Educação em língua inglesa as questões de gênero e feminismo no curso de letras inglês

Abstract

Through this Master’s degree research, it is intended to investigate the professional qualification of teachers of the English Language and Literature graduation course in order to understand in what ways themes like feminism and gender are present in this qualification. We consider - as theoretical grounding - Louro (1997) and Butler (1999), for whom the concept of gender is part of the identity of the person. Gender surrounds us in social practice environments daily, such as religion, work environments and, as the focus of this research, educational contexts. Silvestre (2015) complements that “(...) the school has the responsibility to offer access to foreign/additional languages so that the learners can know, participate and give new contours to the their own reality; transit in diversity; reflect on the world in which one lives and act critically and creatively” (SILVESTRE, 2015, p. 64, our translation). Therefore, it is sought to answer the questions: Are teacher education courses concerned with discussions about genres and sexualities in their pedagogical practices and curricula? Can gender and sexuality studies contribute to teacher education? Are teachers educated to deal with critical education and feminist theories in their training? Grounded in André (2008) and Creswell (2009), this research is qualitative and ethnographic, in which we describe and analyze points of view, understandings and cultural habits of certain groups in their contexts, classes in the English Language and Literature course, taking my interpretations and context of students and teachers into account during the analysis. We conducted data collection and analysis in a qualitative way, in which we used interviews and conversations with teachers and students and observations of classes with the objective of better understanding how the perspective of these themes are present in the environment in question. Thus, it was found that feminism and gender, even if timidly at some moments, are issues that concern teachers and students of the specific groups analyzed throughout the research.