O ensino de Libras na formação do professor: um estudo de caso nas licenciaturas da Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana

Abstract

The inclusion of Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) as an academic discipline in undergraduate programs is the trigger to the question that has made this Masters‟ degree thesis possible. The establishment of this academic discipline happened 13 years ago, at the same time as the recognition of Libras as a language through the Law 10.436/02. Such a law provides excluded minorities with social, political and educational openness, which helped them to begin to obtain educational visibility from 1990 on. Thus, in Brazil, a new inclusive educational policy started in that period, which expanded, greatly, access of students with special educational needs (SEN) into regular schools. The insertion of these students, especially the deaf, brings changes to educational practices and structures as well as in teacher education, which requires the establishment of certain educational policies. Due to these changes, the Decree that regulates Libras law sets up deadlines and percentages so that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) can offer Libras as a mandatory academic discipline in B. A. degree programs. Because of this, The State University of Feira de Santana (UEFS – Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana) began to offer it in 2009. Aware of the commitment of this HEI to teacher education and before this new context, this thesis aims at analyzing the contributions that Libras at UEFS provide its undergraduate students with. For our purpose, we choose to discuss at first the nature of the teaching analyzed in this study, the language, in dialogue with Plato (approx. 390 b.C.), Saussure in Depecker (2012), Vygotsky (2009 [1934]) Gesser (2009) and others. After that, we base our studies on Tardif (2012 [1991]), Soares (1999), Lacerda (2013) and on recent research on the teaching of Libras in B.A. programs. As our method, we use a case study with a qualitative approach, which aligned with content analysis technique tried to develop Libras in UEFS normative documents with the voice of teachers in this area. This enabled us to see that, while organizing the academic discipline Libras at UEFS, its real objectives are not clear yet. In spite of its formative function, it is still fragmented. There is predominance of aspects that involve language proficiency to the detriment of the educational knowledge. On the other hand, when we question the language itself and the deaf, this academic discipline motivates prospective teachers to obtain the knowledge that will allow them not to make the deaf invisible in regular schools. This way, we consider Libras to play an important role in the education of prospective teachers and that existing gaps come up due to its legal constitution, which presents doubtful meanings about its goal and about teaching education that is marked by reflections of disciplinary logic.