O ensino de inglês e o WhatsApp: propiciamentos além dos muros escolares

Abstract

This case study aims to investigate the role of the digital app coined WhatsApp in the teaching-learning process. It also intends to identify the total percentage of students who makes use of this digital tool, analyze the contributions brought to them and recognize the affordances that are offered by the same app. The 17 students participated in a group created in the same app, developed some activities and tasks such as personal presentation, recommendation of a touristic attraction using the GPS, use of different resources available in the app aiming to describe about their Holy Week, and teach the other students how to make use of the simple past of be. The data was generated through online and paper questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and using supplied data from observation produced in the group. Based on Vygotsky sociocultural theory, van Lier ecological approach, Wood, Bruner and Ross scaffolding theory, and Gibson affordances theory, the data showed that the digital app is used in many different circumstances and places by the students and it supports the development of the language skills as well as enriching the way students learn. The results suggest that technological devices present complemented fringe benefits to the traditional practices and it is a tool that has the potential to be better explored by the educators, as it is the case of the creation of specific groups to practice different skills in English.