FREE VIRTUAL MATERIALS FOR ITALIAN TEACHING AND LEARNING IN THE CONTEXT OF LANGUAGE STUDIES CENTERS OF THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO: PATHS OF THE POST METHOD PEDAGOGY

ABSTRACT We discuss the problem of materials in the context of the Italian language courses of the Language Studies Centers (CEL) of the State of São Paulo (Brazil). Based on Peleteiro (2015) and Pinheiro (2013), we perceive their vocation for the use of materials that are essentially personalized and customizable. Facing this question, we characterized virtual and free nature materials, discussing their correlation with post-method pedagogy (SOUZA 2014). We propose this kind of materials as the most suitable for the context of the CEL, since they are essentially customizable. This is our main working hypothesis. We point out and suggest requirements for the design of virtual repositories that we consider appropriate for the development and use of virtual and free nature materials. Our suggestions were elaborated from the analysis of CURRICULUM +, the digital repository of the Department of Education of the State of São Paulo, which we considered inappropriate to the demands related to the use and production of materials in a post-method perspective, that is, to the use and production of virtual and free nature materials (SOUZA, 2014). The inadequacy consists, mainly, of being the repository centered in the curriculum, and not in the teacher-author and their local demands, coming from the contexts in which they act. Finally, we discuss the methodology of the production of materials in the perspective of post-method pedagogy, which we try to improve in our research. We argue that the production of materials in the perspective of post-method pedagogy involves the establishment and use of principles, or frames of reference, compatible with the current state of knowledge, coherent, comprehensible, method-neutral and non-prescriptive. We are based on Kumaravadivelu (2006b) and Tomlinson (2016). We consider that it is, in addition, a practice that also reflects, in some way, the parameters of particularity, practicality and possibility.