Reflections on teaching-learning Portuguese in Brazil

Abstract

Objective: Present and discuss the concepts of Portuguese as a colonial language, mother tongue, additional language and welcoming language in Brazil. Bibliographic review: Using several authors, we reflect on colonization in Brazil and the violent processes of imposing the Portuguese language on indigenous people as an instrument of physical and political domination, acculturation and religious indoctrination, with the language acting as a tool of epistemicide. From this epistemicide perpetrated by the Portuguese language, its consolidation in the territory over the centuries took place. In this sense, we discuss its teaching-learning as the mother tongue of the majority of the Brazilian population in different pedagogical approaches. Next, we address the teaching-learning of Portuguese as a non-native language from the perspectives of additional language and welcoming language, presenting and problematizing these concepts from the perspective of language users. Final considerations: According to the reviewed literature, it is possible to highlight the importance of the people involved in the linguistic educational process, as they are the ones who determine the approach and meaning that the language may have.