Imagens da língua e cultura portuguesas de falantes de português língua de herança nos Estados Unidos e e Canadá

Abstract

The images that individuals create of languages, people and cultures tend to refl ect their own communication and educational behaviours. These images can originate stereotypes, i.e., static, decontextualized, simplifi ed, and abbreviated images, present in common memory and accepted by particular groups (Castellotti & Moore 2002). Therefore, the diagnosis of images and perceptions that heritage language speakers associate with language and culture can enhance educational activity, particularly the comprehension of their directions and motivations, the adaptation of the teacher’s speech in classroom, as well as the creation and selection of didactic materials that aim to contribute to the (re)perspectivation of negative images or stereotype deconstruction. The main purpose of the present study is to diagnose and analyse quantitatively and qualitatively the images that heritage speakers of Portuguese language in North America possess of the Portuguese language and culture. To collect data, we created an anonymous online questionnaire composed of 19 questions signifi cantly related to the respondents’ contact with the language and Portuguese communities, as well as their perceptions of Portuguese population, language and culture. The questionnaire was taken by 10 heritage speakers (belonging to the second and third generation of Portuguese emigrants) who reside in the United States and Canada, countries with a signifi cant presence of Portuguese communities. The data reveals a collective thought of the respondents, composed of homogenous, crystallized, and stereotyped images regarding the Portuguese language and its utility, as well as its people and culture