Perceptions and Emotions of Proeja Students in the Process of English Learning

ABSTRACT:

This paper focuses on selected data from research developed at a Federal Institute in the South of Brazil with students from the National Program for the Integration between Professional and Basic Education for Young People and Adults (Proeja). We aimed to observe which emotions are present in the Proeja English classroom, how they manifest, and how the course can contribute to learning. Therefore, Sociocultural Theory, affective variables, and motivation studies related to language teaching and learning support this investigation. The results indicate that insecurity, shyness, and anxiety are negative emotions that can appear together, causing the student’s silence and hindering the learning process. On the other hand, there are clues that the learner can participate in further learning opportunities even after experiencing negative emotions.

KEYWORDS:
English as a FL; English language classroom; emotion; motivation; Proeja