The teacher and teaching practices of written Portuguese as a second language for deaf students

Abstract

Discussions surrounding deaf education in Brazil have intensified, especially after the institutionalization of bilingual education by Law No. 14.191/2021. In this context, this article aims to analyze how the writing practices developed by Portuguese language teachers influence the writing learning process of deaf students. To support the analysis, we draw on Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics (1960), González Rey's Theory of Subjectivity (1997), studies in the field of deaf education such as Jannuzzi (2012), and official documents such as Law No. 9.394/1996, among others. The adopted methodology is anchored in the principles of Qualitative Epistemology and the constructive-interpretative approach as a means of analyzing and interpreting information. The study was conducted with two high school Portuguese teachers, one elementary school teacher, one middle school teacher, one adult Portuguese teacher, and a professional working at the Center for Educational Assistance to Deaf Students. To gather the information, we used interviews and analysis of the activities developed by these teachers and professionals. The results highlight challenges in teaching written Portuguese to deaf students, marked by technical practices centered on decontextualized grammar that disregards deaf culture and identity. The conclusion is that teachers play an essential role in teaching written Portuguese as a second language, acting as mediators of meaning and inclusion processes.