Teaching Brazilian Tweens

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TEACHING BRAZILIAN TWEENS1[1] ENGLISH:

FUN NGAMES OR ANALYTIC AWARENESS-RAISING?

David Shepherd (UFF)

Abstract: This article highlights Brazilian tween (pre-adolescent) learners and TEFL. The startingpoint is lack of learner motivation.A number of potential teacher-based reasons are described.Arguments are made against the current TEFL emphasis on fun-and-games in the light of recentneurolinguistic research findings. A case is made for focus on genre-analytic brain activities. Finally,examples are provided of pedagogic research and classroom tasks for promoting genreawarenessraising.

Key words: tweens Brazilian TEFL genre analysis.

1. The Situation and the PuzzleTeachers of English at the ensino mdio taking university Especializao courses are oftenencouraged to carry out classroom Action Research projects, whereby they analyse and reflectupon their learners and their teaching procedures.The starting point for these projects is thearticulation and definition of the practitioners individual puzzles. That is, the teachers areencouraged to write down, and then reformulate, their professional doubts and worries. Many of theteachers concerned consistently present their pedagogic puzzles by way of the followingquestion:Why is it that my tweeny groups have little or no motivation when it comes to learningEnglish?This is always surprising, given the enthusiasm by certain members of the same target populationfor popular music in English, cartoons in English, Hollywood movies in English, RPG in English,computer games in English, cruising the web in English, chatrooms & email communication, very

often in English. This has been evidenced recently from interviews with the target population infocus: you have stated that you regularly listen to songs in English,watch movies and chat in theInternet(Pontes, 2001:18). Clearly, many of the latter facilities are available to no more than aprivileged minority of young Brazilian adolescents. Nevertheless, my own puzzle then is: Why is itthat there should be, generally speaking, a resentment among young Brazilian teenagers towardslearning English, particularly in the public sector classrooms, when, in contrast, so many people arespending a great deal of time, energy and money in their attempts to learn English, in the never-ending mushrooming of private EFL franchise schools? The latter phenomenon is a reflection of thefact that most adult citizens in our country, for better or worse, increasingly accept the premise thata knowledge of English may prove a crucial factor in their professional lives, whatever their field ofactivity.2. Why are young Brazilian tweens unmotivated to study English?Personally speaking, I would eagerly embrace the belief that our nations youths quase- hatred of

English is the result of their growing political awareness, and of their development of Freiresconcientizao (Gadotti, 1995: 716), in political terms; that it stems from a recognition that Englishis the language of the capitalist exploiters, who have dominated and restricted the development ofBrazil for almost 200 years; that their distaste for English is a symptom of their understanding that

1 1. The American term tweens has been used throughout this article to refer to the pre-adolescent age-group. It is citedby Collins Cobuild (17/07/2001) as has been chosen in preference to existing alternatives including pubescents; tweenies ortweenagers.

2. This research was carried out by Rosane Pinheiro (see bibliography above) as part of her unpublished Masters degreedissertation at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, under my supervision.

3. This activity is basedon a presentation by Dr. T.M.G. Shepherd (UERJ) at the 2ND ENPLIRJ CONFERENCE, Rio de Janeiro,September,2000.


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dialogues; and, secondly, that the learning focus, in the form of tasks and exercises, should be toimprove the learners spoken abilities (the case of over 70% of 127 teachers in the Paran publicsector who responded to attitude questionnaires, Shepherd, 1992). The adoption of CLT is aclassical example of a wholesale importation of a foreign concept, which has been misconceivedand misrepresented in Brazil. For the pedagogic roots of CLT are found in British English forSpecific Purposes, with immigrant communities (Jupp & Hodlin, 1975), with undergraduate ESLscience students (Allen & Widdowson, 1974) and ESL medical staff (Candlin,et.alli.,1974). In allthree cases the target learning population were residents, and needed to survive, in English-speaking environments in the UK, thus very different from the situation of Brazilian EFL learners inschool. It is my contention that by opting for the latter approaches TEFL practitioners have turnedtheir backs on the essential formative nature of our profession, which has, in turn, alienated anddistanced them from the dialectic for multi-disciplinary learning advocated in the MEC ParmetrosCurriculares.5. The Fun n Games Factor in Brazilian TEFL.

