Questões de Concursos Língua Inglesa

Read Text II and answer question

In May 2023, the U.S. Department of Education released a report titled Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations. The department had conducted listening sessions in 2022 with more than 700 people, including educators and parents, to gauge their views on AI. The report noted that “constituents believe that action is required now in order to get ahead of the expected increase of AI in education technology – and they want to roll up their sleeves and start working together.” People expressed anxiety about “future potential risks” with AI but also felt that “AI may enable achieving educational priorities in better ways, at scale, and with lower costs.

AI could serve – or is already serving – in several teachingand-learning roles, for instance: instructional assistants: AI’s ability to conduct human-like conversations opens up possibilities for adaptive tutoring or instructional assistants that can help explain difficult concepts to students. AI-based feedback systems can offer constructive critiques on student writing, which can help students fine-tune their writing skills. Some research also suggests certain kinds of prompts can help children generate more fruitful questions about learning. AI models might also support customized learning for students with disabilities and provide translation for English language learners; and teaching assistants: AI might tackle some of the administrative tasks that keep teachers from investing more time with their peers or students. Early uses include automated routine tasks such as drafting lesson plans, creating differentiated materials, designing worksheets, developing quizzes, and exploring ways of explaining complicated academic materials. AI can also provide educators with recommendations to meet student needs and help teachers reflect, plan, and improve their practice.

Along with these potential benefits come some difficult challenges and risks the education community must navigate. For example, both teachers and students face the risk of becoming overly reliant on AI-driven technology. For students, this could stifle learning, especially the development of critical thinking. This challenge extends to educators as well. While AI can expedite lesson-plan generation, speed does not equate to quality. Teachers may be tempted to accept the initial AI-generated content rather than devote time to reviewing and refining it for optimal educational value.

In light of these challenges, the Department of Education has stressed the importance of keeping “humans in the loop” when using AI, particularly when the output might be used to inform a decision. As the department encouraged in its 2023 report, teachers, learners, and others need to retain their agency. AI cannot “replace a teacher, a guardian, or an education leader as the custodian of their students’ learning,” the report stressed.

Adapted from: https://www.educationnext.org/a-i-in-education-leap-into-new-eramachine-intelligence-carries-risks-challenges-promises/

Clocking out at 5 p.m. on the dot, only doing your assigned daily tasks, limiting chats with colleagues and not working overtime. These are the distinctive features of "quiet quitting," a term coined to describe how people are approaching their jobs and professional lives differently to manage burnout.

The phrase, which isn't actually intended to lead to a resignation, exploded into the popular lexicon in 2022 when a TikTok video went viral. The creator, Zaid Khan, said in the video "I recently learned about this term 'quiet quitting,' where you're not outright quitting your job, but you're quitting the idea of going above and beyond." Nonetheless, “quiet quitting” is a misnomer, at least according to Karen K. Ho, a freelance business and culture reporter. She said that the term doesn't account for the fact that people are watching their grocery bills, fuel costs and housing prices go up, often without so much as a salary increase. "You're literally stagnating as a result of not earning more, not being promoted – and that's why a lot of people are leaving jobs," she completed.

While the words "quiet quitting" are loaded, evoking images of a slacker or ne'er-do-well for some, others say that the approach frees up time to spend with family and friends or to take care of oneself. In short, it's a renewed commitment to life beyond the workplace. On the other hand, the term “quiet quitting” has also received criticism, even from those who generally favor the idea behind it.

However, while the term "quiet quitting" may be a new invention, the mentality behind it is not. The phrase "work to rule," for example, describes a labor action in which employees strictly perform the work laid out in their contract, without taking on additional work. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a major economic movement, The Great Resignation, which saw people leaving their jobs or switching professions in droves, as they re-evaluated their relationship with work during a lifechanging health crisis.

A May 2022 survey by RBC Insurance suggested that more than one-third of recently retired Canadians aged 55-75 had retired sooner than they planned. Another third decided to retire sooner because of the pandemic. Moreover, Statistics Canada reported that the third quarter of 2021 saw a 60% increase in job vacancies compared to pre-pandemic levels in the country.

Both Quiet Quitting and The Great Resignation indicate a marked cultural shift from the early and mid-2010s when "hustle culture" paved the way to "grinding" and "girl-bossing" – two ideas that prioritized work over everything else, with the belief that such effort made employees more desirable to managers, therefore helping them climb up the corporate ladder faster and generating more income.

