Overcoming Stigmas In English Teaching For Youth And Adult Education (Eja): The Impact Of A Phonetic-Phonological Approach

Abstract

This article examines how stigmas surrounding Brazil’s Youth and Adult Education (EJA) shape English language teaching, which is often treated as a secondary, “watered-down” subject aimed at learners framed through supposed “deficits” (Arroyo, 2013; Patto, 1999). The study pursues two aims: (i) to analyze English teachers’ beliefs and expectations about teaching in EJA and (ii) to test whether a phonetic-phonological approach focused on developing phonological awareness can help overcome such stigmas (Souza Neto, 2024). A mixed-method design was implemented in two stages. In Stage 1, fifteen EJA teachers from Santa Maria da Vitória and São Félix do Coribe (NTE 23) completed a questionnaire combining open-ended items and a Likert scale; qualitative responses were examined through Content Analysis (Bardin, 2016), and Likert data through Descriptive Statistics (Gil, 2019). Findings revealed deficit discourses, curricular simplification, and low expectations, consistent with self-fulfilling prophecy dynamics (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968). In Stage 2, a pedagogical intervention in EJA high-school classes compared a control group (traditional practices) with a test group (phonetic-phonological methodology). Achievement was compared using the Mann–Whitney test in Jamovi (Love, Dropmann & Selker, 2023) at α = 0.05. Results showed higher performance and stronger engagement in the test group (p < 0.001), alongside increased confidence and oral participation, shifting the explanatory focus from learners’ alleged inability to teaching methods. The study concludes that fostering phonological awareness, within a critical EJA perspective, is a powerful strategy to re-signify English teaching in EJA and affirm it as a space of rights, emancipation, and social justice.