Teaching cases: narratives of Spanish Language professors from a Higher Education Institution

Abstract

This article aims to analyze pedagogical situations that constitute the professional knowledge of Spanish Language teachers of a Higher Education Institution located in the Vale do Paraíba region (Brazil), seeking to extract data that contribute to this and other educational environments. This analysis was carried out through four narratives in the form of teaching cases composed by these teachers and based, to a large extent, on the categories of the knowledge base (SHULMAN, 2014). The methodological basis of this research is the qualitative approach (BOGDAN; BIKLEN, 1994), taking into account the perspective, subjectivity and experience of the participants in their own natural environment as a direct source of obtaining descriptive data about their professional knowledge. The instrument of the used data collection was a request for individual composition of teaching cases. The use of this instrument was based on the studies carried out by Shulman (2000) and Nono and Mizukami (2002). The main results point, among others, to the following conclusions: the validity of developing their students´ learning on an integral perspective was perceived; to learn from one's own experience; and to share teaching cases such as those analyzed here, in order to add experiences of colleagues to their own professional knowledge and, in this way, to enhance the learning opportunities of the students of this Teaching Institution.