Didactic books and the sociointeractionist perspective: the need for coherence to the PNLD

Abstract

The English learning can be a more significant process when students and teachers are provided with didactic materials of quality and coherent with the official teaching guidelines. Regarding the 3rd and 4th cycles of Brazilian public elementary schools, the process of selections of these materials happens through the Programa Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD), developed by MEC (Ministério da educação). Even though the program has already been through several editions, the English language subject was only included after the 2011 edition. In this selection a total of 26 collections were subscribed and only two were selected (Keep in mind e Links! English for teens). This study aims at analyzing the second collection (“Links! English for teens”) and verifying if there is coherence between the written comprehension/production activities and what establishes the PNLD documents for subscription and the official guidelines for foreign language teaching (PCN). To do so, the analysis will focus on the activities of the book 6 of the collection. The results of the research demonstrate that the activities analyzed neither correspond the reading and writing requirements of the mentioned documents, nor the components of PNLD documents regarding that same skills. Facing these results, we will present a proposal of adaptation related to each skill analyzed.