Peer correction through digital tools as formative mediations in the teaching and learning of French as a second language

Author(s)

Arthur Marra

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2018-09-28

Examining board members

Eliane Gouvêa Lousada; Anise de Abreu Gonçalves D'Orange Ferreira; Marilia Mendes Ferreira; Joaquim Dolz Mestre

• Advisor: Eliane Gouvêa Lousada

Abstract

This thesis aimed to study the development of writing in French as a Second Language based on textual genres of Brazilian university students and the influence of feedback given by anglophone Canadian students through digital tools. The data were collected in a telecollaboration project including the University of São Paulo and the University of Victoria, Canada, during a semester. The project proposed interactions between Brazilian and Canadian students through three digital tools: Facebook, GoogleDocs and Skype. As part of the activities of a French as a foreign language course, Brazilian students wrote three text genres: fait divers, récit de voyage and récit littéraire court, which were corrected by the Canadian students asynchronously, with GoogleDocs, and synchronously, by Skype. The research was based on the theoretical-methodological framework of sociodiscursive interactionism (SDI) (BRONCKART, 1999/2012, SCHNEUWLY; DOLZ, 2004, MACHADO, 2009), which is based on the studies proposed by Vigotski (1997, 1998; 2004; 2007). In order to understand the difficulties and the development of writing in French of Brazilian students, we also relied on the concepts proposed by SDI which focus on language didactics, such as language capacities (DOLZ, PASQUIER, BRONCKART, 1993) and didactic model (DE PIETRO, SCHNEUWLY, 2003), as well as on concepts proposed by Vigotski, such as instrument and zone of proximal development (VIGOTSKI, 2004, 2007, 2008). In addition, we used the studies about correction proposed by Tapia (2016), as well as other researches about correction and the use of technology for language teaching, to understand the feedback given by the Canadian students and to investigate its role in the development of language capacities of the Brazilian students. In our analysis we could observe that, in general, the Brazilian students developed the language capacities throughout the project and that the feedback proposed by the Canadian students acted as an instrument for such development. We identified a certain difference between the form and the content of the corrections in relation to the digital tools GoogleDocs and Skype. We also verified that the lexicon, the nominal and the verbal cohesion were more often corrected. Moreover, we observed that the influence of corrections on the development of the language capacities of the Brazilian students occurred, especially, in relation to two of the most corrected linguistic operations: nominal cohesion and verbal cohesion. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/19958-8 - Peer correction through digital tools as formative mediation in the teaching and learning as French as a foreign language
• Grantee: Arthur Marra de Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master