"Somos estrangeiros e isso marca a diferença": olhares sobre cultura em uma sala de PLE

Abstract

This research aims to analyse the images constructed by students of Portuguese as a Second Language in relation to the cultural representations that characterize this prime example of a multicultural classroom. So in this sense, we intend to investigate the different ways to understand culture in a class of Portuguese as the target language. This work is based on the theoretical principles of Interactional Sociolinguistics and Conversation Analysis, approaches that will guide our analysis of an interaction between non-native speakers of Portuguese. The concepts of Culture (DURANTI, 1997; HALL, 2003; STREET, 1993), Identity (BAUMAN, 2005; HALL, 2006), Interculturality (BYRAM, 2002; KRAMSCH, 1993) and Multiculturalism (CANDAU, 2008; HALL, 2003) are also used in this work. This documental research analysis data that were transcribed in the work of Oliveira (2015) by means of a specific analytical perspective. According to the students´comments, it was possible to discover that there are different ways to view culture: the image of culture as nationality; the image of culture as a socially distributed knowledge (present in the moment when the students describe their countries) and the image of culture as a system of practices and participation. Moreover, it was possible to observe, in the analysed transcripts, the contrast between the identities that were assumed by the students. Therefore, we defend the use of an intercultural approach in the process of teaching Portuguese of a Second Language. In addition, we support the perspective of culture as a kaleidoscope: in each way of seeing the multicultural reality, there is a new perception of this concept, which is far from being singular and stable.