Falar em alemão ou em português no nível de iniciação - porque (não)? : perceções de estudantes

Abstract

This paper results from our motivation to monitor the way we practice teaching in order to better understand the importance attributed to oral competence by foreign language students and their perceptions regarding the development of this competence in the classroom. The study deals with German as a Foreign Language (GFL) and Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL) at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto (FLUP). The focus is on the perspectives of 42 students who were studying GFL (after completing level A1.1) and 19 students who were studying PFL (while attending level A1.2) at FLUP in the academic year 2015/2016. The study was conceived as a qualitative, exploratory study to collect information that would enable the participants to be characterized in general terms and with regard to their motivations for their learning of the target-language. In addition, it aimed to identify the main difficulties in learning GFL and PFL, as well as to know their preferences with regard to activities for the training of orality in the classroom. To obtain data, two questionnaires were administered; one for German (at the end of the first semester) and another for Portuguese (in the middle of the second semester), taking into account the specificity of the learners. The results, obtained by comparing the two groups of students, although displaying some divergences, revealed important points in common. We advance the assumption that the main divergences are due to the fact that PFL students are in a context of immersion, unlike the students of GFL.