TANDEM, SELF-EVALUATION AND THE AUTONOMY IN LEARNING FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ABSTRACT

The implementation of tandem in foreign languages teaching-learning processes provides real contexts of interaction where responsibilities are shared among students: sometimes they are the apprentices, sometimes the masters. In such cases, autonomy and reciprocity make possible the meeting of students from different cultures-languages ​​expanding the content learned in the classroom and the professional and cultural horizons according to individual goals. This riding in the same direction implies a mutual collaboration, as well as it happens in any relationship between people that aim to benefit from a partnership. The responsibility given to tandem partners requires and gives them the opportunity to define their own goals and create strategies to achieve their own objectives (BRAMMERTS & CALVET, 2003, p. 33). Thus, self-assessment becomes paramount for a critical and constant practice of learning. By this bias, this study aims to examine the relevance of self-assessment activities in the processes of teaching and learning similar languages (Portuguese and Spanish), focusing on strategies developed by the learners to make better use of this teaching-learning tool. Therefore, we investigate the theoretical contributions and self-assessment forms developed inside this pedagogical model (MOSQUE, 2008; CAVALRY, 2009; FURTOSO, 2011). Data was generated through the monitoring of tandem and teletandem sessions in UNILA and UNIOESTE, the development and implementation of surveys and grids of (self)evaluation, as well as Reflective Conversation sessions with the peers. Preliminary results point to the development, in students and teachers, of the real understanding that the LE apprentice is also an agent of his/her learning process. This change in conception consequently leads students and teachers to re-examine their roles, and such action, in time, promotes a greater participation of students in the teaching-learning-evaluation processes developed in foreign language courses. This whole practice results finally in a higher student achievement.

Keywords:
tandem; (self) evaluation; autonomy in learning.