LINGUISTIC VARIATION AND TEACHING: LINGUISTIC BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES

Abstract

Considering that the school is a space in which beliefs are built and molds attitudes, we see how the formators of the linguistic conscience and disseminators of the discourses on language conceive the process of teaching Portuguese Language. Therefore, we analyze the beliefs and attitudes of students of Letters, future teachers of Portuguese Language, on language, variation and teaching. For the description and analysis of the data, we adopted the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Sociolinguistic Variationist (LABOV, 2008) and studies on linguistic beliefs and attitudes (CYRANKA, 2007; BARBOSA; CUBA, 2015; BOTASSINI, 2015; SILVA; BOTASSINI, 2015). Our data show that although students still believe in the association between language and normative grammar, they present positive beliefs and attitudes towards the pedagogy of linguistic variation, defending the idea that it is the school’s role not only to recognize but also to work on linguistic diversity. We also observed a negative evaluation regarding language teaching in schools, which, according to the students, is centered only on the standard norm.

Keywords

• Teaching of Portuguese Language
• Linguistic beliefs
• Linguistic attitudes