Produção oral de inglês no ensino médio

Abstract

The theme of this work is the teaching of speaking in English at a public school. We aimed at improving the speaking ability of a group of 3rd year high school students. Data collection started in 2010, when six English classes were observed in two 2nd year high school groups at a public school. These classes were based on the Grammar Translation Method. After this period of observation, an English class based on the Communicative Approach and focused on the oral aspect of the language was taught in each of these groups in order to diagnose the quality of students’ speaking ability. In the following year, when they were in the 3rd year of high school, eight classes focused on speaking were taught to one of the groups. The theoretical guide used to elaborate this teaching project was the Communicative Approach, based on Brown (2001, 2004, 2007), Savignon (2002) and Widdowson (2005). After these classes, students’ speaking ability was tested in both groups, the one in which the teaching project had been developed and the one which had continued having classes with the regular teacher. The observations carried out in 2010 had revealed that students rarely had the opportunity to use the target language in its oral form and when it happened it resulted from the translation of sentences said in Portuguese by the teacher. In the diagnostic class taught in 2010, it was observed that students were not able to use the target language orally in an interactive or spontaneous way. After the teaching project, significant improvement was perceived in the speaking ability of those students who received the classes based on the Communicative Approach and focused on speaking, while the group that remained with their regular teacher still presented the same limitations.