Inglês para iniciantes brasileiros: qual língua usar como meio de instrução?

Abstract

This research aims to compare the use of English and Portuguese as the medium of instruction in the classroom, through a field study with two beginning classes of English as an additional language. For this purpose, a lesson with the same contents was taught for two different classes, but one group received a lesson with the use of the Portuguese language as the main medium of instruction and the other group received a class held entirely in English. After each class, the students were assessed by means of a performance test and a questionnaire in order to collect data on affective aspects like motivation, interest, and self-confidence. The theoretical base includes Leffa (2006), Dearden (2014), Guimarães and Kremer (2020), Ignácio and colleagues (2020), Kirkpatrick (2011), among other authors who discuss the use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI). This study found evidence that, regarding affective aspects such as fulfillment, motivation, comfort, and self-confidence, it is more advantageous to use Portuguese than English as the medium of instruction for beginner students of English who speak Portuguese as their first language.