CONCEPTS OF LANGUAGE TRANSFORMED INTO DISCOURSE BY UNDERGRADUATES IN A LETTERS COURSE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION

ABSTRACTThis article presents an analysis of discursive productions of undergraduates from a Letters-Portuguese-distance education course at a public university located in Southern Brazil, referring to their conceptions of language. The theoretical and methodological foundation is based on studies from Bakhtin Circle. The research data consist of 106 discussion forums; 59 set of evaluation activities, posted on virtual teaching and learning environment from 2007 to 2011; and data from a questionnaire answered by 61 undergraduates in their respective poles in support of classroom teaching. Referring to the views of discursivization and language conceptions by the research subjects, the data point to: a) reenunciation of the conception of language that conceives language as a homogeneous, single entity; b) reenunciation of the notion of linguistic variation; and c) absence of discourse concerning the conception of language as interaction. These results demonstrate a gap between initial teacher education and what is expected in terms of teacher training provided by official documents of education, in which practices of listening, reading and textual production are settled in an interactionist conception of language .