A Web 2.0 na construção de aprendizagens significativas na disciplina de inglês

Abstract

As the world we live in undergoes important changes, just as our students do, the current educational system faces the challenge of wining them back and preparing them for an exercise of full citizenship, where they have to respond to a new reality, highly technological, more demanding and selective. Meeting this challenge means incorporating the tools students already use daily in school activities and adopting new educational practices, that go beyond curriculum content, providing meta-learning skills. This paper is aimed at studying the use of Web 2.0 tools as a strategy in the construction of meaningful learning in the English class, as a foreign language, in elementary school. In this context, the purpose was to ascertain if that resource helps to develop communication skills in English Language, by describing the strategies implemented in the process of teaching and learning and assessing the quality of the different tasks set to develop the various skills that are considered vital when learning a foreign language. The goal was also to check if these tools lead to greater involvement, motivating students to learn English, and promote their autonomy and collaborative skills. The action research was the methodology used in this study, which involved the teacher/researcher and a class of elementary students of English. Data was collected from direct observation, analysis of the materials produced by students, reflections at the end of each cycle and from the different student surveys. The evidence shows that Web 2.0 is a privileged space which contributes to students’ integral education, providing not only an opportunity for developing communicative skills in the English Language, but also key competences for the exercise of active and critical citizenship in a more and more digital landscape.

Date of Award	2013
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	António Manuel Valente de Andrade (Supervisor)