APRENDIZAGEM DE LÍNGUA ESTRANGEIRA POR ESTUDANTES SURDOS: O ENSINO DE LÍNGUA INGLESA NA REDE MUNICIPAL DE TRÊS LAGOAS

Abstract

The inclusion of deaf students in regular schools has been widely analysed in recent years. In this regard, a significant portion of the research has focused on pedagogical practices, teaching strategies, teaching materials, teacher-student and student-student interactions, among others. However, when confronted with local Brazilian realities, other political, administrative, cultural, and social issues impact the experience of these students in the educational environment. This research is justified by the importance and interest in pedagogical practices applied in English classes taught to deaf students throughout their school years, within the specific context of the municipality of Três Lagoas (MS). The overall objective of this research is to highlight and analyse teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to deaf students in the Municipal Education Network of Três Lagoas, as well as to examine the perspective and challenges faced by EFL teachers when teaching deaf students and the dynamics between these teachers and sign language interpreters in the school setting. This is a qualitative-quantitative study with specific objectives to: (1) map the access and retention of these deaf students in the stages of Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education; (2) identify and describe the most commonly used pedagogical practices by EFL teachers for teaching deaf students; and (3) examine some social, cognitive, and affective implications in the discourse of EFL teachers and interpreters through linguistic analysis of interviews from the perspective of Content Analysis and Appraisal Theory. Data collection was conducted through semi-structured interviews and qualitative-quantitative research. Due to the inclusion of interviews and fieldwork, this project was submitted for approval to the Research Ethics Committee. This research contributed to the visibility of the deaf community, expanded the study of EFL teaching practices for deaf students, and ultimately promoted knowledge about the public policies employed to include deaf students, as well as the social, affective, and cognitive impacts on them. Critical and comparative analysis of the current legislation in this research led to results indicating that state and municipal legal documents lack specific regulations that describe legal situations for the deaf community, which also affects guidelines for regular education teachers. The analysis of the interviews corroborated the lack of pedagogical instructions for teachers to plan, teach, and evaluate deaf students. Based on the results, some principles of pedagogical action were suggested to meet the educational demands related to the topic. Thus, with this study, we present to paths and proposals for strengthening the pedagogical practices carried out by EFL teachers and to propose initiatives for teaching English to deaf students in these stages of education. Palavras-Chave: English Language; deaf; Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education