To be or not to be - Práticas de ensino-aprendizagem em língua inglesa no ensino fundamental : reflexões à luz da educação crítica

Abstract

The focus of English Language teaching in the final years of Elementary Education (EF) remains predominantly instrumental, despite theoretical-methodological advances, educators’ commitment to quality education, and legislative changes aimed at a more inclusive and democratic school environment. This reality highlights the need to investigate this contradiction and examine the conditions under which the teaching-learning process occurs, considering traditions and elements that drive or hinder reflective thinking and the development of criticality among educators and learners. Thus, this study seeks to identify and understand the limits and possibilities for developing educational practices committed to a humanizing educational practice, that is, with the individual and collective overcoming of factors that obstruct the socio-cultural and historical process of humanization. To this end, it focuses on identifying elements that limit or enhance educational practices, drawing on Paulo Freire’s problematizing pedagogy. The theoretical framework comprises authors who advocate for an education oriented toward the critical unveiling of reality, including Paulo Freire, Ira Shor, Michael Apple, Ana Maria Saul, Alastair Pennycook, and Kanavillil Rajagopalan. The guiding question of the study is: what factors limit or enhance the expansion of criticality in English Language teaching-learning practices in the final years of Elementary Education? This qualitative investigation included, in its methodology, a bibliographic review, an exploratory questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews. The research group comprised English Language teachers from various Brazilian cities who gather in a virtual group to discuss teaching-learning topics and strategies that indicate an alignment with critical education perspectives, along with others from the city of Santos, in Baixada Santista Metropolitan Region, selected based on the same criteria. Data analysis, developed from thematic axes inspired by a Freirean Conceptual Framework centered on the concept of “Problematizing Education,” revealed that, despite existing challenges and obstacles, there are educational practices that, although with contradictions and limitations, have the potential to contribute to the development of critical thinking and the construction of a more just society. The study argues that embracing humanization as a fundamental vector of educational practice strengthens resistance to the instrumentalization of teaching and the objectification of teacher-student relationships, offering tangible possibilities for an education that organically and critically integrates social practice, thus aiming at the construction of a more fraternal and supportive society.