Libras, ASL, português e inglês nas aulas de língua inglesa em turma de alunos surdos: o papel da mediação e do trabalho colaborativo em atividades de modalidade escrita e sinalizada

Abstract

Regarding the recent research studies on English teaching for the deaf (SOUSA, 2008; SILVA, 2013; SOUSA, 2015; OLIVEIRA 2018) and considering the different modalities of language present in this context, this research study aims to comprehend how and in which interactive situations mediation is performed in the execution of assignments in written and signed modalities by deaf learners of a High School group’s English classes through projects on a Sociocultural theory perspective. This is a qualitative research study, and the dada were gathered in 2019 through interviews, video recordings of classes conducted in Libras, and the teacher registers in a journal. After the selection and transcription of the dada gathered in Libras, the analysis were conducted based on the theoretical construct of the Deaf Education presented by Quadros (1997), Santana (2007), Perlin (2010), Kraemer (2012) and Thoma (2012), and based on the Vygotskian Sociocultural theory presented by Vygotsky (1925; 1991; 1993), Rego (1995), Lantolf (2000; 2011), Tanzi Neto (2018) and Figueiredo (2019). The analyzed dada exhibit and reveal that bilingual learners who were alphabetized in Libras and Portuguese as children that spent most of their school life in bilingual schools for the deaf, collaboratively interact as mediators in several collaborative situations and develop different linguistic strategies according to the modality of the assignment performed. Deaf learners whose Libras learning were postponed or who are still learning Libras and spent most of their school path in regular schools as inclusion students with disabilities, show an assistance dependency by more experient partners, do not contribute as much in their collaborative learning development, and manifest more difficulties when executing written and signed assignments. Thus, this collaborative pedagogical practice in a bilingual context is perceived as responsible for the identified mediation interactions and multiple linguistic strategies performed by the participants while executing written and signed assignments according to their deaf particularities. Considering these different realities, working with projects provided meaningful linguistic production and comprehension activities while using different language modalities preset in each student’s context with autonomy and meaning.