Inglês na escola pública regular: a relação professor, léxico e ensino

Abstract

This study aims to draw a critical overview of lexis teaching, analyzing how the vocabulary learning process is encouraged and fostered in one public school in Santo Antonio de Jesus, Bahia. In order to do that, we analyze two teachers’ perspectives about teaching and learning lexis and lexical competence development. The theoretical framework was based on studies about lexis (Carter, 1998; Coady & Huckin, 1997; Gass & Selinker, 1994; Harmer, 2007; Hill, 1999, 2000; McCarthy & O’Dell, 2005; Zimmerman, 1997; Scaramucci, 1995; Leffa, 2000), Lexical Approach ( Lewis, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000), and lexical competence (Gu, 2003; Hulstijn, 2001; Jiang, 2005; Nation, 1990, 2001; Meara, 1997; Schmitt, 1997, 2000). The chosen methodology was case study and the following data collection instruments were used: teaching plan analysis, questionnaire and interview. The results have indicated that the vocabulary learning is encouraged and fostered mostly as support for grammar lessons and the traditional teaching approach is still present in their classes. In short the results have suggested that these teachers need to review their current practices and include in their classes special attention to the lexicon of the language they teach. Therefore, after analyzing the data, this study has shown the need to develop students’ lexical competence by the lexical groupings, providing student’s a critical and reflective learning.