Reflexões sobre o ensino do som vocálico schwa na língua inglesa

Abstract

The research focuses on the teaching of the vowel sound schwa and its approach in higher education. We highlight the need to focus on the teaching of phonetics and phonology in Bachelor of Arts courses, as the focus on syntax and communication in additional languages often tends to marginalize the importance of phonetics and phonology studies. The aim of this study is to analyze how university professors approach the teaching of schwa in English as an additional language. In addition, through the literature review, we aimed to elucidate how and why the vowel sound schwa should be taught to speakers of English as an additional language, as well as to understand the role assigned by university professors to explicit instruction in the teaching of phonetics and phonology, especially of the vowel sound schwa. The methodology adopted was qualitative, using an online questionnaire through a Google form sent to English language professors at federal universities. Understanding how to teach schwa in the classroom made it possible to highlight this common sound in English, which is often neglected in other educational contexts. It can be seen that the teaching of schwa is generally only discussed when pronunciation doubts arise or when the teacher decides to address it specifically, and is more common in phonetics and phonology subjects. The results of this research not only corroborate the importance of explicitly teaching the vowel sound of schwa, but also point to the need to promote changes in teaching practices to ensure a more comprehensive language education in phonetics and phonology at all educational levels.