Portuguese teachers’ perceptions of grammar teaching
Cristina Vieira da Silva
ESEPF/Research Centre on Child Studies, University of Minho, PortugalCristina Vieira da Silva completed her PhD in Linguistics in 2003. She is currently a Coordinator Professor at the Higher School of Education of Paula Frassinetti in Porto and a member of CIEC (Research Centre on Child Studies) at the University of Minho. Her areas of research cover language teaching and learning, literacy education, reading, writing and grammar teaching.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2529-4135
Íris Susana Pires Pereira
Íris Susana Pires Pereira - Research Centre in Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho, PortugalÍris Susana Pires Pereira is a member of the Research Center on Education (CIEd) at the Institute of Education, University of Minho, in Portugal, where she holds the position of Assistant Professor of language and literacy education. Her research focuses on language and literacy learning in the early years, with a particular interest in the specialised forms of the language of schooling, now including digital resources for meaning making. She also investigates the role of specialized language in teachers’ professional learning and development.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0647-2319
Isabel Sebastião
Isabel Sebastião - Centre of Linguistics of the University of Porto, PortugalIsabel Sebastião is a post-doc researcher at the Centre of Linguistics of the University of Porto (CLUP) funded by a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology. She has developed research work in discourse analysis and teaching of Portuguese language as mother tongue and foreign language. Isabel Sebastião has been sharing her research findings in articles published in scientific journals and in conference presentations in Portugal and abroad.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0896-4384
Résumé
The teaching of grammar, as envisaged in the official curriculum, has been identified as challenging for many Portuguese teachers. In this paper, we present a study conducted with the aim of characterizing primary and middle school teachers’ perceptions about their own grammar teaching, utilizing Shulman’s model (1987) as adapted by Grossman (1990). We carried out a collective case study, using a questionnaire survey (n=200 teachers) to determine the importance teachers attach to teaching grammar, the degree of perceived adequacy of their knowledge and the difficulties they identify in this area of their teaching. The results reveal that teachers’ perceptions are shaped by multiple decisive factors including content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of the curricula and general educational knowledge. Based on these findings, we advocate the need to rethink how teachers are trained and to (re) create awareness about the complexity of knowledge in grammar teaching and its role in effective student learning.Mots-clés :
grammar teaching, grammatical content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, curricular knowledgeRéférences
Boivin, M.-C. 2018. A review of the current empirical research on grammar instruction in the francophone regions. Contribution to the special issue Working on Grammar at School in L1- Education: Empirical Research across Linguistic Regions. L1 – Educational Studies in Language and Literature 17: 1–48.
Boivin, M.-C., Fontich, X., Funke, R. Folgado, M.-J. & Myhill, D. 2018. Working on grammar at school in L1 education: Empirical research across linguistic regions. Introduction to the special issue Working on grammar at school in L1 education: Empirical research across linguistic regions. L1 – Educational Studies in Language and Literature 18: 1–6.
Buescu, H. C., Morais, J., Rocha, M. R & Magalhães, V. F. 2015. Programa e metas curriculares de português do ensino básico [Programand Curriculum Goals for the Portuguese language]. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação e Ciência.
https://www.dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/Basico/Metas/Portugues/pmcpeb_julho_2015.pdf (15 January 2019).
Buescu, H. C., Morais, J., Rocha, M. R. & Magalhães, V. F. 2012. Metas curriculares de português: ensino básico. 1.º, 2.º e 3.º ciclos.[Portuguese Language Curriculum Goals for1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles]. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação e Ciência.
Chevallard, Y. 1985. La Transposition didactique: du savoir savant au savoir enseigné. Grenoble: La Pensée Sauvage.
Costa, J. & Aguiar e Silva, V. (org.). (n.d.) Dicionário terminológico. [Terminological Dictionary] http://dt.dge.mec.pt/ (15 January 2019).
Costa, J. 2007. Grammatical knowledge of the output of secondary education: current status and consequences in relation to reading, writing and speaking skills. In: C. Reis (org.) Proceedings of the CIEP. Lisboa: DGIDC – Ministério da Educação. 149–165.
DEB. 2001. Currículo Nacional do Ensino Básico – Competências Essenciais. [Basic Education – Essential Skills]. Lisboa: Departamento da Educação Básica – Ministério da Educação. http://www.cfaematosinhos.eu/NPPEB_01_CN.pdf. (15 January 2019).
DESPACHO n.º 17169/2011. Diário da República, 2.ª série N.º 245 de 23 de dezembro de 2011. p. 50080.
https://www.dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/Basico/Legislacao/despacho_17169_2011.pdf (30 April 2017).
DGIDC. 2008. Posição dos docentes relativamente ao ensino da língua portuguesa.[Teachers’ position regarding Portuguese language teaching]. Lisboa: Ministério da Educação, DGIDC.
http://www.dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/Basico/Documentos/posicao_docentes_seminario.pdf (15 January 2019).
Duarte, I. 1986. O ensino da gramática: do imobilismo às modas. [Grammar Teaching: From Inaction to Current Trends]. Palavras 9: 38–42.
Duarte, I. 1998. Algumas boas razões para ensinar gramática. [Some good reasons to teach grammar.]. In: A língua mãe e a paixão de aprender. Actas. Porto: Areal, 110–123.
Duarte, I. 2000. Língua Portuguesa: instrumentos de análise.[Portuguese Language: instruments of analysis.]. Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.