In addition, it is important to highlight that employees have been re-evaluating how much time they spend commuting, working overtime and generally investing in low-pay, low-reward jobs. It seems they have realized that they work in systems where they are constantly immersed in a hustle culture – which has been repeatedly shown to be only beneficial for corporations and their managers, through bonuses, through increased productivity, through increased revenue and profits and the like.

Furthermore, some employees are advocating for policies, benefits and working conditions that strengthen work-life balance. But critics say it doesn't work as well as it should, with a glaring loophole that allows employers to take advantage by vaguely wording their policies.

Adapted from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/quiet-quitting-workerdisengagement-1.6560226 Last Updated: August 25, 2022

Text 1

Streaming services have revolutionized the entertainment industry, playing an important role in attracting young people for movies and television series. The availability of streaming services such as NetFlix, Amazon, Apple TV and other platforms have drastically reduced traditional television viewing. Because of the availability of the shows at any time, youth are used to “marathoning”, resulting in a single session watching complete seasons of different shows in one sitting.

Streaming watching has helped the youth to increase their knowledge about various cultures, beliefs, and perspectives, which has helped in improving their overall understanding of the world. However, this has also led to exposure to inappropriate content, resulting in parental monitoring of the content viewed.

The present research has identified that streaming services have beneficial effects on the media literacy of the youth. Nevertheless, the exposure to inadequate content needs to be monitored, so that the beneficial aspects of streaming viewing outweigh the harm it might cause.

Available at: 10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.946. Access 28 Nov. 2024.

Given the panorama of English instruction in Brazil, particularly in the states of Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso, and considering the results of the surveys conducted with universities and teachers in both states, some conclusions and recommendations could be drawn.

Nationally, English instruction has been gaining importance and visibility through curriculum reform and the new model of upper secondary school. It is an enormously significant achievement that, for the first time, English has become mandatory in all public and private schools from 6th grade onward. The BNCC offers clarity on the competencies and abilities that students should develop at each education level. However, if, on the one hand, making English compulsory was an important step, on the other hand, the implementation of this policy is still incomplete. The main issue is the limited amount of instructional time in English in the national curriculum guidelines. As the cases of Mato Grosso and Minas Gerais illustrate, the result is that students have insufficient exposure to the language, with only two classes per week in secondary schools and one class per week in upper secondary. Under these conditions, it is unlikely that learners will develop full proficiency in the language, and teachers will have the instructional time to focus on all the necessary competencies and abilities required by the BNCC.

Another important consideration is the link between initial training for English teachers and how it interacts with the routines and challenges of the classroom. There is room for improvement when considering the mismatch between the programs of study at universities and the pedagogical practice required of English teachers and strengthened ties and communication between State Education Departments and the teacher training programs at universities.

Universities face additional challenges, such as the low English proficiency of students in the initial training courses. Initial training institutions face difficulties in thoroughly preparing future teachers regarding language proficiency and the pedagogical elements related to being an effective teacher. In this sense, the situation can create a vicious cycle; students leave schools with a low proficiency level in English, and those who decide to take the initial training courses to become English teachers and enter universities cannot fully develop proficiency as pedagogical competencies. Therefore, they enter schools not fully prepared to be teachers and face all the challenges of a classroom.

Another critical challenge is class size and the heterogeneity of students’ ability levels, which could limit teachers’ ability to implement some pedagogical practices, such as working with practicing speaking. This is not only a challenge faced by English teachers, but all teachers and that policymakers need to keep in mind. In addition, teachers commonly work in more than one school at a time and sometimes teach other subjects to meet the required hours of instructional time stipulated in their contracts.

The surveys with teachers demonstrated that many have never participated in a professional development session specifically designed for English teachers. For those who have, not all considered the helpful training to improve their knowledge and practice. This points to the fact that more attention needs to be paid to the continuous training courses offered to English teachers. These training courses should be frequent and address specific challenges, taking into account the pedagogical issues and areas that English teachers identify as most critical.

Briefly, it is important to highlight the windows of opportunity that have been opened in Brazil with the BNCC and the new upper secondary model. Through their education ministries, state governments have made significant efforts to adapt their regional curricula to the competencies and abilities listed on the BNCC and implement the first pilots and designed pathways for upper secondary schools. It remains a question of how the rest of those two processes will be implemented, but there are positive signs that English may gain more importance at a national level. At least in Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso, there is already a movement to increase the importance of the discipline.