By concentrating on songs, fun and games, TEFL practice has concentrated on the development oflanguage as a right-brain function involving holistic thought, intuition and creativity. Over the past 20years most thinking TEFL practitioners have been influenced, to a greater or lesser degree, bymovements such as suggestopedia, accepting Lozanovs (1978) research which demonstrates thepower of a pleasant setting, with music and comfort, for the learning of foreign languages. Otherapproaches, including Moscovits(1982) Sharing and Caring, Rodgers (1983) holistic learning,

Krashens (1983) Natural Approach, Edges (1992) Co-operative Learning, and those described byStevick (1976), have influenced EFL practice in prioritising the affective learning factors for adults.In the 1990s there have also been EFL blockbuster publications (notably Puchta, 1997) based onneuro-linguisticapproaches, but these have aimed specifically at the childrens market. All theseelements, have, albeit unwittingly, often reinforced the arguments for the priority of the fun ngames factor.Of course I would be the first to agree that this almost wholesale opting for entertainment is asmuch a reflection of the shallowness of present-day hedonist culture, mirrored by the power andpopularity of a gamut of Brazilian TV shows on Sundays. But when it results in EFL teachers optingfor fun n games, no matter what the level, profession, aim or specific pedagogic purpose of theirlearners, then questions have to be asked. This is often recognised by a select band of awarepractitioners, as the following extract with a Brazilian EFL teacher of tweens demonstrates: I givethem songs, video clips, hypertexts. I play with them, tell jokes, basically make them laugh. But

when this doesnt work I make use of the traditional methods. (Pontes, 2001:19) And now there areseveral convincing research findings suggesting that the fun n games circus-manager stance, sooften adopted by EFL teachers, is the last thing which tweens (i.e., young adolescents) require.6. A smack-in-the-face for fun n games: recent research into tweens learning.Recent educational, medical and neurolinguistic findings in the UK may provide surprising insightsfor the specific age level of young teenagers under focus. Thus, medical researchers at theUniversity of Warwick, led by Oxford (2001), have (I quote), found that happy people usereasoning strategies similar to those patients who have suffered damage to the frontal lobes of theleft side of the brain...This would suggest the exact reverse of the dictum that happy teenagers make good students.Similarly, Williams (2001), a neurologist at the University of Birmingham, claims Our researchsuggests that the acquisition of analytical skills would be better induced by a negative mood state.This is a somewhat surprising research finding, given the long-standing belief, partially intuitive, of

the crucial central position of the affective filter in langauge learning (viz Krashen & Tyrrell, 1983)Williams research has been carried out with adolescent pupils in British comprehensive schools andtheir scholastic success was measured against their attitude and perceptions of both the teacher,the subject, the topic, the materials and the time of day. Williams position is partially explained bythe findings of McGee (2001) of New College, Oxford: The post-puberty development of frontallobes are closely associated with reasoning powers; however, it is given much firmer backing bySmiley (2001) from Kings College, Cambridge, whose studies demonstrate that For post-

pubescents, being in a good mood makes you less critical... but self-criticism is an essential part ofall logical thinking... if you are in a good mood you just do not want to study.7. A positive analytical focus with tween TEFL learners.


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To summarise the argument thus far. Over the last two decades EFL teachers have been seducedinto emphasising the affective factors, by both a plethora of respectable advocates of humanisticlanguage learning, as well as pressures from the all-pervading need for profit in the private sector.Widespread misinterpretation of what it means to engage in communicative teaching, has resultedin an overwhelming focus on oral input and spoken production. All these influences have meantconstant focus on the holistic thought skills of the creative right-side of the brain, with subsequentneglect of the analytical, logical, left-side functions, which are exactly the abilities which theserecent research findings have specified as meaningful for tweens, and which include, of course, thestudy of lexico-grammatical language elements. Little wonder that we TEFL teachers haveenormous problems teaching post-puberty adolescents, using classical humanistic approaches, atwhat may now be seen as essentially analytical stages of their development, apparently requiringserious, logical focus.So where does that leave the EFL teachers of young adolescents? Should a new reign of terror beintroduced into the classroom, with a return to corporal punishment and strict adherence togrammar-translation precepts? This would clearly be anathema to any self-respecting, thinking,educational practitioner. In any case, wouldnt wholesale acceptance of these research findingsfrom exclusively British institutions and British scholars surely represent the type of colonial stancecriticised above? Not so, for the research is neuro-cognitive, dealing, so it is claimed, with chemicaland physical elements of the brain, which are claimed as universal.One means of focussing on the analytic, left-brain functions, is to develop awareness-raising by

