A influência da língua materna em aulas de língua inglesa de uma escola de idiomas: um estudo de caso.

Abstract

Bakhtin (2006) affirms that the mother tongue represents familiarity to the subject in a way that the native word is considered a sibling. The relationship subject-mother tongue is present in the context of teaching a foreign language (FL). This presence makes the discussion about the use of the mother tongue in FL teaching relevant. Therefore, this paper aims at investigating the frequency of the use of the mother tongue by the teacher of an English language group of a language school, in Campina Grande-PB as well as at analyzing the (in)appropriateness of this use. In order to achieve such aims, 9 classes were observed and recorded, field notes were taken, and an interview was done with the teacher of the group. It was observed that the mother tongue was used by the teacher during the classes at the beginning of the classes, during games and during reading and writing activities, showing that the mother tongue has an influence in FL classes even when such a use was denied by the teacher, reinforcing Bakhtin’s idea concerning the relationship between the subject with the mother tongue.