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ARQUIVO 27 -  PERGUNTAS  E  RESPOSTAS  DE  JANEIRO A JUNHO 2005

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Este foro é aberto ao público. Todos são convidados a perguntar, questionar, divergir, opinar, ou esclarecer. Mande suas consultas e opiniões para um dos endereços abaixo e nós responderemos com a maior brevidade possível. As mensagens de interesse geral, juntamente com as respostas, serão publicadas com o nome do autor. Respostas já publicadas podem sofrer revisões.

Dear Marceli,

A DIALECT is a distinctive variety of language identified by phonological, lexical and grammatical features within a speech community. According to McArthur, "although the term usually refers to regional speech, it can be extended to cover differences according to class and occupation; such terms as regional dialect, social dialect, class dialect, occupational dialect, urban dialect, and rural dialect are all used by linguists."

A PIDGIN in a modern sense is almost the same as an interlanguage - perhaps a fossilized interlanguage: a hybrid makeshift language created by non-native speakers and characterized by linguistic improvisation and compromise due to the interference of the speakers' native language. According to McArthur, "The term is sometimes extended to refer to the early stages of any instance of second-language acquisition when learners acquire a minimal form of the target language often influenced by their own primary language ..." See more about interference and interlanguage here.

Dialects are always native variations while pidgins are typically foreign. Therefore, when we speak of "Brazilian English" (inglês aportuguesado) we are not speaking of a dialect, but rather of a pidgin.

Regards,
Ricardo - EMB

REFERÊNCIA BIBLIOGRÁFICA:
McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Companion to the English Language. Oxford University Press, 1992.

Prezada Gládis,
Receio não haver teorias inovadoras que preconizem o uso de leitura de textos para o ensino de línguas estrangeiras. Veja o que Hammerly diz a respeito:

The written language is two steps removed from reality, as it is based on the spoken language and it is the latter that refers to reality. When we read, especially when we read unfamiliar material (which everything in the second language initially is), we say what we read to ourselves and listen to ourselves say it. This is true until the very advanced level, when rapid reading becomes possible, and even then we say to ourselves the new words. That silent speech occurs during reading has been thoroughly demonstrated.
....
Consequently, it is essential to establish an oral foundation in the second language before reading starts, so as to ensure that silent speech while reading will be based on second rather than native language speech patterns. (486)

Veja que Hammerly refere-se ao ensino de línguas estrangeiras em geral. Na verdade, ele trabalha nos Estados Unidos como professor de Espanhol, uma realidade bem diferente da nossa. O argumento de Hammerly adquire redobrada força se aplicado ao ensino de inglês como língua estrangeira, devido ao fato notório de ter o inglês, além de uma absoluta imprevisibilidade de acentuação tônica, a pior correlação entre ortografia e pronúncia de todas línguas modernas. Ou seja, a ortografia não serve como guia de interpretação fonética do texto. Pelo contrário, é enganadora por induzir o leitor aprendiz a interpretar erroneamente. Portanto, contato prematuro com a língua na sua forma escrita, na forma de leitura e interpretação de textos, pode ser prejudicial para o aprendizado do aluno no futuro.

Considerando as peculiaridades do ensino de inglês no Brasil, especialmente as raras oportunidades de contato com a língua falada (e falada corretamente) bem como o baixo nível de proficiência oral da maioria dos próprios professores, minha sugestão é que você considere, junto com seu professor orientador, um redirecionamento em sua pesquisa.

Atenciosamente,
Ricardo - EMB

REFERÊNCIA BIBLIOGRÁFICA:
Hammerly, Hector. Synthesis in Second Language Teaching. An Introduction to Languistics. Blaine, Wash.: Second Language Publications, 1982.

Prezado Amigo,
Você é que está certo.

O verbo "have", quando usado como verbo principal, não é contraído. O motivo é simples: ao contrário do português, que é uma língua do tipo syllable-timed, o inglês é uma língua do tipo stressed-timed, nas quais a diferença entre pontos tônicos e segmentos atônicos é muito maior. De acordo com Quirk*, full verbs (verbos principais), assim como substantivos, adjetivos e advérbios, são open-class words, sobre os quais recai o stress e portanto não são contraídos. Já preposições, pronomes, artigos, conjunções e verbos auxiliares são closed-class words, sobre os quais não recai stress, e portanto são normalmente contraídos. As contrações ortográficas dos verbos auxiliares retratam, em parte, o ritmo natural da língua.

* Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman 1985.

Atenciosamente,
Ricardo - EMB

Dear Rodolfo,
Your opinion is correct and Leah's answer sounds perfect to me. As I have nothing to add, let me just reproduce it here:

The use of the word "teacher" in a classroom setting in English-speaking countries may occur only in elementary school but very occasionally, perhaps only in the first few days of the school year, when the little ones haven't memorized the new teacher's name yet. Never in high school or elsewhere.
Leah on March 10, 2005

This is a typical case of idiomatic contrast and a common interference of Portuguese and for this reason it can easily occur in English schools all over Brazil.

Regards,
Ricardo - EMB

Dear Brian,
Thank you for your message and for the kind words regarding my work.

I visited your site and was positively surprised. You offer an excellent program at a very competitive price. The only little problem you may face in bringing Brazilians to Salt Lake City is the visa. Are you entitled by the Immigration Service to issue I-20s? Thank you for the logo and link to our site. I appreciate your recognition.

My daughter Alice acquired 3 entirely different languages – Portuguese, Japanese and English – according to the environment she was living in. She was born in Brazil and was a Portuguese native speaker until the age of 3, when we moved to Japan. In about 6 months, Japanese started to take over as her native language, although Portuguese was still being spoken at home but not all the time as we were initially living with my in-laws. We lived in Japan for more than 3 years. At some point, she became 100% "japanized" and started to feel uncomfortable speaking Portuguese, creating an obstacle in our relationship. At that point we moved to the US. In her first weeks of elementary school I was called by the school to discuss about what they thought could be a mental handicap of Alice. I told them she was normal, just going through a language and culture shock. In a few months she was selected to receive "The Student of the Month" award for her achievements. When we arrived back to Brazil 2 years later English had taken over as her native language and I would use her as a performance model to analyze English pronunciation in my studies of phonology. Then, for a faster adaptation to the Brazilian school, we hired a private teacher of Portuguese, a young lady whose responsibility was basically to play with her. In a short time her Portuguese became native again. Later in adolescence, Alice spent a year of high school in Japan and still later a college year in the US on a Rotary Club scholarship.

Today, at the age of 26, Alice is a professional interpreter in Porto Alegre and the conclusion we can draw here is that language ability is a fluid thing. It's constantly changing for better or worse according to the environment in which the speaker is.

Initially, in my ignorance, I tried to teach Alice English while in Japan, when she was about 5, but she refused to respond to my efforts. This, together with my unsuccessful attempts to practice Japanese with my wife, helped me to understand that language is an essential characteristic of the relationship between people. Two well-acquainted people can't suddenly change the language they usually speak for the sake of practicing and learning. The use of a foreign language feels awkward and artificial, and children, for being very spontaneous, are the first ones to reject engagement. What actually works is the OPOL (one-person-one-language) principle.

So, the key to multilingualism is to provide different language environments and the necessary time of exposure to each one. But environments are made of people and for this reason I don't believe in multilingual environments, but rather in multiple environments.

You can easily find a large quantity of books and research papers on child language acquisition and bilingualism. Thank you for your participation. We are honored to receive messages from experienced professionals like you.

Regards,
Ricardo - EMB

Prezada Tania,
No tratamento de erros cometidos por aprendizes de língua estrangeira, não há um único procedimento que seja mais correto do que outros. A atitude ideal do facilitador vai depender muito do tipo de aprendiz. Aprendizes introvertidos, que enfrentam obstáculos de natureza psicológica como falta de autoconfiança, etc., precisam de tratamento muito diferente do que aprendizes extrovertidos, com excesso de autoconfiança e, muitas vezes, exibindo desvios fossilizados.

De uma forma geral, êxito na comunicação (comprehensible output) deve sempre ser valorizado, independente da precisão nas formas usadas, especialmente com iniciantes. Isto recompensa e encoraja o esforço criativo, elemento essencial no aprendizado e uso de línguas. O aprendiz desenvolve a precisão das formas, gradativamente, na medida em que recebe o input apropriado.

Erros muito frequentemente observados em cursinhos atrelados a planos didáticos de Livro 1, 2 e 3, é a preocupação excessiva com a precisão das formas e a heterogeneidade dos grupos quanto a características de personalidade dos alunos. É preferível ter alunos de níveis linguísticos diferentes em um mesmo grupo, do que de personalidades diferentes.

Atenciosamente,
Ricardo - EMB