14. Foreign Language ​​(L2) Teaching and Learning: interculturality in critical literacy processes.

Aleksandra Piasecka-Till (UFPR) e Diego Leite de Oliveira (UFRJ)

Teaching conceptions of L2 have been constantly changing, which does not necessarily influence the pedagogical practice. In the 21st century, due to changes in the needs’ perception of the learners inserted in the contemporary world permeated with the facility of access to the information and communication technologies, educational approaches seek to contribute to the development of citizenship and criticality, social values ​​associated with the concept of critical literacy. Besides the development of communicative skills, which marks the teaching of L2 in the end of the last century, focusing on the individual learner, the present pedagogical practices should include and aim at expanding the notions of plurality, diversity and multiplicity (MENEZES DE SOUZA, 2011). It can be said that we have already overcome the view of one studying an L2 to learn just the language of the Other, complementing it with the idea of knowing the language of the Other to debate and reflect on global issues, without excluding the local ones. Thus, learning an L2 allows us to understand our place in society and in the world, similarly to understanding the place of the Other, because critical literacy helps us perceive that the ways of thinking and acting of the Other are different from ours. Realizing that 'different' does not mean 'inferior' or 'scary' is the key to an intercultural dialogue and to the acceptance of heterogeneity proper for all societies. In this symposium, we expect to be able to share experiences and discuss the pedagogical practices in the L2 classroom, including extracurricular ones, developed in regular school classrooms or not, with emphasis on the so-called 'heritage languages' or 'immigration languages'. Teaching and/or learning of the latter often implies the desire to (re)construct a significant portion of ethnic identity, bordering the overrating of the ancestral culture studied in current times. We intend to verify what are the ways to contribute to make the L2 learner, seen as a subject formed in the specific socio-historical-spatial context, ready to interpret critically the meanings produced in both languages - the studied one and the mother tongue.