genre analysis. The activating of knowledge of previously experienced genres in Portuguese mayprovide a principled means of empowering both EFL teachers, and their learners, towardsindependent analysis and learning. Carrells (1984: 83-84) research has demonstrated that one typeof schema which humans possess is background knowledge about the formal, rhetorical,organizational structures of different kinds of texts. In other words, part of our backgroundknowledge includes information about, and experiences of, differences among rhetorical structures,e.g., differences in the structures of fables, short sories, scientific texts, newspaper articles. In asimilar vein Rinvolucri (1996: 39) has made certain concrete claims, based on his analyses ofneuro-linguistic patterning. He believes that focus on wider thinking patterns can provide a startingpoint for new ways of looking at language, which are both intellectually stimulating, as well asdemanding, and yet enjoyable. White (1999) has also made a plea for using the concepts of texttypes, genres and contrasts of rhetoric from different cultures in TEFL. All three scholars argue forfocussing on topics which demand using the left-side skills of the brain. Transferring to our own

Brazilian context, tween learners might be encouraged to enjoy the excitement of discovery, byactivating their previous experience, using textbook genres in Portuguese, from the range ofscientific and social science subjects which are their everyday school reality. In the same way EFLteachers may also create a healthy exchange of ideas on text selection and curriculum planningwith teachers of subjects other than foreign languages, as advocated by Allen and Widdowson(1974).8. Why use a genre-analytic focus in Brazilian TEFL?Approaches which highlight the wider, global organisation of texts would dovetail into two of the"Characteristics of the Objective of Teaching", published by MEC for Foreign Languages, (MoitaLopes, 1999), namely, Aprender lnguas significa aprender conhecimento e seu uso"and "Anatureza socio-interacional de linguagem". These are the underlying starting points for activities onlearning about genres, as advocated by Holmes (1999):

Three tests for identifying a genre:

What is its purpose, its reason or its communicative function?How typical an example of the genre is it?Do we have a specific label or name for this genre?A similar basis is found for workshops run by Roxo (1999):Descreva as principais caratersticas de um gnero:o contexto social;a organizao retrica;os aspectos lxico-gramaticais.Faa uma proposta de apresentao desse gnero; sua explorao e prtica.


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These classroom tasks avoid the danger of presenting EFL materials or utterances in contextualvoids, or in make-believe situations. These activities ensure that the initial take-off focus is thecommunicative function of the utterances, the WHY things are being said, an aspect highlighted byMeurer (1999). The net result is that when learners are faced with an authentic text they can seethe wood from the trees. In other words, their awareness of the overall purpose of the genre meansthat they may be encouraged to approach the textusing their previous experience and knowledgeat a global level. In this manner learners can develop potential ways through the wood. This is veryoften achieved by pre-reading or pre-viewing or pre-listening activities which use another of theMEC "Characteristics", namely, "o conhecimento de mundo do aluno". Thus teachers maybrainstorm a topic, activate the students background knowledge or previous experience (known asactivating content schemata, Carrell, 1984) and develop a mind map of the key lexical items of atopic. Nuttall (1996:154) has provided several practical examples. There is, it must be said, nothingnew in this pedagogic tackof using pre-reading activities. One of Saint Augustine's dictums (in his5th century treatise on teaching) was to establish what the student knows and use this as a platformfor extending knowledge. Dewey (1938: 33) the American educationalist stressed the importance oflearner experience in reading, and Smith (1978) made his strong pleas for the use of prediction inthe teaching of reading in English more than 20 years ago. However, what may be considered asrelatively new, is the recourse to our learners' previous experience and background knowledge of arange of text types and genres from their everyday exposure in their Portuguese language. Thisactivating of readers rhetorical schematais what the MEC parmetros refer to as "o

conhecimento da organizao textual", which is one parameter for describing and exploiting genres.It is described as follows:

