Ambiente virtual de aprendizagem no contexto presencial do ensino médio: indícios de autonomia na escrita via estratégias de aprendizagem

Abstract

With the arrival of digital information and communication technologies and their usage in the domain of education, especially in the form of virtual learning environments (VLEs), it is necessary to study how they limit, change, or facilitate the process of teaching and learning languages, with regard to the development of autonomy. In this work, I argue that a VLE based on the Moodle platform, integrated into a face-to-face secondary school environment, fosters the students development of autonomy in their native language (L1) learning, by promoting the use of learning strategies that lead to more reflective writing. To this end, I identify and classify the learning strategies utilized by the students while using the VLE; introduce the tools of the VLE that allow for greater use of learning strategies; and discuss the capabilities and limitations of the VLE, identified as enablers or inhibitors of autonomy in the teaching and learning of L1 writing. The VLE studied, between May and December 2012, was coordinated by two Portuguese language teachers and myself, then an instructor-researcher, and his participants were final-year students from a secondary school in the state education system of Pará. To bridge the online and offline worlds, the study was guided by an ethnographic approach (ANGROSINO, 2009) to qualitative research, in its virtual form (HINE, 2000). For the data analysis, I utilize as a theoretical base the studies by Benson (1997, 2001), Little (1991, 2000), and Paiva (2005, 2006), regarding autonomy; by Oxford (1990), regarding learning strategies; by Dillenbourg (2000) and Dillenbourg, Schneider & Synteta (2002), regarding VLEs; by Dougiamas (1998, 1999, 2000), regarding the Moodle platform; and by Olson (1995), regarding writing; among others that, albeit indirectly, reinforce the Vygotskian sociocultural approach. The results of the analysis point to an increase in the students application of learning strategies, combining strategies already familiar from face-to-face settings with new strategies from virtual settings; suggest forums and wikis as the tools that permit the greatest application of learning strategies, propelling the students to employ a more reflexive writing style while still cooperating with each other; and demonstrate that the integration of online functionality into face-to-face education serves as an aggregator of meaningful capabilities for enabling autonomy in the teaching-learning process of L1 writing. I conclude that the integration of VLEs into face-to-face education helps advance the use of existing learning strategies and also develop new capabilities for learning how to learn a language with the new technologies, leading participants to develop greater autonomy in their learning processes.