While Minas Gerais has developed a few specific training courses for English teachers focused on improving their pedagogical knowledge through the program “Pathways for Educators” and intends to create a training pathway for upper secondary students focused in English, Mato Grosso has implemented English in all primary schools in the state and launched the program “More English,” with resources to help teachers and students. Those efforts are aligned with the national reforms and illustrate the political willingness of states to promote more actions to improve teachers’ and students’ proficiency in English.

In these states and, to some extent, at the national level, the foundations have been set to put English instruction in the spotlight as a crucial discipline to the integral development of students. However, much work and resources are still needed to realize this goal. Therefore, the following recommendations are intended to advise decision-makers at universities and State Education Departments.

Text 4

By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Epic of Gilgamesh, from ancient Mesopotamia, is often cited as the first great literary composition, although some shorter have survived that are even earlier (notably the “Kesh Temple Hymn” and “The Instructions of Shuruppak”). Apart from its length, the Epic of Gilgamesh may be considered the earliest significant composition because of its enduring impact on literature through the ages. It is believed to have influenced other ancient literary works, including the Iliad, the Odyssey, Alexander romance literature, and the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), all of which continue to have significant literary impact in their own right.

Available at: https://www.britannica.com/story/what-was-the-first-book-ever-written# Access at: 02 dec. 2024. Adapted.

Cosmos. Carl Sagan.

For years, research into the best instructional approaches for students identified as English learners has pointed to the concept of translanguaging.

Identified by bilingual education researcher Ofelia García, it’s both a skill set and a total shift in the way language is thought of, used, and taught in K-12 classrooms where multiple languages are honored and addressed, even as English remains the dominant language of instruction, said Marybelle Marrero-Colon, the associate director of professional development for the Center for Applied Linguistics.

Researchers are looking into how it can be applied to formal assessments, such as state standardized tests on which English learners might struggle to demonstrate their academic proficiency because they are tested in an unfamiliar language.

Translanguaging is the ability to move fluidly between languages and a pedagogical approach to teaching in which teachers support this ability.

In translanguaging, students are able to think in multiple languages simultaneously and use their home language as a vehicle to learn academic English.

A student could be reading an article about the solar system in English, but in their brain, they are also thinking and making connections in Spanish. They might annotate in Spanish or first write down reading comprehension responses in Spanish and then figure out how to provide the responses in English, said MarreroColon. […]

Teachers can engage in a variety of activities that deliberately encourage translanguaging, ranging from providing vocabulary in multiple languages to collaborative translation opportunities. The goal is to get students translanguaging as a practice that can be leveraged toward supporting literacy outcomes and engagement, as well as other academic endeavors.

For example, two students could be assigned to solve a word problem, and one might be stuck on a word in English. The two students can then use an equivalent word in their home language to make sense of what the word problem is asking of them, Phillips Galloway said.

Or in group activities, students can be prompted to share with the rest of the class how something taught in English would make sense in Spanish by highlighting similar and different grammatical structures between the two languages, Marrero-Colon said.

“When you translate, you don’t have to do it word for word. You’re really trying to capture the feeling of that text,” MarreroColon said.

Once teachers start doing these activities, research has found that students who have not spoken before start speaking and students who were not as engaged in text-comprehension activities suddenly are, she added. That's occurring because they are being encouraged to use their home language in class to think about language use overall.

Adapted from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-translanguagingand-how-is-it-used-in-the-classroom/2023/07

For years, research into the best instructional approaches for students identified as English learners has pointed to the concept of translanguaging.

Identified by bilingual education researcher Ofelia García, it’s both a skill set and a total shift in the way language is thought of, used, and taught in K-12 classrooms where multiple languages are honored and addressed, even as English remains the dominant language of instruction, said Marybelle Marrero-Colon, the associate director of professional development for the Center for Applied Linguistics.

Researchers are looking into how it can be applied to formal assessments, such as state standardized tests on which English learners might struggle to demonstrate their academic proficiency because they are tested in an unfamiliar language.

Translanguaging is the ability to move fluidly between languages and a pedagogical approach to teaching in which teachers support this ability.

In translanguaging, students are able to think in multiple languages simultaneously and use their home language as a vehicle to learn academic English.

A student could be reading an article about the solar system in English, but in their brain, they are also thinking and making connections in Spanish. They might annotate in Spanish or first write down reading comprehension responses in Spanish and then figure out how to provide the responses in English, said MarreroColon. […]

Teachers can engage in a variety of activities that deliberately encourage translanguaging, ranging from providing vocabulary in multiple languages to collaborative translation opportunities. The goal is to get students translanguaging as a practice that can be leveraged toward supporting literacy outcomes and engagement, as well as other academic endeavors.

