Movimentos transdisciplinares decoloniais no contexto de educação linguística nos anos iniciais de uma escola pública

Abstract

“Children are deprived of ethical, epistemic, and ontological recognition” (Murris, 2016, p. 151). This lack of recognition is evident in language education aimed at this age group and is worsened by the idea of the English classroom as a “bounded site” (Pennycook, 2007, p. 157), often disconnected from social, ideological, and political issues. The combination of these two factors – the denial of the child as a full subject and a technicist approach to English teaching – results in a loss of connections that could come from the multidimensionality of human beings and the integration of different fields in language education for children. The process of reconnecting “the individual with themselves, others, their environment, nature, and the world as a whole” (Suanno, 2009, p. 8332) emphasizes the coexistence of the self as entangled with different forms of knowledge, spaces, subjectivities, aspirations, and more, creating opportunities to reshape educational practices through a decolonial transdisciplinary perspective. Within the context of English classes at a public school, my aim is to discuss how decolonial transdisciplinary movements were encouraged not only by connecting English to other subjects but also by intertwining the diverse dimensions of the students’ lives into the lessons. More specifically, I discuss how the progression of these classes may have encouraged a relational approach through which students built their knowledge on the themes body respect, food, and the Cerrado biome. I define these movements as decolonial and transdisciplinary because they suggest new ways of being, acting, and knowing (Maldonado-Torres, 2016b), thereby challenging Cartesian educational paradigms. This study was conducted with thirty fifth graders at a full-time municipal public school in Goiânia in 2022. The following empirical materials were utilized: questionnaires, informal conversations, teacher-researcher’s personal journal, students’ productions, WhatsApp messages, a final interview via WhatsApp, and an Emoji Design Sheet. Based on the principles of qualitative research (Denzin, 2018), the discussions reflect relational practices (Patel, 2015) and employ crystallization (Richardson, 2000) as a validation method, moving away from perspectives grounded in universal truths. The ontological and epistemological foundations of this study are primarily rooted in discussions on transdisciplinarity (Maldonado-Torres, 2016b; Moraes, 2010, 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2020; Nicolescu, 2001; Suanno, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2020). The study assumes that decoloniality (Grosfoguel, 2009; Maldonado-Torres, 2016a, 2016b; Mignolo, 2014, 2018; Quijano, 2005; Walsh; Mignolo, 2018) is intrinsically connected to transdisciplinarity. The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, and (in)conclusions. The introduction provides a personal presentation and reflections on fragmentation and entanglement, anticipating the discussions developed throughout the study. Chapter one explores adult-centrism, activism, the critical alliance with children, and transdisciplinarity. Chapter two situates the study temporally and spatially, while chapter three problematizes the praxiologies developed through the themes chosen. Finally, the entanglement between curricular components and the human dimensions of students in English language classes reveals possibilities for decolonial transdisciplinary movements, expanding ethical, epistemic, and ontological horizons in language education for children