiva, M., Price, A. (2009). A importância do incentivo ao hábito da leitura. Aderido em 11 de Dezembro de 2015, na Web site de: XIII Encontro Latino Americano de Iniciação Científica e IX Encontro Latino Americano de Pós-Graduação – Universidade do Vale do Paraíba: http://www.inicepg.univap. br/cd/INIC_2009/anais/arquivos/RE_0740_0802_01.pdf

Delmanto, D. (2007). A leitura em sala de aula. Aderido em: 22 de novembro de 2015, na Web site de: na ponta do lápis. Almanaque do programa escrevendo o futuro. Ano III. Nº 7: http://www.construirnoticias.com.br/asp/ materia.asp?id=1429.

Dicionário do Aurélio. (-) Significado de leitura. Aderido em: 22 de novembro de 2015, na Web site de: dicionário Aurélio, dicionário de português: http://www.dicionariodoaurelio.com/leitura.

Freire, P. (1989). A importância do ato de ler em três artigos que se completam. 23º ed. São Paulo: Cortez.

Gonçalves, D. (2013). A importância da leitura nos anos iniciais escolares. Monografia. Faculdade de Formação de Professores. Departamento de Educação, curso de pedagogia, UERJ – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, São Gonçalo. 20pp.

Jolibert, J. e colaboradores. (1994). Formando crianças leitoras, volume I. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas. Kriegl, M. (2002). Leitura: um desafio sempre atual. Revista PEC, Curitiba. V. 2, N. 1, p. 1-12.

Paiva, C., Oliveira, A. (2010). A literatura infantil no processo de formação do leitor. Cadernos da Pedagogia. São Carlos, Ano 4 v. 4 n. 7, p. 22-36. ISSN: 1982-4440.

Soares, M. (1985). As muitas facetas da alfabetização. Cad. Pesquisa, São Paulo (52): 19-24.

Soares, M. (2003). Letramento e alfabetização: as muitas facetas. Trabalho apresentado no GT alfabetização, leitura e escrita, durante a 26º reunião anual da ANPEd, realizada em Poços de Caldas, MG.

Solé, I., Schilling, C. (tradução) (1998). Estratégias de leitura. 6ºed. Porto Alegre: ArtMed.

Souza, R., Sousa, A., Castro, P., Souza, G. (-). Leitura do professor, leitura do aluno: processo de formação continuada. Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia - UNESP – Presidente Prudente: 217 -230.

Teberosky, A., Colomer, T. (2003). Aprender a ler e escrever: uma proposta construtivista. Porto Alegre: ArtMed. Vygotsky, L. (1984). A formação social da mente. São Paulo: Martins Fontes.

tEcHInG EnGLISH WItH LItErArY rEAdInG: An oPEn door

For IntErdIScIPLInArItY And tHE ForMAtIon oF A crItIcAL

cItIZEn

Maria da Conceição Vinciprova Fonseca UniFOA – Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda

(concyvf@uol.com.br)

Ilda Cecília Moreira da Silva

UniFOA – Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda (ilda.silva@foa.org.br)

Adilson Pereira

UniFOA – Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda (adphylugf@hotmail.com)

Marcelo Paraíso Alves

UniFOA – Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda (marceloparaiso@outlook.com)

Raquel Lacerda Clemente Pereira

UniFOA – Centro Universitário de Volta Redonda (raquelacerda29@gmail.com)

ABStrAct

The relationship between reading competence and academic performance is well known; besides, not being able to read means having to accept other people’s readings. In this context, it was considered teaching English using literary reading, which consists basically of reading and discussing fiction texts in English as part of the class planning. This article is based on a research aimed at offering such classes in order to investigate their possibilities and pedagogical value, favoring the construction of new knowledge while bringing texts from diverse areas, thus building the desired interdisciplinarity. Considerations are presented regarding the teaching / learning of English, literature and reading. There follow fragments of an action research conducted for six months in an English language class in a town in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The corpus of analysis were the teacher’s and the students’ diaries and a filmed conversation between members of the group at the end of the project. The positive results lead to proposing Literary Reading in the English Language classes, since, creating a democratic space for discussion and reflection on a variety of themes, it may create the desirable interdisciplinarity and bridge the gap, with quality, between public and private educational institutions.

Keywords: English Language Class, Reading, Literary Reading, Interdisciplinarity.

