What´s missing? New teacher selves for new teaching contexts

Désirée Motta-RothUniversidade Federal de Santa Mariadmroth@terra.com.br http://w3.ufsm.br/desireemroth

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New competencies, abilities, and attitudes: Context in text: “reading and writing [speaking and

listening] only make sense when studied in the context of social and cultural (and we can add historical, political, and economic) practices of which they are but a part.” (Gee, 2000:180).

New literacies: visual, audio, spatial, gestural, digital, i.e. producing and consuming language on the internet (blogs/flogs), in the media (MTV,news), etc.

Authorship: from knowledge consumer to knowledge producer.

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Context in text

Teach language, about language, through language;

Social events use Language: webs of relationships, degrees of ritualization, sets of communicative purposes.

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New literacies

“text production and consumption associated with the digital electronic apparatus (new communications and information technologies)”

“literacies that are comparatively new in chronological terms and literacies that are new to the formal study of literacy— that are new to being recognized as literacies”

(Lankshear & Knobel, 2001)

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Authorship Text, photograph,

audiovisual, computer program;

Teaching materials: “textbooks should reflect students’ experiences” (Kumaravadivelu, 2005);

Webpages; Conference

presentations, interviews (TV and radio), articles, papers, book chapters, and monographs.

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An example: Webpages The incorporation of emergent electronic discourse genres into

pedagogic practices in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) has made it possible for students to use the target language in real contexts of communication through writing. The Personal Home Page (PHP) seems to be especially suitable to pedagogical applications as it provides the student with a locus for using basic linguistic functions in English in the construction of her/his PHP on the Internet. This cybergenre has recurrent features in terms of content, structural organization and functions of language. Teachers can propose EFL activities that aim at engaging the student in the virtual world through the construction of her/his own PHP. A series of experimentations with WebEnglish - a computer assisted English course developed at Laboratório de Pesquisa e Ensino de Leitura e Redação at the National University at Santa Maria, Brazil – has demonstrated the potentiality of this kind of activity to motivate students and thus facilitate the development of sociolinguistic competencies in the target language.

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Gnere and Register: Which features are relevant in what contexts?

Notions/Ideas (Ideology) Discourse (Constitutive function) Functions (Speech act) Mood/Modality (Interpersonal meaning) Structure (Texture, Intertextuality) Vocabulary (Semantic relationship) Grammar (Sentence arrangement) Phonology (Pronunciation)

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Notions/Ideas (Ideology)

a) Biographical details; b) Interests and preferences (hobbies); c) Ideas, values, beliefs (religious, political, phyilosophical or otherwise); d) family, friends, relations, professional information.

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Discourse (Constitutive function) Functions (Speech act)

- What’s your name? How old are you?- Where are you from? When is your birthday?- What’s your address? What’s your e-mail address?- Where do you live? Who do you live with? Do you live with your family? Do you have a boy/girlfriend? What’s your marital status? What's your telephone number? What's your address?- What do you do? - Where do you go to school? What is your major/minor?- What do you like to do in your free time? - Do you have a hobby? - What kind of _____ do you like? What’s/Who’s your favorite______? What do you look like? What do your friends and family look like?- What are your everyday activities? Do you like art/poetry/music/movies? Do you like to travel? Which countries/places have you visited? How often do you surf the net? Which sites have you already visited? Which interesting sites (links) do you suggest?- When do you plan to graduate? Curriculum Vitae or Résumé (Education; Skills; Profile; Extra-Curricular Activities...)

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Mood/Modality (Interpersonal meaning)

Who writes? Who reads? What sort of identity is intended? What sort of effect is intended?

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Home Page Task Surfing the web: Let’s visit Personal Home

Pages on the internet. Try to identify content and form features. What kind of questions can surfers ask by reading these home pages? What kind of answers do these pages provide?

Under construction: What about creating your Personal Home Page? What kind of topics and format would you like to display in your home page?

Let’s start working! Click on the program (e.g., Front Page by Microsoft).

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New teachers for new contexts:

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References GEE, J. P. (2000). The new literacy studies: From ‘socially

situated’ to the work of the social. In: D. Barton, M. Hamilton, & R. Ivanic. (Eds.) Situated Literacies: Reading and Writing in Context. London: Routledge, pp.180–96. retrieved July 11, 2005 from http://www.schools.ash.org.au/litweb/page300.html.

GIROUX, H. A. (1997). Os professores como intelectuais: Rumo a uma pedagogia crítica da aprendizagem. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas.

KARWOSKI, A. M., GAYDECZKA, B. & BRITO, K. S. (2005). (Orgs.) Gêneros textuais: reflexões e ensino. Palmas e União da Vitória, PR: Kaygangue.

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References (Cont.) KINCHELOE, J. L. (1997). A formação do professor

como compromisso político. Mapeando o pós-moderno. Porto Alegre: Artes Médicas.

KUMARAVADIVELU, B. (2005). Deconstructing applied linguistics: A postcolonial perspective. In: M. Freire, M.H.V. Abrahão & A. M. F. Barcelos (Orgs.) Lingüística aplicada e contemporaneidade. São Paulo: ALAB; Campinas, SP: Pontes Editores, pp. 25-37.

LANKSHEAR, C. & M. KNOBEL (2001). Mapping postmodern literacies: a preliminary chart. In M. Ylä-Kotola, J. Suoranta & M. Kangas (Eds) The integrated media machine, Vol. 2. Hämeenlinna: Edita, University of Lapland. Retrieved July 11, 2005, from www.literacyandtechnology.org/ v1n1/lk.html.

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References (Cont.) MOTTA-ROTH, D., MARSHALL, D. & REIS, S. C. (2005).

Aprender inglês para a comunicação: a construção da Home Page Pessoal na www. Calidoscópio, São Leopoldo, RS, v. 03, nº 01, p. 39-46.

STEINBERG, S. R. & J. L. KINCHELOE. (1995). Introduction. In P. McLaren, R. Hammer, D. Sholle & S. Reilly. Rethinking media literacy: A critical pedagogy of representation. New York: Peter Lang. Retrieved July 11, 2005 from http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/v1n1/lk.html.

THOMAS, A. (2004). e-Selves: Understanding children's online identity construction. Paper presented as part of the Systemic Functional Grammar Seminar Series. Retrieved July 11, 2005 from http://angelathomaspublications.blogspot.com.