The importance of Portuguese as a second language in the education of deaf students

Abstract

The Deaf have difficulties in learning Portuguese, for they should learn Portuguese as a second language, and that does not always happen. Portuguese for the Deaf should be taught in Libras, the first language of deaf students, so they can better understand reading and writing. One of the foci of this research is the problems faced by teachers with the inclusion of deaf students, and these students’ difficulties in reading and writing Portuguese. The main objective of this work, therefore, is to investigate the difficulties of deaf students in learning the Portuguese language, through interviews with students from School Elysio Campos, the Deaf Association of Goiás (ASG), and Goiânia’s Lyceu State School. The writing practice by the reading experience is a necessary development and it is present in the bilingual proposal that accepts Portuguese as a second language. It isworth noting that the bilingual approach, with the use of the Sign and Portuguese languages, helps to improve the development of deaf students, for when they meet, in their natural language, the meaning of words, they learn faster. Thus, learning can occur through two different methodologies: Portuguese as a foreign language or as a second language.

Keywords: Portuguese as a second language, deaf education, bilingualism