JEL Classification: I29.

rESuMo

Sabe-se da relação entre competência de leitura e desempenho acadêmico, e que não saber ler é precisar aceitar a leitura alheia. Nesse contexto, foi pensada a aula de inglês por meio de leitura literária, que consiste basicamente na leitura e discussão de textos de ficção em inglês como parte do planejamento da disciplina. Este artigo parte de uma pesquisa que objetivou oferecer tais aulas visando investigar suas possibilidades e seu valor pedagógico, favorecendo a construção de conhecimento novo ao trazer textos oriundos de diversos campos de conhecimento, construindo a interdisciplinaridade almejada. Apresentam-se considerações quanto ao ensino / aprendizado de língua inglesa, literatura e a linha teórica seguida quanto à leitura, seguidas de recortes de uma pesquisa-ação feita durante seis meses em uma classe de Língua Inglesa em uma cidade no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. O corpus da análise foram diários da professora, dos alunos e uma conversa gravada entre os membros do grupo ao término do projeto. O trabalho aponta

resultados positivos e propõe a aula de Leitura Literária em Língua Inglesa como espaço democrático de discussão e reflexão dos mais variados textos, sendo assim capaz de construir a interdisciplinaridade almejada e diminuir a distância, com ganho de qualidade, entre instituições de ensino públicas e particulares.

Palavras-chave: aula de Língua Inglesa, leitura, leitura literária, interdisciplinaridade.

1. IntroductIon

Teaching English as a foreign language ─EFL─ is clearly justifiable, for representing an open door to the labor market, introducing different cultures, expanding one’s horizon, providing the possibility of reflecting on issues of one’s life and culture outside one’s language, where words can already be so laden with ideologies that it is difficult to see things from new angles. Therefore, possibilities of fostering such values must be optimized, so as students can perceive them. EFL’s learning must be brought closer to learners, connected to their lives and reality.

What is understood here as “value” is anything that may clearly contribute to improve either the individual or the social welfare.

In Brazil, the National Curriculum Parameters ─ PCN ─ provide that the inclusion of an area in the curriculum should be determined by the role it plays in society. Since only a small portion of the Brazilian population actually uses foreign languages for oral communication, to consider developing oral skills as the main goal when teaching EFL means not taking into account the criterion of social relevance.

The PCN also recognize that learning to read in a foreign language can promote an overall development of students’ literacy, according to Moita Lopes (2001): “Learning to read in a foreign language fosters the development of reading competence in the mother tongue, which is, as a matter of fact, the source of many problems faced by children in all school subjects.”(op.cit. p. 132)

Paiva (2000) claims properly that it would be a mistake to set a path due to existing problems, i.e., to use reading because public schools are still ill-equipped. Distortions should be treated with a serious policy to improve education, equipping public schools and hiring teachers prepared to talk, read and write in English. However, it is correct to require reading skills proficiency for entrance examinations to universities and for admission to post-graduate studies. What a doctor, a university professor, a designer or any dedicated professional, as well as higher education students, need is to read in English (or another foreign language, or other languages) to expand their access to the state of art in their specific area.

It is not the case of doing only reading in EFL. More and more people need to speak English, or other foreign language, to work in multinational firms, hotels, restaurants, taxis and airplanes; athletes who go abroad also need to communicate in English, as well as do commissions that receive foreign groups and a diversity of workers in different situations, not forgetting those who travel for leisure.

Besides, it is not possible to teach only one skill of a language. The separation in oral practice, reading, aural comprehension and writing is a teaching tool, a way to place the emphasis here or there. Language is not a point in the tissue, it is the tissue where different points are woven, so that it is possible to emphasize one or another mode of spinning, but the fabric is always composed of all mixed points.

In a reading class, it is perfectly possible to develop other skills. Systematic reading optimizes vocabulary acquisition, whose importance for oral communication is obvious. There will be ample listening opportunities ─ the teacher’s voice, recordings and the students’ voices. Besides, certain texts have rhythm, rhyme and sound qualities that facilitate memorization. Finally, the connection reading / writing seems obvious. Those who read systematically usually write well and develop sensitivity to the language norms, even if they are not able to explain why a certain word or sentence “sounds wrong”.

It is also important to optimize students’ encounters with the Arts. Aesthetic enjoyment should not be reserved for an elite; it is the result of persistent work, done with emotion and sensitivity, favoring students’ approaching to the object in such a way that this is an event, in the sense of something different from what has been experienced (Whitehead, apud Iser, 1999). Teachers need to be better prepared for this role.

Focusing on reading does not preclude attention to other skills, but is a way to work reading, certainly valuable in an educational project, as education implies transformation. Content is important, but one must go beyond it. Students should develop their autonomy, seeking what they need to know. It is necessary that the class provide more democratic paths, enabling students to listen to different discourses, while making their own known.

But what is said when English is being taught? This question troubles authors as Pennycook (1990), Moita Lopes (2001, 2006), Eagleton (2001), among other theorists who advocate a critical learning, justified by the context in which it takes place. It would be a teachinglearning, as Freire (2001) calls it since the concepts can never happen separately,

in which students could have access to topics that are universal and relevant for them, as individuals inserted in a particular social group, place and time; in which they realized their ability to read, listen, give opinions, discuss and diverge, allowing their training as critical and autonomous citizens, which is, as taught by Freire (op. cit.), the essence of education.