For example, two students could be assigned to solve a word problem, and one might be stuck on a word in English. The two students can then use an equivalent word in their home language to make sense of what the word problem is asking of them, Phillips Galloway said.

Or in group activities, students can be prompted to share with the rest of the class how something taught in English would make sense in Spanish by highlighting similar and different grammatical structures between the two languages, Marrero-Colon said.

“When you translate, you don’t have to do it word for word. You’re really trying to capture the feeling of that text,” MarreroColon said.

Once teachers start doing these activities, research has found that students who have not spoken before start speaking and students who were not as engaged in text-comprehension activities suddenly are, she added. That's occurring because they are being encouraged to use their home language in class to think about language use overall.

Adapted from https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-is-translanguagingand-how-is-it-used-in-the-classroom/2023/07

Stanford linguists and psychologists study how language is interpreted by people. Even the slightest differences in language use can correspond with biased beliefs of the speakers, according to research.

One study showed that a relatively harmless sentence, such as “girls are as good as boys at math,” can subtly perpetuate sexist stereotypes. Because of the statement’s grammatical structure, it implies that being good at math is more common or natural for boys than girls, the researchers said.

Language can play a big role in how we and others perceive the world, and linguists work to discover what words and phrases can influence us, unknowingly.

Source: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2019/08/the-power-of-language-howwords-shape-people-culture

There are a lot of common misconceptions about fossilization and language development. It's impossible to correct all of them in a post here, but I'll address a few that have been mentioned below.

Fossilization is a stage at which a second language speaker seems to cease making progress toward becoming more targetlike in his or her use of the language, so a "learning plateau" is a reasonable analogy. The comparison wherein "the L2 learner has his own linguistic system" that's still influenced by L1 and other things is known as the "interlanguage." The question researchers cannot conclusively answer is whether or not that "plateau" is reversible after a certain point, be it age, fluency level, etc., in order to start making progress again.

Different people are motivated by different things, which range from need (to pass a test, to get a job, to watch movies without subtitles, to make friends, etc.) to learning style (preferring to study from texts, liking/disliking impromptu, small-talk with people just to practice, preference for/against learning formal rules, and aptitude). It is easy to remember verb conjugations. There is no single formula.

Finding someone who can correct your errors tactfully and effectively most certainly does not need to be demotivating, depressing or draining whatsoever. I'm a very fluent non-native speaker of Spanish, and I actively request that my native speaker (NS) friends correct me when I make a mistake, or use a phrase that sounds funny in their dialect, etc. How else will I learn? It's fascinating to learn little details like that now after so many years. As long as they don't do it in a mocking or condescending way, or at a socially inappropriate time, why wouldn't I want their help? Of course, if you correct a beginner every time they try to utter a sentence, it could be discouraging - and obnoxious - but everything in moderation.

One of the biggest cognitive challenges is whether or not L2 speakers can learn to consciously notice differences between their L2 efforts and the way a NS talks. There are decades of research on this (my own included) and I'll gladly give references if anyone actually cares. Noticing falls into two broad categories. First, the ability to "notice the gap," i.e. hear a NS say a sentence and think, "Hmm, I understand what he meant but I've never heard that word before; it must mean ___" or "I know what he meant but it would not have occurred to me to say it that way; I'll try to remember that for later." The second is the ability to "notice the hole," i.e. when the L2 learner is trying to speak/ write and realizes that his "interlanguage" lacks a word, sound or structure needed to accurately convey his own thought. If he can seek the input necessary to fill the hole, he has a much stronger chance of acquiring it. The thought processes involved during that moment are holding the forms (or lack thereof) in working memory, and the longer it stays there for further processing, the greater the possibility that it is retained in long-term memory for later use. The NS interlocutor can help promote noticing through corrective feedback (also a subject of decades of research, for which I'm also happy to provide resources if anyone is genuinely interested.)

I have been using a variety of strategies for years as a language coach when working with my clients, whether helping IT executives from India and Egypt learn to write more grammatically accurate e-mail or helping priests from Nigeria improve prosodic aspects of their pronunciation (i.e. stress and intonation patterns.) Each person is different. I have found no evidence to support the argument that a person who has fossilized cannot begin to make progress again toward a more target-like L2 use at least in some areas, with the right motivation, input and effort. The question is only about how much progress, in what areas, in how much time, and through what methods.

Adapted form: https://www.quora.com/How-do-people-overcome-fossilization-andachieve-native-like-fluency-in-second-language-acquisition Acesso em 22/09/2023