"textos escritos podem ser classificados em trs tipos bsicos: descritivos, narrativos eargumentativos... O aluno pode se apoiar ...nos tipos de texto que j conhece como usurio desua lngua materna...ele sabe que, ao se deparar com uma historia, deve esperar umdeterminado tipo de organizao..."

9. Practical classroom activities for the concepts of text-type and genre.All of us have formal, lexical or organisational knowledge from our experience of language textswhich expose us to hundreds of genres every day in our mother tongue and in general these genresfunction because both the writers, or artists, and ourselves, the readers, have previous knowledgeand experience of them. So why not use this vast resource with our learners of English? Oneproblem might be where to begin. On teacher development courses at the Universidade FederalFluminense, one useful starting point has been to define and exemplify a text typology, for written,

published texts, as defined by de Beaugrande and Dressler (1981: 182-206). For practicalpedagogic purposes these are limited to four basic text types, namely procedural, descriptive,narrative and argumentative, thus closely matching the text types cited by in the MEC guidelinescited above. Each teacher searches for examples from their learners reading in Portuguese. Aframework for each text type is established to include the communicative function, the globalorganisational macro-pattern, and the related discourse markers, typical noun-phrase constituents,cohesive elements and the dominant verb tense. This framework is developed as a discoverytechnique, from the teachers previous experience and background knowledge, and, onceestablished, the teachers can then apply a similar pedagogic activity with texts in Portuguese whichtheir EFL learners select. A second stage in the process is to select and analyse similar text typespublished in English.The move from text-types to genres can be achieved by an uncomplicated jumbling- matchingtask, in which the learners are required to build up separate parts of a version of the following table,

adapted from Holmes (1996):

TEXT TYPES GENRES

Descriptive

a tourist brochure

a Geography textbook

an encyclopedia


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a recipe

Procedural

a video camera manual.

a trekkers' guidebook.

a fairy story.Narrative a History textbook.

a business report.

a newspaper editorial.Argumentative a book review

a TEFL methods article.

By this straightforward means students learn to distinguish the text type as a limited concept,defined and easily recognised by a restricted number of formal characteristics, which galvanise, andcan be found in, an infinite range of genres. They can then appreciate that the term 'genre' refers to

a text which has a specific purpose or communicative function, which, in turn, may be easilyidentified. Finally, they are asked to complete the following assertions, in English or Portuguese,using examples of genres of their own choosing:

Descriptive passages are found in ....Procedural instructions will be found in ....Narrative sequences will be part of .....Argumentative prose will be an essential element in..

There is also a simple, interactive means of demonstrating and making learners conscious ofexactly how much they already know about genres and, at the same time, develop theirmetacognitive awareness of how they specify and recognise individual genres. Before the lesson,the teacher can photocopy a selection of between 10 and 20 easily identifiable everyday publishedwritten genres. These might be in Portuguese or English, or first in Portuguese, when the focus isno more than to establish the meaning of the concept. Subsequently, the same activity can bedone, with different range of genres, in English. Each genre is numbered and displayed on differentwalls of the classroom. In the classroom activity each learner is given a task-sheet with a list ofdefinitions of several common, everyday written genres, in English or Portuguese, including thosedisplayed, but with some room for doubt, each with a space beforehand to number each genre, andeach with a space below for learners to explain how they identified each genre. The learners thenmatch their list of definitions with a selection the numbered texts displayed and write notes on howthey identified each separate text as a specific genre. The students efforts at matching, and theirnotes, provide the teacher with the initial wherewithal to develop understanding of the concept. Thestarting point for discussion is thus the perceptions of the learners themselves, and in this wayfollows Saint Augustines educational dictums cited above.A similar activity to the first above, also involving the building up of a table, may help learners to seeexactly how many written genres they already know and how easy they recognise distinctionsbetween types of genres. Here they can first write their own lists of all the written genres they know,each on a separate piece of paper. These lists can then be mixed together in groups. Each group is

