Letters Portuguese/German students’ beliefs:challenges, perspectives and opportunities

Abstract

About fifty Brazilian universities organize some kind of German language study, of which seventeen offer undergraduate courses in Language Studies with specialization in German, or a bachelor degree in this language. The goal of this study is to analyze the beliefs and expectations of students of German regarding the graduate course they attend. To achieve this goal, an investigation was made in a public university in the State of Paraná. Based on a questionnaire answered by students on these courses, this study seeks to identify the reasons which led them to choose this career and their professional development prospects, within or outside the area. The theoretical results come from the perspective of studies of students‟ beliefs (SILVA 2007; BARCELOS 2001), more specifically the studies of students‟ beliefs on the learning of foreign languages. The methodology of this research corresponds to a hybrid paradigm (KUCKARTZ 2014, 2016 and MAYRING 2015), with qualitative and quantitative research features. As a result of the research, among other aspects, it was observed that most of the students choose the course of German language as a way to learn that language and in the future to work professionally in this area, whether in the field of linguistics, literature or translation

Keywords

• Students‟ beliefs
• academic German studies
• motivations and expectations