Ensino-aprendizagem de português-língua estrangeira na perspectiva do letramento crítico : os imigrantes haitianos em Cuiabá-MT

Abstract

This work aims to present the results of a study done with a Portuguese as a Second

Language (PSL) class. The objective of the study was to observe the teaching- learning process of Haitian subjects in the context of an extension course at the

UFMT, campus Cuiabá- Mato Grosso beginning with the preparation of the lessons by the instructors. The project started through a social need to collaborate for the improvement of life for the Haitians that arrived in the city of Cuiabá, MT. In the year that the study began, there were more than two thousand Haitians in Cuiabá that did not speak the Portuguese language. After the creation of the project, and from the first class of PSL at the University, the requests for PSL classes increased. Foreigners from diverse nationalities, foreign exchange students at UFMT and citizens that live in Cuiabá have enrolled in classes, revealing a high demand for PSL teaching-learning in the Mato Grosso context. We consider the teaching of PSL to be one of the main forms of emersion of foreigners into the new culture with the purpose that they may learn the new language of a critical form. We follow the theoretical constructs of the critical literacy, allied with the Bakhtin philosophy of language and Vygotskian teaching-learning. The methodology used in this work was qualitative and ethnographic research. The results of the study demonstrate that the foreign students considered the PSL course to be a form of empowerment, because they could improve their communication, contributing to their social emersion and workplace success.