Brazil's Programa de leitorado: discussions on the professional profile of lectureship

Abstract

In the context of studies on external language policies (CALVET, 2007), this article proposes to present an analysis of the professional profile, in terms of academic training, of subjects who worked with the Programa de Leitorado between 2010 and 2014. For this, unprecedented data, collected through documental examination in the Arquivo Nacional of the Palácio do Itamaraty, are presented and discussed. Information obtained through the application of a questionnaire to the studied lectureships and an interview with the former minister-director of the Departamento Cultural of the Ministério das Relações Exteriores, are also part of the problematization and allow to relate the formation of the lectureships to a broader discussion about the professionalization of the language teacher in Brazil. From this, the study also mentions the low supply of degrees in the area of Portuguese Language/ Portuguese to Speakers of Other Languages (PFOL in Portuguese) and the lack of demand, by Capes and the Ministério das Relações Exteriores, for a specific training in Portuguese Language to apply for the Programa de Leitorado, which allows to emphasize, with a view to the future progress of this linguistic planning, that the lectureships must be teachers/professionals trained in the area of languages.