O trabalho do professor de português língua estrangeira: o agir no discurso

Abstract

The present study was developed with the main objective of investigating teachers of Portuguese as a foreign language (PFL), and what they say about their work. Based on the language acting present in interviews and in instructions to the double, accomplished by the instructors who took part in this research, we 1) analyzed the elements that compose the acting of PFL teachers; 2) investigated the representations that teachers have about their work, role, goals, and about the various aspects that characterize the context in which they act; 3) examined how the action of reflecting about their own acting raises in PFL teachers an awareness of a professionalization perspective. As references for data analysis, we used the theoretical-methodological framework of Sociodiscursive Interactionism (BRONCKART, 1999, 2004, 2008), together with theoretical assumptions of Work Sciences, mainly Activity Ergonomics (AMIGUES, 2004; CLOT, 1999; LACOSTE, 1998). In terms of analytical categories, we privileged thematic content, discourse types, voices and modalizations, as well as action figures (BULEA, 2010). The results of theanalysis suggested that the elements of PFL teachers acting are specially situated in the acting-referent plan, regarding its external determiners, and in the work plan in general, concerning work organization. We also verified that the representations constructed by the instructors are based mainly on the scope of work conditions, where we can stress the complexity ascribed to the action context, which is unmistakably intercultural. Finally, we observed that the interpretative action, grounded on action figures, is capable of mobilizing in teachers an awareness that concerns their own profession.