Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: PAULA BASTO LEVAY

English in Postgraduate Studies: contributions to the construction of online teaching and learning processes.

English teaching and learning; postgraduate studies; pedagogical
guidelines; distance education; lifelong learning.

This thesis was motivated by evidence showing a gap in the participation of
Master's and Doctoral students in academic activities in the English language,
which constitutes a weakness in the context of students' lives and the university.
Faced with this issue, we conducted qualitative research, grounded in Design
Based Research, in which iterative steps and cycles were carried out with male
and female students, experts, and using institutional documents to identify the
specificities of the context, conceive, and refine an educational solution for this
identified challenge. As a proposed solution and the overall objective of the
research, we developed a set of pedagogical guidelines for the construction of
online English teaching and learning processes that better align with the needs
of students and universities in the context of postgraduate studies. Grounded in
the socio-historical-cultural perspective (Liberali, 2009) primarily drawing from
Dewey and Vygotsky, and Connectivism (Siemens, 2008), with contributions
from distance education in dialogue with the process of teaching and learning
English (Tedesco et al., 2010; Litto; Formiga, 2009; Bittencourt, 2015, Harmer,
2007), and concepts of (multi)literacy (Soares, 2002; Ribeiro, 2013; Rojo, 2012;
Vergna, 2021), as well as multimodality and multimedia (Jewitt, 2009; Rojo,
2012; Picciano, 2017, Rabello, 2021; Ribeiro, 2021), we hypothesized that an
online English teaching and learning process, focused on real-life academic
activities and in a multimodal and multimedia conception, would be more
suitable for the reality of postgraduate studies, considering both students and
institutional issues. To contribute more effectively to the theoretical-practical
field in question, we sought to more thoroughly identify the real demands and
pedagogical aspects, such as approaches, methods, dynamics, activities,
format, and resources, that should be integrated into an online English teaching
and learning process. Data were collected through a questionnaire, interviews,
documentary research, and focus groups and were analyzed using Saldaña's
(2013) coding by cycles, comparing with the theory. After the analyses, it was
possible to confirm the thesis raised for the study. The main result of this
research comprises didactic-methodological, structural, and technological
aspects that make up the set of guidelines. In addition, suggestions for activities

and names of tools, resources, and artifacts were listed. Without intending to
point out a ready-made and rigid educational solution, we hope that the
guidelines resulting from this study can be reflected upon, adapted, re-signified,
complemented, and used in other scenarios, supporting the offering of courses
and disciplines that enhance students' involvement in real academic social
experiences in the English language.