The "Portuguese for Foreigners" Program: an overview of actions and contributions to the education of PAL teachers

Abstract

Inscribed in the scope of Applied Linguistics, this article aims to trace a history of the actions promoted by the "Portuguese for Foreigners" Program (PFP) developed at the Federal University of Pelotas in order to contribute to the debate on the construction of the teaching and learning area of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL) from contexts and situated practices. We present an overview of the actions taken, the themes addressed and the assumptions that underlie the practices in the PFP, such as the New Literacy Studies, in order to discuss the Program's contributions to the training/education of teachers in the area of Portuguese as an Additional Language (PAL). Therefore, we carried out a survey of the editions and courses offered by the PFP. The results indicate that the Program subsidizes the training/education of teachers to work in the area of PAL, which is still so scarce in Letters Courses in Brazil, as students have the opportunity to participate in various training/educational actions. With the offer and construction of the courses, PFP seeks not only to qualify students who have the possibility of future work in the area, but also to encourage reflection on the teaching activity in PAL and on the specificities that are part of it.