Interfaces between didactics and linguistics: European and Brazilian Portuguese, foreign language teaching and multi-varietal passive competence

Abstract

Brazilian (BP) and European Portuguese (EP) are prototypical examples of a pluricentric language, while the status of African vernacular Portuguese varieties is still controversial. The existence of different standard varieties is an enormous challenge for teaching Portuguese as a foreign language, since it is hard to decide which variety to teach. Scholars are divided as to whether a pluricentric approach or the focus on one variety only is the more fruitful way to learn a foreign language. Based on results from recent studies on BP, we first present main differences between EP and BP on different linguistic levels. In a further step, we propose some practical approaches for including linguistic variation in classes for Portuguese as heritage language, L2 or L3, without taking the risk of teaching an interlanguage based on the mixture of both varieties (e.g. use of clitics). This reflection and approach is crucial to provide speaking and writing proficiency to learners of Portuguese as a foreign language with genuine proficiency for different discourse traditions and communicative contexts.