Applied onomastics in language teaching: a systematic literature review

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic literature review about proposals that apply Onomastics to Language Teaching, conducted according to PRISMA methodology. The analysis is based on 15 studies (articles and book chapters) published between 2018 and 2024: 13 were developed by Brazilian researchers, one by Ukrainian researchers, and one by a North American researcher. The analysed papers show diversity according to the level of education of students, duration of the pedagogic experience, disciplinary area where the classes were given or planned and methodological approach adopted. As convergent result there is the use of active methodologies and the predominance of dialogic practices cantered on students’ onomastic knowledge. This focus contributes to critical and interdisciplinary teaching training, showing the role of schools as spaces for constructing contextualized and socially relevant knowledge. Concerning the development stage of these proposals, only two reached the final stage, in which there is scientific evaluation of pedagogical experiences. These results indicate that applied onomastics to language teaching is a growing field with great didactic potential, but still in the consolidation phase, showing for more empirical and systematically evaluated proposals are need.