Representações do Brasil no livro didático de PLE

Abstract

In the context of globalization and increased international mobility, the insertion of a Foreign Language (FL) takes place in a very dynamic way, and the role played by culture takes on a new direction as it is a fundamental part of the process of teaching and learning a FL. Bearing this in mind, issues relating to interculturality are becoming more relevant in the 21st century. This work is part of this scenario, whose central theme is the cultural representations and the image of Brazil portrayed in three Portuguese as a Foreign Language (LDPLE) textbooks from the perspective of interculturality. The aim of this thesis is to interpret and analyze the aforementioned representations in these materials, as well as to observe the extent to which stereotypes exist in the selected corpus – if they do, we seek to identify which of them are reinforced in the materials. The theoretical framework underpinning this research is organized by cultural and intercultural studies, namely: Bennett (2013); Kramsch (2018); Mendes (2011); Meyer (2013), among others. This research is defined as qualitative, documentary and interpretive in nature, since the perspective is to observe, record, analyze, categorize and interpret the data. Our corpus consists of three textbooks published between 2020 and 2023, namely: SAMBA!: curso de língua portuguesa para estrangeiros (Ferraz; Pinheiro, 2020); Tirando de Letra: português brasileiro para estrangeiros (Silva, et al., 2020); and A Cara do Brasil: português para estrangeiros (Araújo; Vicentini; Marcelino, 2023). The data allowed us to categorize the representations into themes and sub-themes that were found in all the works under analysis. Based on this analysis, we were able to confirm our initial hypothesis that LDPLEs contribute to maintaining a stereotyped image of Brazil. Thus, they reinforce distorted representations of the country, as well as the predilection for the Brazilian Southeast Region in terms of the examples used in the materials. In addition, the images surveyed suggest Brazilian representations that are crystallized in the foreigner’s imagination, as well as constructions of little significance in terms of Brazil’s cultural and intercultural aspects.