Ferreira, P. 2012. Conceções e práticas dos professores de língua portuguesa em relação ao ensino e à aprendizagem da gramática: um estudo exploratório no 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico [Concepts and practices of Portuguese language teachers in relation to grammar teaching and learning: an exploratory study at Middle School level.] Lisboa: Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa: IPL. https://repositorio.ipl.pt/handle/10400.21/2321. (15 January 2019).
Grossman, P. 1990. The Making of a Teacher: Teacher Knowledge and Teacher Education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Milian, M. 2014. Working on grammar at school. In: T. Ribas, X. Fontich & O. Guasch (eds.), Grammar at School – Research on Metalinguistic Activity in Language Education, 43–74. Brussels: Peter Lang S.A.
Myhill, D. 2018. Grammar as a meaning-making resource for improving writing. Contribution to a special issue Working on Grammar at School in L1-Education: Empirical Research across Linguistic Regions. L1 – Educational Studies in Language and Literature 18: 1–21. https://doi.org/10.17239/L1ESLL-2018.18.04.04 (15 January 2019).
Nespor, J. 1987. The Role of Beliefs in the Practice of Teaching. Journal of Curriculum Studies 19: 317–328.
Pereira, Í. , Viana, F. L. & Silva, C.V. 2015. Sobre a formação do professor alfabetizador. Contributos para a caracterização do conhecimento de base do professor alfabetizador. [On literacy teacher training. Contributing factors in the knowledge base of literacy teachers]. Revista Perspectiva 33 (1): 231–259.
Reis, C. (coord.).2009. Programa de Português do Ensino Básico.[Program for Portuguese language teaching in Basic Education]. Lisboa: DGIDC - Ministério da Educação.
http://www.dge.mec.pt/sites/default/files/Basico/Metas/Portugues/programa_portugues_revogado.pdf (15 January 2019).
Roldão, M. do Céu. 2007. Função docente: natureza econstrução do conhecimento profissional. [Teaching: nature and construction of professional knowledge]. Revista Brasileira de Educação v. 12 (34): 94–103.
Shulman, L. S. 2004. The Wisdom of Practice: Essays on Teaching, Learning, and Learning to Teach. S. Wilson (ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Shulman, L. S. 1987. Knowledge and teaching: foundations of the new reform. Harvard Educational Review 57 (1): 1–22.
Shulman, L. S. 1986. Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, Feb., 4–14.
Silva, C. V. 2008. O valor do conhecimento gramatical no ensino-aprendizagem da língua [The value of grammatical knowledge in language teaching and learning.]. Revista Saber (e) Educar 13: 89–106.
Silva, C. V. 2010. Para uma didáctica da gramática: a aula de Língua Portuguesa como um Laboratório de Língua. [Towards a grammar didactics: The Portuguese Language class as a Language Laboratory]. Textos selecionados do XXV Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística. Lisboa: APL, 717–732.
Silva, C. V. 2015. De Programa em Programa até às Metas Curriculares de Português: o desenho de percursos de aprendizagem na educação linguística. [From Programs to Curriculum Goals for the Portuguese language: learning pathway design for language teaching]. In: A. M. Ferreira, & M. F. Brasete (eds.), Pelos Mares da língua portuguesa 2. Aveiro: UA Editora, 283–294.
Silva, C. V. & Pereira, I. 2014. Do conhecimento gramatical ao conhecimento didático no ensino da Gramática: perceções de docentes do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico. [From grammatical knowledge to didactic knowledge in Grammar teaching: primary school teacher perceptions]. In: M.A. Flores, C. Coutinho & J. A. Lencastre (org.), Atas do congresso Formação e trabalho docente na sociedade da aprendizagem. Braga: CIEC, 657–667.
Stake, R. 2000. Case Studies. In: N. K. Denzin, Lincoln, Yvonna S. (Ed.) Handbook of Qualitative Research, 134–164. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Watson, A. 2015. The problem of grammar teaching: a case study of the relationship between a teacher’s beliefs and pedagogical practice. Language and Education 29 (4): 332–346.
ESEPF/Research Centre on Child Studies, University of Minho, Portugal
Cristina Vieira da Silva completed her PhD in Linguistics in 2003. She is currently a Coordinator Professor at the Higher School of Education of Paula Frassinetti in Porto and a member of CIEC (Research Centre on Child Studies) at the University of Minho. Her areas of research cover language teaching and learning, literacy education, reading, writing and grammar teaching.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2529-4135Íris Susana Pires Pereira - Research Centre in Education, Institute of Education, University of Minho, Portugal
Íris Susana Pires Pereira is a member of the Research Center on Education (CIEd) at the Institute of Education, University of Minho, in Portugal, where she holds the position of Assistant Professor of language and literacy education. Her research focuses on language and literacy learning in the early years, with a particular interest in the specialised forms of the language of schooling, now including digital resources for meaning making. She also investigates the role of specialized language in teachers’ professional learning and development.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0647-2319Isabel Sebastião - Centre of Linguistics of the University of Porto, Portugal
Isabel Sebastião is a post-doc researcher at the Centre of Linguistics of the University of Porto (CLUP) funded by a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology. She has developed research work in discourse analysis and teaching of Portuguese language as mother tongue and foreign language. Isabel Sebastião has been sharing her research findings in articles published in scientific journals and in conference presentations in Portugal and abroad.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0896-4384