given a series of headings of wide genre-types, e.g.Academic Genres; Literary Genres;Newspaper Genres; Common/Everyday Written Genres; Entertainment Genres , etc. The learnerscan then try to match their own large genres list with the headings, and, finally, negotiate theirdecision-making.10. Research contrasting popular written genres in English and Portuguese.It may be useful at this stage to cite an example of genre-analytic research contrasting a popularwritten genre published in English and Portuguese.(2) The starting point for the choice of thespecific genre was a TEFL classroom difficulty related to motivation involving tween learners. Inearlier classes the choice of authentic written texts had provoked difficulties and demotivated thelearners. Thus, the pedagogic response was to analyse texts selected by the learners themselves


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as their most popular reading matter in Portuguese, and attempt to identify the communicativefunction, the writer source, and the target audience. At a second stage the researcher attempted toestablish either common writer moves, and/or repeated organisational macro-patterns, and/orspecific writer lexico-grammatical choices. Simultaneously, an effort was made to ascertainwhether, in texts published in contemporary British publications, with similar contexts of situation,the same generic elements were in evidence.The initial research tack was thus to ask learners to both complete questionnaires, and to applystructured interviews in pairs, to determine, albeit at a superficial level, their reading interests andhabits in both languages,and their perceived view of which texts match their L1 interests and/orlearning needs. The learner target group were pre-intermediate female tweens, urban dwellers, withlittle interest in their EFL syllabus. The activities designed to elicit information regarding theirreading habits revealed a common preference for weekly magazines aimed at female adolescents,overwhelmingly the Brazilian publication Querida (Pinheiro, 1997). Further probing showed that themost popular section of the magazine were the pseudo-psychological quizzes on topics related topeers, boy-friends, etc. The decision to focus on these quizzes in both languages was felt to bepedagogically sound for three reasons. First they focus on individual behaviour and thus have anintrinsic appeal given the egocentricity of the particular age group. Secondly, they had beenidentified as the most popular leisure reading in the mother tongue. Thirdly, because the quizzesare an interactive genre, they are easily exploitable in the EFL classroom.Each learner was asked to bring at least three different quizzes to class. The teacher then asked

them to decide which (non-lingustic) sections or elements were present in every text. A pyramidsequence ranged from individual analysis, to pair-work, group-work, then a whole-group, lock-stepdiscussion of findings. In this way, a framework of compulsory and optional sections (= writermoves) was established. At a later stage the same learners were asked to apply their framework ofwriter moves to quizzes taken from the British equivalent to Querida, namely, Seventeen. Once thegeneric moves were established for the quizzes in both languages, the learners felt at ease with thegenre in English. The teacher/ researcher then analysed the lexico-grammatical elements of thePortuguese texts using six categories cited by Rector (1995) as specific of the register of teen-talkor pubilect for informal peer interaction among Brazilian tweens ( Metaphors; Clitisizations; Ellipsis;Age-specific slang; Adverbials of degree: hyper, ultra etc.; Foreign language loan-words)Thesefindings were then compared, quantitatively and qualitatively with the presence of the same sixcategories found in the quizzes published in English. The comparisons of the rhetoric of the twolanguages were then established and described. Returning to the classroom, the learners were

asked to identify typical teen-talk or pubilectwhich they use with their peers. Having agreed onwhat might be the typical formal charasteristics, Rectors categories were then explained, at asuitably comprehensible level, and examples were identified by the learners using the quizzeswhich they had selected in Portuguese. At the final stages exemplification of the same sixcategories were made from the quizzes published in English. Pinheiro (1997) reported that thelearners were highly motivated, despite the fact that the focus was linguistic, that their participationimproved, as did their performances in subsequent evaluation of reading in English.11. ConclusionsThese text and generic dimensions are seen as one possible means of overcoming teacherresistance to change and enable them to perceive the wisdom of using their own and their learnersknowledge as a basis for pedagogic innovation, rather than constantly relying on imported models,of dubious value within Brazilian reality. These goals, in addition to those of building confidenceand developing autonomy, by both teachers and learners, might be acquired through Byrams

