A APRENDIZAGEM DE LÍNGUA INGLESA DE ALUNOS CEGOS E COM BAIXA VISÃO EM UM CONTEXTO DE PANDEMIA

Abstract

In an atypical context of social distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brazilian Educational system had to be adapted to new dynamics of virtual classrooms. Teachers and students had to intensify the use of technologies to make remote education happen. Financial factors can directly affect the connection quality between teacher and student in a country like Brazil, known for its social inequalities. Equipment such as computers, smartphones, tablets and the internet itself are expensive goods for a large number of Brazilians. These people are going to end up not being able to afford all the digital technologies needed, which will lead them to more inequalities and exclusion from the educational system. Taking into consideration these aspects, this work focus on investigating how four visually disabled English students understand their English learning process during online classes from their schools. As a theoretical base to this research, authors related to inclusive education were mentioned (COLL et al, 2004; DANTAS. and MEDRADO, 2012, 2014, 2019; MOTTA, 2004), authors known for their knowledge about remote education (HAGUENAUER, 2005; NÓVOA, 2020. and HODGES et al., 2020), as well as the Brazilian Constitution (BRASIL, 1988; 2001; 2015, etc). A qualitative-interpretative investigation (BORTONI-RICARDO, 2008) took place, in which four visually disabled English students were interviewed to generate data about the Brazilian remote educational system. The data was organized into two categories referring to the online educational system: comprehensions of the accessibility in remote education and comprehensions of students' own learning process during the pandemic. The results showed that the visually impaired students were aware of the assistance given by their schools, as well as conscious about ways to improve it.