Peer learning: Mentoring in a Portuguese as a foreign language course

Antónia Estrela,Polytechnic Institute Of Lisbon, Portugal ,Ana Boléo,Patrícia Santos Ferreira

doi:10.36534/erlj.2020.02.07

Antónia Estrela, Polytechnic Institute Of Lisbon, Portugal + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.36534/erlj.2020.02.07

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Abstract

Mentoring is valued in foreign language learning, as it is based on the recognition of the benefits of the interaction between peers. This paper aims at presenting the results of a mentorship experience thought for a Portuguese as a Foreign Language course in higher education, in 2017/18. The mentees are Erasmus students attending these courses. This initiative was developed through the preparation of mentors, structured sessions of interaction between mentors and mentees, a reflection upon the experienced process and the administration of questionnaires to the participants. Data were collected through direct observation, following a naturalist observation protocol. There was a content analysis of the answers for open questions and a statistical analysis of all answers. Results suggest the existence of positive effects of the mentoring program, such as the individual, social and linguistic development of the mentors, the mentees’ integration and learning of Portuguese and the interpersonal relationship in both groups. / Keywords: mentoring, Portuguese as foreign language, Erasmus program

Highlights

Aiming at promoting the integration of Erasmus students5 who take courses in Portuguese as a Foreign Language at a Centre for Languages and Culture of an Institution of Higher Education, a mentoring program was designed to bring foreign students and Portuguese students together, since we understand peer support can be very important
The context of immersion facilitates language learning and the appropriation of cultural aspects, and it is useful if students can have, with pedagogical and linguistic supervision, access to people and places that will be part of their daily lives, promoting what is conveyed by Reis (2010) when this author claims that the notion of internationalization of the Portuguese language implies a unique articulation of language and culture
(i) Language progress in conversation The participation of students learning Portuguese in the mentoring sessions allowed them to practise and consolidate content addressed in other moments of the Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PLE) classes, having registered growth in several linguistic levels: lexicon, syntax and phonetics -phonology

Summary

Introduction

Aiming at promoting the integration of Erasmus students who take courses in Portuguese as a Foreign Language at a Centre for Languages and Culture of an Institution of Higher Education, a mentoring program was designed to bring foreign students and Portuguese students together, since we understand peer support can be very important. Erasmus students live for a few months in Lisbon, and the global dimension of the Portuguese language has to be emphasized by teachers. The context of immersion facilitates language learning and the appropriation of cultural aspects, and it is useful if students can have, with pedagogical and linguistic supervision, access to people and places that will be part of their daily lives, promoting what is conveyed by Reis (2010) when this author claims that the notion of internationalization of the Portuguese language implies a unique articulation of language and culture

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