Language-culture and teaching Portuguese as a second language: Portuguese textbooks as a mosaic of dialogues

Abstract

The theme of this article is the interculturality present in a Portuguese High School textbook, “Multiversos e linguagens”, a single volume with no defined grade, considering its polyphony and target public: Brazilian students, who learn Portuguese as a native language, and immigrant students, who study Portuguese as a foreign language. The aim of this essay was to examine the presence of interculturality in the discursive genres selected by this textbook, as well as the discursive voices that represent those intercultural dialogues. The concepts of Luna (2016), Fiorin (2020), Brait (2005) and Campos (2012), mainly, were used to achieve it. The methodology adopted was qualitative research with content analysis, according to Bardin (2011). It was verified that in “Multiversos e linguagens”, interculturality is represented especially in the dialogue among different Brazilian states. Although the textbook mentions other Portuguese-speaking countries, it doesn’t include texts from authors of such nationalities. Additionally, the cultures of the countries from which Brazil receives most immigrants could be more present in the textbook. The use of more texts written by foreign authors, particularly from the nationalities that migrate to Brazil the most, would be relevant to promote the inclusion of foreign students, the knowledge of new literary references, the respect for cultural diversity and the comprehension of the link between language and culture.