Usos de smartphones por discentes do Departamento de Letras Vernáculas

Abstract

The growth in the use of smartphones is remarkable and reaches countless spheres of social life, one of them is the university. Nagumo (2014) and Selwyn (2014) highlight that there are few researches focused on understanding how technological devices like cellphones are used in teaching institutions; in addition to that, the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS) has recently implemented the international internet network eduroam. In this context, this research aims to discover motivations to the use of smartphones by the students of DLEV, as well as to analyze possible rules and consequences of using smartphones during classes at UFS. The methodology is qualitative - analytical-interpretative – and followed the procedures Freeman (1998) proposes, which include naming, grouping, finding relationship, and displaying. This research is part of PIBIC-UFS 2018/19, and its results and conclusions indicate that most students who participated in the research use smartphones to meet academic and entertainment aims. The rules and consequences in the classroom, however, put off the use of the devices for being related to prohibitions and punishments. Similarly, eduroam discourages the use of smartphones because it presents barriers to the access of internet.