Discursive representations of the ‘class-event’: Writing and evaluation in English Supervised Internship

Abstract

This work aims at investigating discursive representations of the ‘class-event’ constructed by pre-service English teachers in reflective diaries in the context of supervised internship. From the theoretical and methodological assumptions of French Discourse Analysis and the studies developed by the Circle of Bakhtin in interface with the Applied Linguistics, we intend to discuss the implications of these representations for the evaluation practices in the mentioned context and for the processes of teacher education, in broader terms. Our analysis suggests that the subjects of the research, when enunciating about the ‘class-event’, (de)construct images that provoke effects of (in)completeness that work to obliterate the constitutive conflicts of the place they occupy. We, finally, defend that one rethinks writing as an important language practice in teacher education in order to promote the emergence of significant – and signifying – dislocations to the subjects, enabling their inscription in other networks of meaning and the questioning of crystallized discourses, which is a crucial aspect for their professional development.

Keywords: English supervised internship, discourse analysis, writing, evaluation, language teacher education.