Portuguese as a Welcoming Language for forcibly displaced immigrants in Brazil: some principles for teaching in light of Interculturality

Abstract

This paper presents some results obtained from a Master’s research study whose objective was to suggest principles for the teaching of Portuguese as a Welcoming Language - PWLg - (AMADO, 2013; LOPEZ, 2016; LOPEZ & DINIZ, in press; among others) for forcibly displaced immigrants in Brazil. Supported by Indisciplinary Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006), the present work analyzes the discourse of coordinators, teachers, and students in order to highlight their perspectives on the process of teaching and learning Portuguese in this context. Based on the results, I suggest the teaching of PWLg to be based on some principles of Interculturality (MAHER, 2007), established through two main dimensions of action: the immigrants’ political strengthening and the surrounding education.

The Training of Teacher of Portuguese as a Host Language

“…[12] I2 "In short, Critical Multiculturalism or Interculturality, as (…) prefers, recognizes "the dynamic, hybrid, non-consensual, and nonhierarchical character of cultures" and "brings to the center of the debate the differences of forces between different cultural groups." [11] I3 "(...) in practice, it is applying the clearly differentiated approaches: 1) inclusive, working in a cooperative manner with immigrant students in the ordinary class and 2) segregationist, in which the alumni care immigrant takes place in the ordinary classroom." [12] I4 "(...) the processes of cultural integration and linguistic integration.…”

“…[9] L4 "(…) Thus, I endorse (…) conviction that an emancipatory teaching, from the perspective of Interculturality, associated with advances in legislation in favor of this population as well as the surrounding education, could be crucial in this regard." [11] L5 "(...) any teaching-learning process aims to meet the learner's needs and motivations." [11] The host language is addressed in the papers A2, A5, A7, A9 and A10.…”

“…[11] L5 "(...) any teaching-learning process aims to meet the learner's needs and motivations." [11] The host language is addressed in the papers A2, A5, A7, A9 and A10. It was observed the importance of the uses of the language as the first way to welcome the immigrant and/or refugee.…”

Analyzing the oral performance of Portuguese as a Host Language speakers through the Outcome Achievement measure

“…The concept of Host Language has been frequently addressed by some researchers (GROSSO, 2010;LOPEZ, 2018;OLIVEIRA;SILVA, 2017) to debate the recent migration movements taking place in all parts of the world. Although migration has been a common phenomenon throughout the history of humanity, some would say that the last years could be subscribed as "the biggest migration crisis of all times" (DEUSDARÁ; ARANTES; BRENNER, 2018, p. 3228, our translation).…”