The Portuguese Class: On (Non) Functional Experiences

Abstract

This article broaches the Portuguese class, discussing school language education for social uses of writing. It is an approach based on reflections on the (non) functionality of Ponzio (2008-2009) which aims to answer the following question–problem: “With regard to Portuguese classes in Basic Education classes located in vulnerable social environments, is it possible to test the elaboration of a didactic process, in the teaching of the social uses of writing, which is not limited to functionality?” The theoretical basis is the philosophy of Bakhtin’s language, the language of anthropology of literacy studies and the psychology of language of Vigotskian substantiation. This is a case study whose data were generated by means of documentary research on experiences of the Institutional Program for Introduction to Teaching – Pibid/Capes –, whose analysis has an interpretive basis. The results indicate possibilities of a didactic action which, taking advantage of the functionality that characterizes the school system and the new technologies, open spaces to education of the non-functional, for the uses of writing in which the word does not yield to the logic of the global market.