Maria Helena Araújo e Sá

‘O que diriam sobre os portugueses?????’ [What would you say about Portuguese people?]: intercultural curiosity in multilingual chat-rooms

Abstract In this study, we intend to discuss questioning as a sign of Intercultural Communicative Competence in plurilingual environments, stressing the relationship between questioning and the process of developing discovery skills in Romance chat-rooms. Focusing specifically on episodes beginning with intercultural questioning, we will analyse: (1) typical situations leading to these kinds of questions and; (2) recurrent discursive topics of the corpus. These two subjects will allow us to reflect on how plurilingual/intercultural on-line communication ‘re-socializes’ individuals, creating new images/representations about others and their (inter)cultural identities and by promoting a greater awareness of what it means to participate in intercultural discussions. Procuraremos, neste estudo, analisar o processo de questionamento como sinal de Competência de Comunicação Intercultural, evidenciando a relação entre o acto de questionar e o processo de desenvolvimento da competência de descoberta em chats romanófonos. Debruçando-nos sobre episódios iniciados com questionamento de teor intercultural, analisaremos: (1) as situações que despoletam este tipo de questões; (2) os tópicos de discussão recorrentes nestes episódios. Estes dois focus de análise permitir-nos-ão reflectir acerca de como a comunicação plurilingue/intercultural ‘re-socializa’ os sujeitos, criando novas imagens/representações acerca dos outros e das suas identidades (inter)culturais e promovendo uma maior consciencialização do que significa participar em discussões interculturais.

Is there a place for heritage languages in the promotion of an intercultural and multilingual education in the Portuguese schools

ABSTRACT This paper is part of a case study aimed at researching the multilingual repertoires of young people from a linguistic and cultural minority. Further, it analyzes the role of and the place given to heritage languages (HL) in the development of a multilingual and intercultural competence in schools. In the scope of the study mentioned above, a survey was conducted using an online questionnaire distributed to students from a migrant background. These students attended two primary and secondary schools in the central region of Portugal during the academic year 2013–2014. Results show that the respondents value their HL and perceive them as an instrument of social interaction as well as identity construction and affirmation. Additionally, the results show that both school and teachers recognize and respect the students’ linguistic and cultural capital as well as their composite and plural identities. However, they do not take advantage of this in the classroom by not promoting activities that enrich their students’ cultural and linguistic culture. In this context, the possibilities for an education in/with HL, as a pedagogical and didactic project, are not yet present in the school curriculum and habitus, on the one hand, because there are no educational language policies that incorporate it, and on the other hand, because both school and teachers do not seem to value the role and usefulness of HL in the promotion of an intercultural and multilingual education.

Language learning in higher education: Portuguese student voices

ABSTRACT This paper begins by reviewing European language education policies in higher education and relating these to the bottom-up language provision practices currently applied in higher education institutions. The paper then focuses on a case study at the University of Aveiro (Portugal) that sets out to identify students’ social representations concerning: (i) the importance of integrating foreign language courses into their degree/master/PhD programmes and (ii) the languages they consider to be more important in their academic training and the reasons for this. The findings indicate that the vast majority of responding students consider the integration of language courses in the curricula to be relevant from a doubly pragmatic perspective. Firstly, English is seen as a pathway to employability, mobility and the accessibility of knowledge, while other foreign languages (Spanish, French and German) are viewed as ‘differentiating assets’ in the professional marketplace.

Language education policy in Portuguese public universities: the voices of institutional stakeholders

ABSTRACT Acknowledging the importance of the ideological language component in language policy and planning within a micro-level language-planning framework, this paper sets out to identify and discuss the social representations of Portuguese higher education institution (HEI) stakeholders concerning: (i) language teaching and learning in HEIs and (ii) the development of language education policies in this particular context. Based on a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders responsible for the pedagogical strategy, specifically five Vice-Rectors for Education at their respective Portuguese public universities, their common perspective points to tension between, on one hand, the value they attribute to a diversified language teaching and learning in terms of the quantity of languages offered and to the strategic development of multilingual language education policies and, on the other hand, the prominence of institutional initiatives and actions relying primarily on English.

Crossing the Bridge: Foreign Language Students' Reciprocal Images in (Inter)Cultural Mediation between Portugal and Turkey.

ABSTRACT This study intends to highlight the role that Foreign Language Education (FLE), particularly in the Higher Education context, can play so as to contribute to the rapprochement of two distant and still mutually unknown countries such as Portugal and Turkey. In this sense, it ultimately aims at supporting the training of intercultural speakers, capable of promoting an effective Intercultural Dialogue between the two countries. A diagnosis is presented of the reciprocal images of Portuguese and Turkish students learning each others language and culture. Conclusions are drawn on how their self- and hetero-images may pertain on the construction of their identities, on their awareness about and attitudes towards each other, on their motivation to learn each others language, and on intercultural communication itself. Allying the study of Images of Languages and Cultures and the concept of Intercultural Competence in the study of students’ representations within the FLE research tradition, a content analysis was carried out of the responses given to an inquiry by questionnaire. Conative implications of the students’ images as revealed in the results were pointed out. Some important distinctions are highlighted in the reciprocal images of both groups. On this basis, recommendations for FLE are made focusing on the positive reconstruction of students’ reciprocal images.