As aulas de oratória : um espaço de formação e de construção identitária

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the oratory of students of the first semester of the Bachelor of Arts, at Universidade Federal de Pelotas, based on the questioning: which positions of subject are taken in class in a moment of evaluation in which the youths are summoned to speak?, and based on those positions taken, how are the pupils subjectivized and build certain identity speeches for themselves? Besides that, this study aims to analyze such oratory, in a sense of understanding them as a pedagogical activity which allows the occupation of certain subject positions – the process of identity constitution – and understand the classroom as a privileged place where complex speeches circulate, and, therefore, they constitute social subjects. For analysis purposes, the theoretical framework is supported by the Cultural Studies (CS) and by the Transdisciplinary Applied Linguistics (TAL), specifically regarding identity issues. From the perspective of Cultural Studies, it is possible to analyze the representations and identity based on the speeches, since language is understood as a constructor of identity. The Transdisciplinary Applied Linguistics, in turn, meets the identity issues, as regards the social subject to be built by the senses produced from the uses and social, political and economic implications. The main theoretical assumptions, which understand the language as constitutor of meanings, were based on authors such as Fabrício (2006), Hall (1997a), Moita-Lopes (2001, 2006a), among others. Regarding discussions that involve the questions of identity and representation, authors like Hall (1997b, 2000, 2011), Silva (1995b, 2000a, 2000b), Woodward (2000), among others were used. Therefore, as a principle, the fact that the language serves as a mechanism which plays a key role in the construction and movement of meaning, this research aims to understand the classroom as a place in which there is, besides the process teaching/learning, the production of identity. Based on the analysis, it is concluded that the students are subjectivized and build identities, occupying positions of subject in the classroom. The positions, for example, a subject concerned with issues that include respect, dignity and equality, as well as a critical subject, politically aware and knowledgeable were filled not only at the time of speaking, but also in the discussion after each presentation, in which students were positioned and constituted while social subjects that were meaningful to themselves and to the world.