Abstract:

This study aims to show the possibility of using virtual environments/tools that are just considered social-networking settings/tools as auxiliaries to develop the teacher formation process, and verify how the knowledge is produced during the formation process developed in a distance setting through Microsoft Service Network Messenger (MSN). In this way, this study had as basis a continuing professional development project based on the relations between the researcher and an English teacher that worked at Basic Level I, in a municipal school in Conceição dos Ouros-MG, Brazil. As foundation to the discussions, this study is based on Lévy’s works (1996/2003; 1999/2003) to understand the settings/tools supplied by Computer Mediated Communication (CMC); on works developed by Freire (1979/2001), Brookfield (1987), Brookfield & Preskill (1999) and others, to understand the critical reflective principles and the language role mediating the social inter-relations that has the argumentation as an important allied to the development of the critical reflective thought. Parts of the reflective sessions were selected and analyzed. The intention of analyzing the cutting data was to understand how sense about teaching-learning was questioning and new meanings were shared during the teacher formation activity on the environment used. The results took us to conclude that: 1) the virtual setting allowed that the teacher formation activity was updated becoming real in a virtual setting, acquiring an interaction similar as a face-to-face interaction; 2) the knowledge production happens when there are opportunities to the participants manifest themselves, expounding their opinions, to agree or disagree, to listen and to be listened, opportunity to argue and to convince the others, learning, this way, to interact with respectful by others; 3) in this social production process, the role of the other become fundamental to trigger off new Zones of Proximal Development (ZPDs), to reorganize and transform the senses, build new meanings and to develop.

Keywords:

Knowledge Production, Virtual Settings/Tools, Teacher Formation.