Memorial descritivo

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH When I was applying for my scholarship in Japan, I decided to research about English Teaching Methodology, because after 7 years working in public schools in Sao Paulo – Brazil, I could see that English language education in public schools there is not being effective. Students have English classes from the age of 11 – when they are in the 5th grade of elementary schools to 17 when they have finished their secondary school, but after studying the language for 7 years they can not use it for communication, not at all. Although between English and Portuguese languages there are many similar points in terms of grammar, pronunciation and spelling, after 7 years studying, the students of public schools can not use English language for the correct purpose which is communication. This kind of problem is frustrating for the teachers and students in Brazilian public schools, since in Brazil those who can speak English will have more opportunities to get a better place in the job market. It means that English can help them to get a respectable place in society in terms of working conditions and salary. The fact that after many years they are still not able to use English as a means of communication makes the students disappointed in studying English. They do not really give a value to the opportunity of learning a foreign language; they have a good excuse for doing this: “What is studying English for if we never learn how to speak?” They are correct, of course. To use Krashen’s (1994) words, “language acquisition occurs when language is used for what it was designed for, communication”. Therefore, after trying for many years to teach my students how to communicate in English without success and after seeing many students and teachers disappointed with English classes, I thought to myself that something might be wrong with the methodology. Although they study English,