(1989:3) axiom of using explicit awareness of the mother tongue as a starting point. To recap, theapproach focusses on the organisational global patterns characteristic of certain wider text typesand genres, as well as the surface signalling of the same patterns. These can be illustrated frompublished written texts in Portuguese and English, which have been selected by both teachers andlearners alike. By providing relatively straightforward descriptive categories and building on theirown strengths of knowledge of Portuguese, the approach represents a first step towardsautonomous contrastive rhetoric, relatively easy to develop using practical classroom task-sheetssimilar to that included as an appendix.

References


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ALLEN, J.B.P., WIDDOWSON, H.G. Teaching the communicative use of English. I.R.A.L. Vol. 7.No. 1. 1974. P.1-17.BYRAM, M. Cultural studies in foreign language education. Clevedon. Multilingual Matters. 1989.CANDLIN, C., BRUTON,A. ETIC Occasional Paper. London. British Council. 1975.CARRELL, P.L. Evidence of a formal schemata in second language comprehension. LanguageLearning. Vol. 34. 1984. P. 87-112.DE BEAUGRANDE, R., DRESSLER,W. Introduction to Text Linguistics. London. Longman.1981.DEWEY, J. Education and Experience. New York. Collier- MacMillan. 1938.DOS SANTOS, T. Dependencia Economica y Cambio Revolucionario. Caracas. Nueva Izquierda.1970.EDGE, J. Co-operative Development. London. Longman. 1992.FREIRE, P. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. London. Sheen & Ward. 1972.GADOTTI, M. Paulo Freire: uma biobibliografia. So Paulo. Cortez. 1996.GIMENEZ, T. (org.) Os Sentidos do Projeto NAP. Londrina. UEL. 1999.HOLMES, J. Plenary Lecture on Genre Analysis. Conferncia Nacional do Projeto Nacional deIngls Instrumental. So Paulo. PUC. 1996.HOLMES, J. Workshop on Genre Analysis. Seminrio Regional do Projeto Nacional de InglsInstrumental. Rio de Janeiro. UERJ. 1999.ILICH, I. De-schooling Society. New York. Harper & Row. 1971.JUPP, T., HODLIN, S. Industrial English. London. Heinemann. 1975.

KANDIAH, T. Foreword: Centering the Periphery of English. In Parakrama, A. De-hegemonizingLanguage Standards. London. MacMillan. 1995.KRASHEN, S.D., TERRELL,T.D. The Natural Approach to language acquisition in the classroom.Hayward, CA. Alemany Press. 1993.LAING, R.D. Mental Knots. Glasgow. R.D. Laing Trust. 1970.LOZANOV, G. Suggestology and Outlines of Suggestopedia. New York. Gordon & Breach. 1978.McGEE, B. Educational & Learning: Recent Research Findings. The Learning Zone. HemelHempstead. BBC Television/ Open University. 2001.MALEY, A. ELT. Past, Present and Future. English Language Teaching Journal, Vol. 46. No. 2.1992. P. 97-100.MEURER, J.L.Aspectos do componente sociolgico do ensino da linguagem. Em Intercmbio Vol.VIII . So Paulo. LAEL. PUC. 1999. P. 129-134.MOSCOWITZ, G. Caring and sharing in the foreign language class.Rowley, Mass. Newbury House.

