Communicative classes: teaching (and learning) portuguese and brazilian culture in south korea

Abstract

According to the Korean students' own perspective, "what is the greatest difficulty in learning Portuguese” and “what kind of class is best to learn Portuguese”? This article analyzes these two important aspects of the profile of students who are learning Brazilian Portuguese as a foreign language at Hankuk, one of South Korea's most prestigious universities in Foreign Studies field. Based on collection of some data considered relevant for the acquisition process of a foreign language, we aim at reflecting on these aspects to contribute to the improvement of the teaching-learning process of Brazilian Portuguese as a foreign language and Brazilian culture to Korean students. The results indicate that grammatical aspects are perceived by Korean students as the major obstacle to the development of their proficiency and that, on the other hand, Communicative Teaching meets the expectation of Korean students for a class that leads them to take ownership of their own learning process as protagonists.