EXPLORATORY PRACTICE AND NEW LITERACY STUDIES: BUILDING EPISTEMOLOGICAL CONNECTIONS

Resumen

In this paper, we present Exploratory Practice, a critical-reflexive approach to teaching-learning languages and to research, which focuses on quality of classroom life as its main tenet. We understand that the discussions which have been in progress in the area of literacy studies are also of interest to language teachers and learners as exploratory practitioners. According to Miller (2013) and Moraes Bezerra (2012, 2014, 2015), practitioners’ pedagogical work must be directed to the meaning-making possibilities which can empower language users and can contribute to reinventing the social world. We make some theoretical considerations on Exploratory Practice (ALLWRIGHT & HANKS, 2009; MILLER, 2009), as well as on the New Literacy Studies proposal (GEE, 2000; STREET, 2003, 2005; LEA & STREET, 2006; STREET, 2009), to help us establish a dialogue between both areas. In order to best reflect on this dialogue, we present a teaching-learning experience developed with the help of college students who are in the initial teacher education process of becoming teachers of English as a foreign language.