Uma proposta curricular para o curso de Português como Língua Adicional para Candidatos ao Programa de Estudantes-Convênio de Graduação (PEC-G)

Abstract

According to information found on the website of the Division of Educational Topics (DCE) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), the Exchange Program for Undergraduate Students (PEC-G) is an agreement that "offers students from developing countries with which Brazil maintains educational, cultural or scientific-technological agreement the opportunity to attend undergraduate courses in Brazilian Higher Education Institutions (IES)". One of the conditions for participation is the certification of Intermediate level in the Certificate of Proficiency in Portuguese as a Foreign Language (Celpe-Bras). It is a proficiency exam applied in countries of Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East. Candidates from countries where Celpe-Bras is not applied come to Brazil the year before the undergraduate course begins and participate in a Portuguese as an Additional Language (PLA) exam preparation course at an IES that offers this course. According to data available on the MRE website, in Brazil, in 2020, 109 IES participated in the program and 24 offered this course to PEC-G candidates, which we call pre-PEC-G. Although the program was officially created in 1965 by Decree 55.613 (BRAZIL, 1965), and it is currently legislated by Decree 7.948 (BRAZIL, 2013), there is no curriculum proposal that offers common parameters for these pre-PEC-G courses in different IES, and in each of them the course has its own functioning. Recognizing the importance of a curriculum orientation for the organization and strengthening of pre-PEC-G courses, this research aims to propose a curriculum for these courses, a flexible orientation, which can work within the specificity of each IES. This curriculum proposal was built in three stages: (i) preparation of a first version based on the researcher’s experience, on PEC-G and Celpe-Bras official documents, theoretical texts and a curriculum proposal (BRASIL, 2020b); (ii) interviews with subjects involved with pre-PEC-G as a former teacher, a teacher, former students and employees of an IES about the first version; (iii) preparation of a new version based on participants’ considerations. In this process, we base ourselves on Indisciplinary Applied Linguistics (MOITA LOPES, 2006) and on Critical Literacy (MATTOS e VALÉRIO, 2010), as well as on the discussions about Interculturalism (MAHER, 2007), speech genres (ROJO, 2015), curriculum (SERRANI, 2010) and on participatory action research (THIOLLENT, 2007). In general, the participants reinforced what was already proposed in the curriculum rather than suggested modifications, bringing up welcoming and space for students’ cultures in the classroom as important themes. Their considerations were focused on the context of one specific IES, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), therefore, we believe it is relevant the analysis of the second version of the curriculum by subjects involved with pre-PEC-G in different Brazilian IES.