For all these reasons, this work proposes reading in the EFL class using literature; more specifically, a literary approach to reading, which will be called literary reading, to be treated later in this paper, for the possibilities of achieving the objectives stated above, added to benefits that go beyond language barriers, building the desired interdisciplinarity.

2. LItErAturE And tHE LItErArY tEXt

Literature is both the place where you can universalize and strengthen social structures and the status quo and where these same structures are apparent and revealed, thus being open to be discussed and questioned. Literature can therefore cause both conformism and subversion. It was not by chance that Plato did not want poets in his republic. Eagleton (2001) believes that if young people are allowed to spend a few years just reading books and talking, they will possibly question not only the values transmitted to them, but the authority behind this transmission. This questioning, he continues, is part of higher education (ibid, p. 276).

Gillespie (1994, p.16) points out that, in a utilitarian view so widespread, literature is criticized for not having a practical function, not bringing information that takes the reader to produce better and more efficiently. Leahy-Dios (2000) opposes to that view, pointing to another literary value, that of giving readers the benefits of knowledge and self-understanding while expanding their emotional and intellectual horizons. So it has both a social and an individual function.

It is known that it is the interpretation of experience that creates the world; Britton (1982) theorizes that this interpretation can be poorly made, causing suffering, isolation and imprisoning one in one’s errors. An example is the intolerance and even phobia of the unknown, different from us, the other. Such attitudes are not changed with logical reasoning. Britton (ibid) considers, however, possible that an effect of the rhythm of a poem is to induce a mild type of hypnosis in the reader, so that critical aspects of the mind would be relaxed. Thus, poets can make one “feel” truths that would be refuted in logical reasoning, which could lead to the danger of misinterpretations (or perhaps it would be more accurate to say bad interpretations) mentioned above.

Without denying the importance of the role of scientists, politicians and businessmen, Britton (op.cit.) notes that the center of culture patterns is formed by attitudes, values, ideals and beliefs ─ and here is the role of the poet. While philosophers and moralists declare the values by which we live, poets and artists incorporate such values. When people read poetry, the raw material of their experience is reshaped, and the result is a new standard, an addition made to the fabric of their world. This increases the possibility of understanding that much of what is believed to be natural is cultural; therefore, things are not what they are forever, they are temporarily what they appear to be. We are so caught up in the nets of our culture ─ in this case, western, Christian, white, patriarchal, hegemonic ─ that it is very difficult to imagine different values and ways. We act according to cultural patterns through feelings and intellectual formulations. In our daily lives, an elaborate reasoning may be just too slow, then emotions guide our acts. Some preparation, some rehearsal is required to prevent errors; literature is offered as a space for rehearsing the experience, as much as are children’s games of make-believe.

Literature also permits the reader’s identification as member of a community. From the early childhood, stories and lullabies create a world that is not the child’s only, but is shared. Even stories of monsters and fears also have a function of organizing feelings and keeping them under control.

Britton ([1971] 1982) considers that literature, as well as other forms of art, is a kind of game, or play, of imitation of life, though free to differ. There is within us an area that corresponds to our deepest needs, there is the world of shared experience around us and, finally, a third area that serves to link the other two. The author calls this area “play” because of its playful, fanciful nature. The more relationships occur between the innermost and outermost areas in the play area, to which literature, being art, belongs, the better this area fulfills its assimilative function. Thus there is a connection between art, therefore literature, and people’s welfare, harmony. To provide this benefit in an EFL class is no small thing.

The great human dilemma is the conflict between the desire to live and the acceptance of death. Eco (2003, p. 21)considers that educating for fate and death is a special function of literature, because there is in the text plot a certain stability, and then that construction is there forever; it is one of few really untouchable things. Fiction has this character of permanence, it is a value that accumulates, not being replaced by new knowledge, and while the claims of science have expiration dates, it is not possible to change the end of Anna Karenina or Snow White. There lies the training for the inevitable (Fonseca, 2009, p. 30).

Moreover, regarding students, especially those from a poor socio-economic environment, Eagleton should be heard, when he reflects that it may be useful to use literature to stimulate in them [children] a sense of the linguistic

potential that has been denied to them by their social conditions (2001, p.29)

Eagleton (op.cit.) suggests that literature be understood as the name people give, from time to time and for different reasons, to certain types of writing or speech, and that the study should therefore focus on practices used when dealing with those texts, since these practices have the power to transform them. (pp. 281/282, emphasis added, apud Fonseca, 2003).

It woud be expected to find literary texts in an EFL class, but they are hardly there,2_{since they are said to be} difficult for both students and teachers. One must read and reread, questioning the text. But reflecting on implications is extremely important for the formation of good reader, who must leave the surface and read between the lines. Attention is a value per se. Observing how meanings are created will help students to become better readers, speakers and writers, improving their linguistic competence. The same can be said for the attention as to what produces