The signification in Portuguese as a Foreign Language classroom: a proposol for the didactic teaching of semantic knowledge

Abstract

It is known that the teaching of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PLE) is still very focused on the display of linguistic forms and grammatical rules, and that this focus ends up disregarding the social use of the language (cf. Dell”Isola et al, 2003). For this reason we aim to defend the intersection of the field of Semantics in the context of the PLE classroom, arguing that the teaching of PLE needs a didactic approach of semantic knowledge, given that this perspective promotes the critical use of language. This approach is supported by exams such as the Certificado de Proficiência em Língua Portuguesa para Estrangeiros (Celpe-bras), which seeks to assess the candidate through real uses of the language, and not by manipulating grammatical forms (Brasil, 2020; Brasil, 2021). As a methodology, we make a bibliographical research, for later descriptive analysis that will culminate in the proposal of an exercise that, we hope, will help the student in the interpretation of an Elemento Provocador (EP), material presented in the oral part of the Celpe-bras test. From a theoretical point, we will use Ferraz e Costa (2021), Dell’Isola et al (2003), Antunes (2012), Oliveira (2008), Moura (2006), Ilari (2001) e Ullman (1964). As a result, it is observed that the reading of the EP texts evokes, even if implicitly, a dialogue between the communicative approach and the understanding of linguistic aspects in which the scope of signification acts decisively.