Teaching and learning conceptions underlying the activities of a Portuguese textbook

Projeto Teláris

Abstract

This work has the objective to identify the learning theoretical perspectives which are mobilized to subsidize the activities that constitute the textbook Projeto Teláris adopted by public primary schools. In order to contribute to the work of the teacher in the classroom and to the reflection on the role of LD. To do that, we analyzed Unit 3 of the referred Portuguese textbook Projeto Teláris, produced for the last years of primary school and approved by our PNLD educational council (Plano Nacional do Livro Didático) in the 2014-2016 triennium. The Portuguese textbook selection criteria were: a) to be approved by PNLD; b) to be one of the most adopted textbooks in public schools in Santa Maria, RS. As main theoretical framework, we considered the behaviorist (SKINNER, 1974), cognitivist (CHOMSKY, 1997) and sociocultural (VYGOTSKY, 1975) learning perspectives. In the data analysis, we identified the unit rhetorical organization as well as the learning perspectives subsidizing its activities. As results, we conclude the textbook is aligned at times with a behaviorist view, through memorization activities, and at other times with the cognitivist perspective, by the focus on some reading strategies, by the use of authentic texts and by the design of grammar exercises based on these texts explored in the unit.