Adria Kezia Campo LIMA and Daiana Gabriela de SOUZA
Rev. EntreLinguas, Araraquara, v. 9, n. esp. 1, e023017, 2023. e-ISSN: 2447-3529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29051/el.v9iesp.1.18318 7
pedagogy, with a liberal bias, unlike the progressive one, adopts the idea that teaching consists
of imparting knowledge through content assimilation.
The continuation of this pedagogical trend is in many ways the result of historical
influence, in which the school was the privileged instrument for catechesis, then to train labor,
and finally to "incorporate" indigenous peoples definitively into the nation as national workers,
devoid of ethnic or cultural attributes. This is exacerbated when considering that the schooling
process is mainly conducted by non-indigenous teachers, who, for the most part, reproduce
teaching practices aimed at the non-indigenous population and have little mastery of the culture
and practices of the ethnicities with which they work.
However, it is relevant to mention that indigenous school education is undergoing a
period of reflection, aiming to ensure a specific and differentiated educational approach that
meets the particularities of different indigenous peoples.
In this sense, school education, once seen as an element of "civilization"
and/or cultural "homogenization," is redefined by these same actors and
subjects, becoming seen as an instrument of empowerment in the struggle for
their recognition through an educational model that is "Differentiated,
Specific, Intercultural, and Bilingual" (NASCIMENTO, 2017, p. 267, our
translation).
In this context, the aim is to ensure indigenous peoples have the right to specific and
individualized education based on the cultural values of each people. Thus, regarding teaching
Portuguese as a second language, which for indigenous peoples involves learning a language
that is not their mother tongue, beyond mastering the methodologies of teaching additional
languages, it is essential that teachers also understand the life reality in which these students
are inserted. Language assumes the role of a mediating instrument and understanding of higher
mental functions as a product of social interaction, culture, and history, as advocated by Moita
Lopes (2003).
From the linguistic perspective seeking to incorporate historical-cultural conceptions
into the teaching of Portuguese as a second language, communicative competence is understood
as an integral process of human activity in which higher mental functions arise from social
interaction, culture, history, integration, and dialogical social practices (VYGOTSKY, 2001).
In this sense, we base ourselves on the precepts of intercultural critical pedagogy in the teaching
of Portuguese as a second language, as this must be committed to a linguistic education that
effectively collaborates in overcoming violence, racism, and economic, social, and
environmental injustice (DELGADO; PERNA, 2021).