1978.MOITA LOPES, L.P.A contribuio da Lingstica Aplicada na formulao dos ParmetrosCurriculares Nacionais de Lngua Estrangeira: A questo dos temas transversais. Em IntercmbioVol. VIII . So Paulo. AEL. PUC-SP. 1999. P. 17-24.NUTTALL,C. Teaching reading skills as a foreign language. London. Heinemann. 1996.OLHER,R.M. Mission Statements: Site of social and ideological action. Dissertao de Mestrado.Florianpolis. UFSC. 2000.OXFORD,M. Educational & Learning: Recent Research Findings. The Learning Zone. HemelHempstead. BBC Television/ Open University. 2001.Parmetros Curriculares para o Ensino de Lnguas Estrangeiras. Braslia. MEC. 1998.PENNYCOOK, A. The concept of method, interested knowledge and the politics of languageteaching. TESOL QUARTERLY. Vol.23. No. 4. 1989. P.589-618.PINHEIRO, R. DE S.A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of British and Brazilian Quizzes for

Adolescents". M.A. thesis. Niteri, RJ. Universidade Federal Fluminense. 1997.PONTES, A. DOSS.R.Action Research Project. Unpublished paper. Universidade Federal Fluminense. 2001.POSTMAN, N., WEINGARTNER, C. Teaching English as a Subversive Activity. London. Penguin.1981.PUCHTA, H. Magic Time. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1995.RECTOR,M.A fala dos jovems. Petrpolis. Vozes.1995.RICHARDS, J.C. The secret life of methods. TESOL QUARTERLY. Vol. 18. No. 1. 1984. P.7-23.RINVOLUCRI,M. Culture Matters: thinking patterns that affect our classrooms. Modern EnglishTeacher. Vol. 5. No. 2. 1996. P. 39-46.RODGERS, C. Freedom to learn for the 80s. Columbus. C.E. Merrill. 1983.


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ROXO, R.H.R. Elaborando uma progresso didtica de gneros. Em Intercmbio Vol. VIII . SoPaulo. LAEL. PUC.1999. P. 101-118.SHEPHERD, D. TEFL methods articles: text analysis and reader interaction. Unpublished Ph.D.thesis. University of Durham, UK.1992.SMILEY, T. Educational & Learning: Recent Research Findings. The Learning Zone. HemelHempstead. BBC Television/ Open University. 2001SMITH, F. Reading. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1978STEVICK, E.W. Memory,Meaning and Method. Rowley, MA. Newbury House. 1976.TOLLEFSON, J. Planning Language, Planning Inequality. London. Longman. 1991.WAGNER, J. Innovation in foreign language teaching. In Kasper, G. AILA Review. Vol. 5. 1988. P.99-117.WHITE, R.V. The next big thing: Inter-cultural competence. Plenary Lecture Unpublished (?) 1stBRAZ-IATEFL Conference. Rio de Janeiro.1999.WILLIAMS, A. Educational & Learning: Recent Research Findings. The Learning Zone. HemelHempstead. BBC TV/ Open University. 2001.Appendix

UFF. ESPECIALIZAO. WRITTEN TEXT ANALYSIS.PROF. DAVID SHEPHERD.

A DIY (DO-IT-YOURSELF) GENRE-ANALYSIS KIT(3)

Please read carefully through the text(s) and decide:1.What is the probable profession or job of the author?_______________________________________________________________2.Who did the author have in mind when (s)he wrote the text (i.e., what type of audience doyou think the text is aimed at)?_______________________________________________________________3.In what context do you think you would (normally) find this text (i.e., when and where wasthe text written)?_______________________________________________________________4. Why was the text written (i.e., what is the aim/communicative purpose)?_______________________________________________________________5. How is the information in the text organized (i.e., how is it coherent)?

________________________________________________________________6.What seem to be the formal/ register characteristics of the genre:- How do parts of the text bind together cohesively (cohesion)?_______________________________________________________________- What lexical items seem to be the specific (i.e., vocabulary choices)?_______________________________________________________________- How do the different sections of the genre use different verb tenses?_______________________________________________________________7. Can you give this genre a name (i.e., are there any labels for this genre)?_______________________________________________________________8. What are the conventions (organisational & formal) common to this genre?_______________________________________________________________9. To what extent do any of the texts stretch these conventions (i.e., is there a text which

seems different to the others)? How & Why?_______________________________________________________________10.Can you think of a set of texts (i.e., another genre with a different aim or communicativepurpose) with similar organisational & formal elements?_______________________________________________________________


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Teaching Brazilian Tweens

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